Resumo

The organizational environment permeated by challenges and uncertainties require the employee to be dynamic and flexible (Ribeiro, Mattos, Antonelli, Canêo, & Goulart, 2011). Researchers should expand their investigations in fields that represent significant purposes and ennobling qualities (Cameron, Bright, & Caza, 2004), in promoting healthier work environments (Salanova, Llorens, & Martínez, 2016) and well-being at work (Magnier-Watanabe, Uchida, Orsini, & Benton, 2020).

Considering the scientific evidence, the relevance of organizational virtues, HRM practices, and organizational citizenship behaviors for the healthy and effective performance of organizations, the objective of this study was to identify the relationship between organizational virtues, human resource management practices, and organizational citizenship behaviors, from the conceptual framework of strategic human resources management, in the context of public organizations.

Peterson and Park (2006) define organizational virtues as moral characteristics of the organization as a whole and as a permanent part of organizational culture. HRM practices are understood as articulated proposals of the organization regarding human relations, with the objective of achieving the desired results (Demo, Nunes, Mendes, Ferreira, & Melo, 2011). Bastos, Siqueira and Gomes (2014) define OCB as acts of social exchange that workers voluntarily offered to organizations.

The research is characterized as descriptive and explanatory, with quantitative nature. For the structural model test, path analysis was used through structural equation modeling. The analysis of the relationships between the variables and their factors considered as predictors is the organizational virtues and the HRM practices, and OCB as a criteria variable. The possibilities of relationship between each pair of variables and the three variables together were analyzed, formalizing the hypotheses that were tested in a structural model of prediction.

The possibilities of relationship (H1, H2 and H3) between each pair of variables were confirmed. The possibility of association H4 was refuted since the assumptions of Baron and Kenny (1986) were not met. It is possible to infer that the practice of TD&E is the best predictor for Creative Suggestions, as well as the practice of Relationship is the best predictor for Dissemination of the Organizational Image. It is inferred, therefore, that H5 was confirmed.

The results generated call the attention of public managers to recognize the importance of stimulating the virtues in organizations, considering their notable influence on the perception of management practices, in order to lead to increasingly higher levels of positive behavior in the workplace, as the organizational citizenship behaviors. Given the importance of individual psychological well-being, the creation and maintenance of healthy workplaces should be a priority for organizations.

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