| Research supports bullying as a key element affecting increased incidents of school violence (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2001). Empirical research on both youth bullying and violence establishes that these forms of aggression are widespread public health issues with negative consequences for victims (Espelage, 2012). Moreover, research that complements safe school environments connects tightly with organizational climate. As a contributing aspect of organizational climate, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) has received much attention in the business and psychological literature (Bateman & Organ, 1983; Organ, 1988; Podsakoff, et al., 1997.).;The present study offers a contribution to the effective schools literature by studying organizational citizenship behavior and assessing its relationship with two facets of bullying, teacher protection and student bullying. Using data collected via administration of two valid and reliable instruments at 109 public elementary schools in the state of Texas, the analysis targets whether OCB predicts student bullying behavior. The investigation evaluates the possible relationship(s) among the following variables: OCB, socioeconomic status (SES), school size, student bullying, and teacher protection.;The general hypothesis that OCB is negatively related to school bullying and positively related to teacher protection was supported. The analyses revealed significant correlations among all variables in the study and multiple linear regression determined which of the independent variables significantly predicted student bullying in schools. The results demonstrated that a linear combination of OCB, SES, and school size accounted for a significant portion of the variance in both teacher protection and student bullying. However, OCB had a statistically significant independent effect only on teacher protection. |
