Individual Compassion Leading to Employees’ Performance: An Empirical Study from Pakistan

Abstract

In social sciences “compassion” is considered as an impactful attribute of employees’ satisfaction and
well-being. People demonstrate compassion for others in socially interacting environments like an
organization. As organizational people interact with each other therefore they show compassion towards each other. In such a manner compassion becomes an attribute of organizational culture if organizations themselves promote and support compassion at workplace. Compassion being a source
of employee satisfaction may increase his/her performance or may divert employee’s attention from task accomplishment. This possibility has inspired this study to empirically test the effect of compassion at workplace on employees’ performance. Moreover, an indirect effect of compassion through intrinsic motivation on performance is also tested in this study to elaborate how compassion at workplace intrinsically motivates employees to enhance their performance. To test these relationships, data
from 94 respondents have been analyzed quantitatively. The findings of study supported that compassion enhances employee performance, specifically the contextual performance. Moreover, intrinsic motivation also moderates compassion performance relationship. Compassion at workplace even enhances employees’ task performance when moderated by intrinsic motivation. This study provided empirical evidence that compassion at workplace can enhance employee performance; contextual as well as task performance.

Full text

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Journal of Management and Research Vol 4(1) Spring 2017 (In-press)
Individual compassion leading to employees’ performance: An empirical study from Pakistan
Sadaf Choudhary
1
, Aisha Ismail
2
, Rahila Hanif
3
Abstract
In social sciences “compassion” is considered as an impactful attribute of employees’ satisfaction and
wellbeing. People demonstrate compassion for others in socially interacting environments like an
organization. As organizational people interact with each other therefore they show compassion to-
wards each other. In such a manner compassion becomes an attribute of organizational culture if
organizations themselves promote and support compassion at workplace. Compassion being a source
of employee satisfaction may increase his/her performance or may divert employee’s attention from
task accomplishment. This possibility has inspired this study to empirically test the effect of compas-
sion at workplace on employees’ performance. Moreover, an indirect effect of compassion through
intrinsic motivation on performance is also tested in this study to elaborate how compassion at work-
place intrinsically motivates employees to enhance their performance. To test these relationships, data
from 94 respondents have been analyzed quantitatively. The findings of study supported that com-
passion enhances employee-performance, specifically the contextual-performance. Moreover, intrin-
sic motivation also moderates compassion-performance relationship. Compassion at workplace even
enhances employees’ task-performance when moderated by intrinsic motivation. This study provided
empirical evidence that compassion at workplace can enhance employee-performance; contextual as
well as task-performance.
Keywords: compassion, task performance, contextual performance, intrinsic motivation, per-
ceived choice
Introduction
Compassion is an individual-level emotion and feeling against sufferings either of own or of
others. As it is one’s emotional reaction created in response to distress, it may exist in settings with
interpersonal interactions. An organization is a place where people work together, interact with each
other and have interpersonal communication. Therefore, compassion can be easily observed at work-
place (Kanov et al., 2004). Few of the researches titled individual compassion as “Organizational
Compassion” when supported by organizations in terms of their culture, norms, policies, support from
top-management (Delbecq, Thomas, & L, 2010), organizational structure, monitoring mechanism to
identify personal pains and routine matters (Madden, Duchon, Madden, & Plowman, 2012). Besides
the organizational support, compassion at workplace is a personal feeling which arises in response to
peers’ sufferings and has no direct link with organizational responsibilities and duties (Madden et al.,
2012).
In such a situation it is more of a personal preference of an employee to demonstrate com-
passion towards his/her colleagues. But this personal preference can be encouraged by organizations
through rewarding compassionate behaviors and providing informal platforms to employees to facil-
itate compassionate behaviors (Atkins & Parker, 2011). Therefore, an individual preference becomes
1
Sadaf Choudhary, Virtual University of Pakistan;
2
Aisha Ismail, Virtual University of Pakistan;
3
Rahila Hanif, Virtual University of Pakistan.
(Corresponding author) E-mail: sadaf.vu@gmail.com

