The role of servant leadership on organizational citizenship behaviour: The example of Torbali Commercial Chamber

In business environments which are changing rapidly and have an intense competition, it is becoming more and more difficult to use the resources effectively and efficiently in terms of continuity of organizations and to use their resources effectively and efficiently. New business organizations be stopped up in fields of productivity and profitability because of systematic problems such as abuse of power, unethical practices, exclusion, employee well-being and deterioration of work life balance. In order to overcome these negative situations, the concept of servant leadership has an important place in terms of the continuity and profitability of the organizations. Servant leadership is defined as the form of leadership that has an unusual influence and resources, which can show empathy towards its followers, listen to their wishes, emotionally understand them and support them. In line with the given definition, although servant leadership overlaps from other modern leadership structures like transformative, ethical, charismatic and leader-member interactive leadership, it differs from other leadership structures with its focus on the needs of its followers and support for their development and upbringing. In the same scope and in relation to each other, one of the most common topic in the field of organizational behavior and corporate communication in recent years is organizational citizenship behavior. Organizational citizenship desribes employees extra role behaviours which they do voluntarily, beyond their formal job descriptions. Organizational citizenship behavior, which is based on 5 dimensions, as altruism, civil virtue, conscientiousness, courtesy and sportsmanship, contributes to the individual performance of the employee and to the organizational performance of the institution it is affiliated with. Hence, it is possible to say that there is a positive correlation between job satisfaction, institutional commitment and performance and organizational citizenship behavior. In this context, the general purpose of the thesis; is to examine the role of servant leadership on the adoption and display of organizational citizenship behavior. The primary priority of the thesis is to examine the effects of servant leadership on the formation of organizational citizenship behavior on a general scale. In addition, the other aim of the study is to support the dissemination of the use of servant leadership which is one of the conditions necessary for organizations to ensure their sustainability in the modern world., in public and private sectors. Finally, the last aim of this thesis is to increase the awareness of organizational citizenship behavior on the basis of individuals working in various sectors. In this respect, the first and the second part of the thesis, the literature review, which forms the basis of the research, was conducted. In the first chapter, the concept of leadership, the historical development of leadership, the modern leadership approaches, the definition of the servant leadership, the pioneers and the characteristic structures are mentioned. In the second chapter, definitions, structure, dimensions and factors that cause the formation of organizational citizenship behavior are introduced. In the third chapter, the data obtained from the qualitative study which implemented on members of the Torbalı Chamber of Commerce are presented and the relationship between servant leadership and organizational citizenship behavior is tried to be put forward. The results were evaluated and various recommendations were made.