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an organizational value and this organizational support towards this personal feeling may induce in-
trinsic motivation among employees. Considering the significant relationship of intrinsic motivation
with employee-performance, it can be proposed that compassion influences employee-performance
which is a main theme of this study. This study has selected compassion as a predictor to employee-
performance either directly or indirectly i-e in the presence of intrinsic motivation and empirically
test relationship between compassion and performance.
Research Objectives
This rationale has proposed following objectives:
1. To identify the existence of compassion at workplace
2. To identify the individual and organizational attributes affecting compassion at workplace
3. To identify the effect of Compassion at workplace on employee-performance
4. To identify the moderating role of intrinsic motivation in relationship between compassion
at workplace and employee-performance
5. To identify the mediating role of intrinsic motivation in relationship between compassion at
workplace and employee-performance.
Research Background
Compassion
The word “Compassion” means bearing the suffering (Figley, 2002). This suffering can be of
one’s own self (K. Neff, 2003; Neff, Kirkpatrick, & Rude, 2007) as well as of others (Gilbert, 2005).
It is a psychological state of an individual in response to pains and sufferings. A shown concern for
sufferings rather than ignoring it and being non-judgmental to failures also represents one’s degree
of compassion (K. Neff, 2003). Furthermore, K. D. Neff (2003) described compassion as ant of
kindness towards other’s bad experiences which are perceived as general human experience. An
individual’s response to not to be critical to sufferings, being isolated due to distress and over-em-
phasizing the pains is also considered as compassion (Neff, Kirkpatrick, et al., 2007) indicating the
existence of positivity among individuals regarding one’s own self (Josee, 2017) as well as for others.
Compassion is also found to be a factor of increasing one’s self-esteem (Sexton & Thompson, 2016).
Goetz, Keltner, and Simon-Thomas (2010) explained compassion “… evolved as a distinct affective
experience whose primary function is to facilitate cooperation and protection of the weak and those
who suffer.” Therefore, this individual response is always in an empathetic way to make sufferers
feel better. To demonstrate compassion one needs to interact with each other (Fulmer & Ostroff,
2016) to share one’s pains and show empathy for other’s sufferings. Therefore such emotions can be
emerged only in settings where people interact with each other. An organization is a place where
people work together and have interpersonal communication. Therefore, compassion can be spread
throughout organization as employees interact with each other (Dutton, Workman, & Hardin, 2014).
Organizational Compassion (OC)
Compassion at work is referred to a collective approach of organizational people towards the
pains of others (Cameron & Caza, 2003; Kanov et al., 2004; Jacoba M Lilius, Kanov, Dutton,
Worline, & Maitlis, 2011; Jacoba M. Lilius et al., 2008). Compassion at work comprises of three
phases; noticing the pain, emotionally connect with other’s suffering and steps taken to minimize the
pain (Jacoba M Lilius et al., 2011). Cameron and Caza (2003) presented the view that organizational
attributes like legitimation, propagation and coordination strengthen compassion at workplace. Ace

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V Simpson, Clegg, and Pitsis (2014) considered compassion as a “mode of positive power” within an
organization. Therefore, it is evident from the literature that organizations acknowledge the existence
of compassion at workplace and encourages it through different interventions. In this manner an emo-
tion which was once the individual’s personal attribute is now spread throughout organization and
became an organizational characteristic supporting kindness, empathy, encouragement among their
employees. Organizations acknowledge the existence of compassion for their own benefits like initi-
ating positive organizational scholarship (Cameron & Caza, 2003), encouraging employees to accom-
plish the task even after experiencing failures (Neff, Hsieh, & Dejitterat, 2005), promoting sense of
collectiveness (K. Neff, 2003) among employees which assist in team work, making employees happy
by lessening their depressions, anxieties and enhancing their satisfactions (K. D. Neff, 2003; Neff,
Rude, & Kirkpatrick, 2007), facilitating crisis management (Rynes, Bartunek, Dutton, & Margolis,
2012; Ace Volkmann Simpson, Clegg, & Pina e Cunha, 2013), controlling disruptive employees’
emotions, facilitating organizational development (Pahlavani & Azizmalayeri, 2016) and legitimizing
actions in response to sufferings (Jacoba M Lilius et al., 2011). Previous studies support the argument
that compassion at workplace positively affects the organization but this positivity is more of an in-
trinsic nature.
The organization’s reaction to employee’s pain may be any of the actions among providing
emotional support and resource to minimize the pain or offer time flexibility to cope with distress
(Kanov et al., 2004; Jacoba M Lilius et al., 2011; Jacoba M. Lilius et al., 2008). Jacoba M Lilius et
al. (2011) suggested that organization can institutionalize this informal aspects through its legitimized
programs and routinized detection of sufferings.
Compassion is mainly an individual’s personal choice therefore it is something which is in-
formal and emerged by compassion providers, receiver and particular organizational context (Jacoba
M Lilius et al., 2011). However, organizations can channelize this informal and emergent aspect
through its supporting structures and programs (Jacoba M Lilius et al., 2011). Organizational inter-
ventions which promote compassion within organization also include hiring people with relational
skills who act compassionately, providing opportunities to employees to express their sufferings
through practices like employee assistance programs, mechanism to notify everyone about em-
ployee’s sufferings and rewarding people on displaying compassionate feeling and helping others in
the time of need (Dutton et al., 2014). Moreover, organizational culture, cohesive interpersonal rela-
tions and role of leaders and managers (Cameron, Bright, & Caza, 2004) play significant roles in
introducing compassion at work places (Dutton et al., 2014). Sergio, Marcano, Gonzales, and
Oribiana (2016) has identified compassion as one of the social responsibility of an organization. All
these organizational practices are considered in study while assessing organizational compassion
through questionnaire.
Intrinsic Motivation (IM)
It is a state of motivation in which individual is motivated to perform even if not provided by
any external reward (Deci, 1971). Specifically offered autonomy and free choice to perform is a main
source of IM among individuals (Deci, 1972; Ryan & Deci, 2000). As it is something which is stim-
ulated internally and not connected to external factors, therefore is self-reported by individuals. Deci,
Eghrari, Patrick, and Leone (1994) suggested perceived-choice as predictor of IM which represents
enhancement in IM. In contrast to this, tension/pressure is a predictor which represents decline in IM.
Therefore, it is based on context, provided to employees rather than content. Relatedness describes
the interpersonal interactions, relationships and friendships which is one of a major contributor of IM
according to self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000). All above mentioned factors describe

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the context in which individual interact with each other; therefore are appropriate factors of IM to
relate with compassion.
Performance
It is a set of acts that is directed towards the goal attainment. With respect to organization,
performance is either considered as overall organizational performance or employee-performance.
Organizational performance depicts financial gains, growth, overall sales (Dess & Robinson, 1984),
while employee-performance describes individual actions including appropriate attitude at workplace
(Mowday, Porter, & Dubin, 1974), timely completion of tasks (Tice & Baumeister, 1997), better
coordination (Gittell, Seidner, & Wimbush, 2010), improved skill (Bhattacharya, Gibson, & Doty,
2005) etc. All these individual attributes basically assists in attaining organizational goals, therefore
are taken as performance indicators. As here compassion is taken as individual preference facilitated
by the organization, individual performance is more appropriate to see the relationship between per-
formance and compassion. Therefore, this study targeted the employee-performance to be observed
when facilitated by organizational compassion. In this study performance is self-reported by employ-
ees in terms of task-performance, contextual-performance and Counterproductive Work Behavior
(CWB). Task-performance depicts technical competence of task and the proficiency with which it is
performed. Contextual-performance is based on the employee positive behavior and attitude in work-
setting to develop a productive environment in which main task can be performed. CWB is a negative
scale of performance which hinders performance. All these sub-scales of performance represent the
level of employee-performance which may be affected by compassion, tested empirically in this
study.
Conceptual Framework
Compassion is initially an individual choice rather than any organizational enforcement;
therefore there is a possibility that different demographical factors affect the degree of compassion
practiced by one’s-self. Individual demographics like gender, age can impact one’s preference to-
wards compassion. Similarly individuals are compassionate at workplace where they have spent an
adequate amount of time and develop friendships and association with peers. Conclusively job-tenure
may define the degree of compassion practiced by employee in particular organization. In addition to
this, organizational attributes may also have the tendency to influence degree of compassion prac-
ticed. It can be logically proposed that organizations having larger number of employees have the
tendency to experience more compassion. Similarly, if organization is indulged in operations and
activities that require more employee interactions can experience high rate of compassion relative to
the other with limited group tasks and interactions. Particular industry type in which organization is
operating defines the nature of organizational operations and activities. Service based organizations
are supposed to have more employee interactions as compared to manufacturing sector firms. There-
fore, this study has only focused the service industry to examine compassion at workplace. Regional
culture also impact the individuals’ preference towards compassion, therefore location of an organi-
zation has the tendency to affect compassion at work. All these logical facts indicate the organiza-
tional factors like its size (in terms of number of employees), industry type (defining nature of task)
and location (geographical location of an organization as rural, small and metropolitan city) and in-
dividual factors including gender, age and job-tenure as predictors of compassion at workplace.
Hence, this study has selected the following variables to explain compassion at workplace:
1. Organization-size
2. Location
3. Gender

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4. Age
5. Job-tenure
Compassion is one of the newly emerged concepts in management science. Previous studies
in this field associate compassion with positivity in the organization. Grant and Berg (2011) identified
compassion as one of the “prosocial motivation” technique at workplace. Prosocial motivation de-
scribes a desire to ensure wellbeing of others apart from self-interest. This sort of motivation intrin-
sically impacts the employees leading towards better work behaviors, improved performance and
interpersonal trust. This indicates the compassion as a source of initiating intrinsic motivation among
the employees, which still needs to be tested empirically. Another support for compassion is advo-
cated by (Pryor, Oyler, Humphreys, & Toombs, 2010) in terms of strengthening transformational
leadership. According to this study, displaying compassion by leaders and superiors create trust
among subordinates facilitating the transformational leadership to induce behavioral changes. An-
other study (Brodbeck, Frese, & Javidan, 2002) has mentioned multiple leadership styles in which
author labeled transformational leadership positively. Leader’s role as “Humble Collaborator” is an
approach of transformational leadership to inspire, initiate team integration and enhance performance
through collaboration and participation. This leadership approach, to transform employees, supports
compassion at work. All these established linkages provide an indication of compassion-performance
relationship which is tested in this study. This study has targeted employee-performance to be ob-
served when facilitated by the organizational compassion. Employee-performance involves task-per-
formance as well as contextual-performance. Task-performance depicts the technical competence of
the task. Contextual-performance is based on employee’s positive behavior and attitude to develop a
productive environment in which main task can be performed. CWB is a negative scale which hinders
performance. All these sub-scales represent the level of employee-performance which may be af-
fected by compassion.
Figure 1. Direct effect of compassion on performance
Compassion can serve as source of IM if employees are provided free choice to mingle, share
their distress with each other and provide assistance to minimize stress. In order to relate compassion
with IM one major factor of IM is also included; relatedness. Relatedness describes the interpersonal
interactions, relationships and friendships which is one of a major contributor of IM according to self-
determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000). All the above mentioned factors describe the context in
which individual interact with each other; therefore are the appropriate factors of IM to relate with
compassion. Other factors of IM which are based on job content like competence, interest in job, task
significance and effort put are ignored as they are less linked to social grouping.
This assumed relationship with IM supports the argument that IM can moderate and/or medi-
ate the compassion-performance relationship in the following diagram:

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Figure 2. Moderating effect of intrinsic motivation on compassion-performance relationship
Figure 3. Mediating effect of intrinsic motivation on compassion-performance relationship
The proposed models are tested through the following hypotheses in this study:
To see Compassion-Performance Relationship
Hypothesis1:
Ho: Compassion affects employee-performance
Performance is constructed of three components; task-performance, contextual-performance
and CWB. Therefore above hypothesis is further segregated into the following sub-hypotheses.
Hypothesis1a:
Ho: Compassion affects task-performance
Hypothesis1b:
Ho: Compassion affects contextual-performance
Hypothesis1c:
Ho: Compassion affects CWB
To see the Moderating Role of IM in Compassion-Performance Relationship
Hypothesis2:
Ho: IM moderates compassion-performance relationship
Hypothesis2a:
Ho: IM moderates compassion-task performance relationship
IM is constructed through three sub-variables therefore moderation will be tested for each
domain of IM and its effect on each category of performance.
Hypothesis2ai:
Ho: tension moderates compassion-task performance relationship
Hypothesis2aii:
Ho: perceived-choice moderates compassion-task performance relationship

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Hypothesis2aiii:
Ho: relatedness moderates compassion-task performance relationship
Hypothesis2b:
Ho: IM moderates compassion-contextual performance relationship
Hypothesis2bi:
Ho: tension moderates compassion-contextual performance relationship
Hypothesis2bii:
Ho: perceived-choice moderates compassion-contextual performance relationship
Hypothesis2biii:
Ho: relatedness moderates compassion-contextual performance relationship
Hypothesis2c:
Ho: IM moderates compassion-CWB relationship
Hypothesis2ci:
Ho: tension moderates compassion-CWB relationship
Hypothesis2cii:
Ho: perceived-choice moderates compassion-CWB relationship
Hypothesis2ciii:
Ho: relatedness moderates compassion-CWB relationship
To see the Mediating Role of IM in Compassion-Performance Relationship
Hypothesis3:
Ho: IM mediates compassion-performance relationship
Hypothesis3a:
Ho: IM mediates compassion-task performance relationship
Hypothesis3ai:
Ho: tension mediates compassion-task performance relationship
Hypothesis3aii:
Ho: perceived-choice mediates compassion-task performance relationship
Hypothesis3aiii:
Ho: relatedness mediates compassion-task performance relationship
Hypothesis3b:
Ho: IM mediates compassion-contextual performance relationship
Hypothesis3bi:
Ho: tension mediates compassion-contextual performance relationship
Hypothesis3bii:
Ho: perceived-choice mediates compassion-contextual performance relationship
Hypothesis3biii:
Ho: relatedness mediates compassion-contextual performance relationship
Hypothesis3c:
Ho: IM mediates compassion-CWB relationship
Hypothesis3ci:
Ho: tension mediates compassion-CWB relationship
Hypothesis3cii:
Ho: perceived-choice mediates compassion-CWB relationship
Hypothesis3ciii:
Ho: relatedness mediates compassion-CWB relationship

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Conceptual Framework
On the basis of above hypotheses the conceptual framework is as follows:

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Methodology
The study is based on explaining compassion through individual and organizational charac-
teristics and to further see its influence on employee-performance. Particular industry type in which
organization is operating defines the nature of organizational operations and activities. Service based
organizations are supposed to have more employee interactions as compared to manufacturing sector
firms. Therefore, this study has only focused the service industry to examine compassion at work-
place. Considering the time limit, convenience sampling was used to select the sample. To get a rea-
sonable amount of data 100 online questionnaires have been sent to the sample conveniently available
from which 94 responses have been received. The questionnaire was developed from three different
questionnaires; questionnaire to measure organizational compassion (Compassionate Organizations
Quiz), questionnaire used to measure employee-performance (Individual Work Performance Ques-
tionnaire- IWPQ) and questionnaire assessing IM (Intrinsic Motivation Inventory-IMI). All these
questionnaires are standard questionnaires with acceptable alpha value but they are adapted for this
study to incorporate only related dimensions.
The final questionnaire adapted from the already developed tools was pilot tested and ana-
lyzed on SPSS. Calculated Cronbach's Alpha for this questionnaire is as follows:
R Project for Statistical Computing is used to analyze the data in this study.
Data Analysis
To identify the relationship of compassion with different individual and organizational attributes this
study has selected the following variables:
1. Organization-size
2. Location
3. Gender
4. Age
5. Job-tenure
To see the relationship of compassion with above mentioned attributes Pearson-correlation
was performed and results are as follows:

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Table 1.
Correlation Statistics
The results showed that compassion is found significant only with age but at 10% level-of-
significance with negative relationship. Moreover, data did not support the logic of relationship of
compassion with organization-size, location, job-tenure and gender.
Now moving towards the major objectives of the study i-e to see the effect of compassion on
employees’ performance the following hypothesis is tested:
Hypothesis1
Ho: Compassion affects employee-performance
Both the variables are measured quantitatively therefore, proposed model is Simple Linear
Regression. A straight line in the following plot shows a linear-relationship between variables; there-
fore linear-model can be established and tested for this equation.

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Figure 4. Normal P-P Plot of Regression Standardized Residual
Furthermore, assumptions of linear-model are tested. The given figure represents the disper-
sion of data as bell-shaped, therefore, data is normal and first assumption of linearity is proved.
Figure 5. Regression Standardized Residuals
As it is a simple regression model therefore, there is no chance of multicollinearity. Following
table shows the results for autocorrelation representing the value within the acceptable range; there-
fore there is no issue of autocorrelation. Hence, all assumptions of linear-model are verified.
Table 2.
Test for Autocorrelation

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Direct Effect
Following table represents regression-model to explain performance through compassion:
Table 3.
Regression Results
P-value for compassion is below 0.05 that shows that significant contribution of compassion
in explaining performance. Although the value of R-square (0.1636) shows week model and there are
other multiple variables which define performance other than compassion. This research has selected
only compassion to describe performance therefore ignored other determinants of performance. The
value of coefficient (+ 0.28748) shows a positive relationship with compassion showing that perfor-
mance will be improved through compassion. On the basis of p-value hypothesis1 cannot be rejected.
Performance is constructed of three components including task-performance, contextual-per-
formance and CWB. Therefore above hypothesis is further segregated into following sub-hypotheses
need to be tested individually
Hypothesis 1a
Ho: Compassion affects task-performance
Table 4.
Regression Results of H1a
Results in above table shows decline in R-square (from 0.1636 to 0.0238) and p-value: 0.1376
shows that compassion has no significant effect on task-performance. Therefore, hypothesis1a is re-
jected.
Hypothesis1b
Ho: Compassion affects contextual-performance

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Table 5.
Regression Results of H1b
Results in the above table show considerable improvement in R-square (from 0.1636 to
0.2501) and significant p-value (2.865e-07). The value of magnitude (+ 0.5721) indicates a positive
relationship of contextual-performance with compassion. This shows significant effect of compas-
sion on contextual-performance and hypothesis1b is accepted.
Hypothesis 1c
Ho: Compassion affects CWB
Table 6.
Regression Results of H1c
Above results show notable decrease in R-square (from 0.1636 to 0.004191) and insignificant
effect (p-value: 0.5353) of compassion on CWB. Therefore hypothesis1c is rejected. This concludes
that performance is affected by compassion only in terms of contextual-performance, whereas no
significant effect is diagnosed on task-performance and counterproductive work behavior.
To meet the second objective of the study is to see the moderating and mediating role of IM
on compassion-performance relationship, following hypotheses are developed. Initially IM is taken
as moderator for overall performance and then for each domain of performance individually.
Indirect Effect, Moderation
Hypothesis 2
Ho: IM moderates compassion-performance relationship

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Table 7.
Regression Results of H2
Above table shows that value of R-square is improved from 0.1636 to 0.2585, indicating the
moderating effect of IM. P-value of moderating effect of IM (0.00138) shows a significant positive
effect (0.6731) while the individual effect of compassion & IM is also significant but with negative
relationship. But influence of IM as a moderator is relatively high with greater magnitude as compared
to individual effect of compassion and IM on performance. Similarly p-value is relatively significant
as compared to other two p-values for individual effect. Therefore, hypothesis2 cannot be rejected.
The effect of compassion is studied for task-performance through following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 2a
Ho: IM moderates compassion-task performance relationship
Table 8.
Regression Results of H2a
In this test value of R-square is improved from 0.0238to 0.08348 which shows moderating
effect of IM. P-value of moderation effect of IM (0.03148) shows a significant positive effect (0.9459)
while individual effect of compassion & IM is also significant but with negative relationship. The
influence of IM as moderator is relatively high with greater magnitude as compared to individual
effect of compassion and IM on performance. Similarly p-value is relatively significant as compared
to the other two p-values for individual effect. Due to significance of moderating effect hypothesis2a
cannot be rejected.

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The effect of compassion is studied for task-performance with moderating effect of tension (a
component of IM) through following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 2ai
Ho: tension moderates compassion-task performance relationship
Table 9.
Regression Results of H2ai
According to above results neither R-square is significantly improved (0.0238 to 0.07406) nor
the results are significant (p-value=0.9857). Therefore, moderating effect of tension on task-perfor-
mance is insignificant. Therefore hypothesis2ai is rejected.
The effect of compassion is studied for task-performance with moderating effect of perceived-
choice (a component of IM) through the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 2aii
Ho: perceived-choice moderates compassion-task performance relationship
Table 10.
Regression Results of H2aii
Above statistics show improvement on R-square from 0.0238(direct impact of compassion on
task-performance) to 0.1213 while moderating effect of perceived-choice on task-performance is also
significant (p-value=0.00310). Therefore, it can be inferred that task-performance will be improved
by 0.6255 units in the presence of perceived-choice through compassion and hypothesis2aii cannot
be rejected.
The effect of compassion is studied for task-performance with moderating effect of related-
ness (a component of IM) through following hypothesis:

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Hypothesis2aiii:
Ho: relatedness moderates compassion-task performance relationship
Table 11.
Regression Results of H2aiii
Above statistics show improvement on R-square from 0.0238(direct impact of compassion on
task-performance) to 0.2121 whereas moderating effect of relatedness on task-performance is not
significant (p-value=0.583). Even independently effect of compassion and relatedness on task-per-
formance is not significant. Therefore, moderating effect of relatedness is insignificant and hypothe-
sis2aiii is rejected.
Now the moderating effect of IM is tested for contextual-performance through following hy-
pothesis:
Hypothesis 2b
Ho: IM moderates compassion-contextual performance relationship
Table 12.
Regression Results of H2b
In this test value of R-square is increased from 0.2501(direct effect of compassion on contex-
tual-performance) to 0.2798 this increase shows that moderating effect of IM in this relationship has
improved the model. But P-value of moderation effect of IM (0.584) is insignificant moreover; indi-
vidual effect of compassion & IM is also insignificant. The significance of moderating effect of IM
indicates the rejection of the hypothesis2b but it has improved the model fit.
The effect of compassion is studied for contextual-performance with moderating effect of
tension (a component of IM) through following hypothesis:

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Hypothesis 2bi
Ho: tension moderates compassion-contextual performance relationship
Table 13.
Regression Results of H2bi
According to the above results value of R-square is improved (0.2501 to 0.2883) but results
are not significant (p-value=0.1402). Therefore, moderating effect of tension is insignificant. Simi-
larly, independent effect of compassion and tension on contextual-performance is also insignificant.
Therefore hypothesis2bi is rejected.
The effect of compassion is studied for contextual-performance with moderating effect of
perceived-choice (a component of IM) through the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 2bii
Ho: perceived-choice moderates compassion-contextual performance relationship
Table 14.
Regression Results of H2bii
According to above results value of R-square is improved (0.2501 to 0.2676) but results are
not significant (p-value=0.2076). Therefore, moderating effect of tension is insignificant. Similarly
independent effect of compassion and tension on contextual-performance is also insignificant. There-
fore hypothesis2bii is rejected.
The effect of compassion is studied for contextual-performance with moderating effect of re-
latedness (a component of IM) through the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 2biii
Ho: relatedness moderates compassion-contextual performance relationship

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Table 15.
Regression Results of H2biii
According to above results value of R-square is considerably improved (from 0.2501 to
0.4053) moreover, the results are also significant (p-value=0.010599). Therefore, moderating effect
of relatedness on contextual-performance is significant. Similarly independent effect of compassion
and relatedness on contextual-performance is also significant with the positive relationship. This
shows that the contextual-performance will be declined by 0.4613 units by one level increase in com-
passion in presence of relatedness. Therefore hypothesis2biii is failed to reject.
Now the moderating effect of IM is tested for CWB through the following hypothesis
Hypothesis 2c
Ho: IM moderates compassion-CWB relationship
Table 16.
Regression Results of H2c
According to above statistics value of R-square is improved from 0.004191 to 0.04707 but
moderating effect is insignificant (p-value=0.0650). Similarly direct effect of compassion and IM is
also insignificant. Therefore, it can be inferred that CWB cannot be explained through moderating
effect of IM on compassion. Conclusively hypothesis2c is rejected.
The effect of compassion is studied for CWB with moderating effect of tension (a component
of IM) through the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 2ci
Ho: tension moderates compassion-CWB relationship

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Table 17.
Regression Results of H2ci
The moderating effect of tension on CWB-compassion relationship has improved the model
fit (from R-square: 0.004191 to 0.06953) but p-value (0.2242) is insignificant. Compassion and ten-
sion also have insignificant direct effect on CWB. Therefore, hypothesis2ci is rejected.
The effect of compassion is studied for CWB with moderating effect of perceived-choice (a
component of IM) through following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 2cii
Ho: perceived-choice moderates compassion-CWB relationship
Table 18.
Regression Results of H2cii
The moderating effect of perceived-choice on CWB-compassion relationship has improved
model fit (from R-square: 0.004191 to 0.01716) but p-value (0.3832is insignificant. Compassion and
perceived-choice also have insignificant direct effect on CWB. Therefore, hypothesis2cii is rejected.
The effect of compassion is studied for CWB with moderating effect of relatedness (a com-
ponent of IM) through the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 2ciii
Ho: relatedness moderates compassion-CWB relationship

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Table 19.
Regression Results of H2ciii
The moderating effect of relatedness on CWB-compassion relationship has improved the
model fit (from R-square: 0.004191 to 0.1034) but p-value (0.662) is insignificant. Compassion and
relatedness also have insignificant direct effect on CWB. Therefore, hypothesis2ciii is rejected.
Indirect Effect, Mediation
To see the mediating role of IM it is now taken as mediator for overall performance and the
following hypothesis is further tested:
Hypothesis 3
Ho: IM mediates compassion-performance relationship
The hypothesis is tested through the sobel-test giving the following results:

INDIVIDUAL COMPASSION LEADING TO EMPLOYEES’ PERFORMANCE 85
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The above results show that direct effect (0.2874758) of compassion on performance is greater
than the indirect effect (0.0230281) and z-value (0.731538) is less than 1.96 this shows that results
are not significant. This indicates that IM is not a significant mediator hence hypothesis3 is rejected.
The mediation is further tested for all dimensions of performance (task-performance, contex-
tual-performance, CWB) and IM (perceived-choice, relatedness, tension) and results were found in-
significant.
Summary of Results
Sr.#
Hypotheses
Result
1.
H1
Accepted
2.
H1a
Rejected
3.
H1b
Accepted
4.
H1c
Rejected
5.
H2
Accepted
6.
H2a
Accepted
7.
H2ai
Rejected
8.
H2aii
Accepted
9.
H2aiii
Rejected
10.
H2b
Rejected
11.
H2bi
Rejected
12.
H2bii
Rejected
13.
H2biii
Accepted
14.
H2c
Rejected
15.
H2ci
Rejected
16.
H2cii
Rejected
17.
H2ciii
Rejected
18.
H3
Rejected

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Note: As mediation was not found
significant so other hypotheses of
mediation were not tested
Discussion
The statistical results in the above section concluded the acceptance of six hypotheses (H1,
H1b, H2, H2a, H2aii & H2biii) in explaining performance through compassion. The accepted hy-
potheses show that performance is affected by compassion existing in an organization (H1). This
effect of compassion is due to its impact on contextual-performance only. The results show that com-
passion has no effect on task-performance (H1) and CWB (H1c) individually. But as it is positively
related with contextual-performance (H1b), hence improving the overall performance of employees.
Therefore, it can be inferred that existence of compassion increases the contextual-performance of
employees that desire more work-coordination, collaboration and team work. Further, the moderating
and mediating role of IM is studied between compassion-performance relationships. The statistical
results show that IM moderates the relationship between compassion and performance (H2).
This relationship has further explained and tested for the three dimensions of performance and
through three different components of IM separately. This segregation identified the existence of re-
lationship between compassion and task-performance in the presence of IM (H2a) which was not
present in the direct effect. This relationship was further explored for the moderating effect of each
dimension of IM separately. In this analysis moderating effect of perceived-choice was found signif-
icant in positively strengthening the relationship between task-performance and compassion. This
indicates that task-performance which is not directly affected by compassion is positively related to
compassion in the presence of perceived-choice (H2aii). Therefore, in order to enhance the task-per-
formance, which is directly related to the objective measures of job tasks and responsibilities, com-
passion play a significant role if it involves IM of the employees. To see the clear impact of IM, the
analysis is performed on each dimension of IM (tension, perceived-choice & relatedness).
The results show that tension (H2ai) and relatedness (H2aiii) have no moderating effect on
task-performance through compassion. While moderation of perceived-choice is identified significant
on task-performance explained through compassion (H2bii). Or simply it can be said that if employ-
ees are provided free choice to mingle and communicate with each other it will enhance their task-
performance in the presence of organizational compassion. On the other hand where compassion was
positively related to contextual-performance, is now declining the contextual-performance in the pres-
ence of moderating effect of relatedness (H2biii). This shows that if people are closely linked with
each other and have emotional bonding then they will be more indulged in sharing their personal grief
and discomfort and their attention towards performance is ignored. Therefore, organizations need to
monitor the social affiliations of their employees and ensure that it should not affect the performance.
No significant moderating effect of IM is identified in relationship of compassion with CWB, neither
in combine form nor separately through domains of IM (tension, perceived choice, relatedness). In
order to study the effect of IM on performance, mediation was also tested for it. But IM has not
significantly mediated the overall performance, not even any component of performance. Therefore,
it is inferred from this study that existence of compassion within an organization can enhance em-
ployee-performance, specifically contextual-performance.

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Conclusion
The findings of the study support that existence of compassion within an organization can
enhance employee-performance particularly, contextual-performance. Compassion can also enhance
the task-performance but in the presence of perceived-choice of individuals. Employees’ willingness
to share, support and encourage their colleagues to cope with their discomforts basically motivates
them in performing better by ignoring their sufferings. The results not just explained the positive
aspects of intrinsic motivation on compassion-performance relationship, but it also highlighted the
negative impact. Compassion negatively affects contextual-performance of employees if they have
more informal bonding, depicting high level of relatedness. If such interpersonal affiliations are not
monitored properly it will mislead the employees’ concentration towards their personal problems and
official tasks are ignored. Mingled-up people become friends and put less in team efforts to perform
better. This conclusion guides the management towards the importance of compassion at organiza-
tional level in enhancing performance, but to attain the high level performance this interpersonal as-
sociation through compassion needs to be monitored so that it may not lead to work inefficiency.
Moreover, the importance of compassion which has been theoretically discussed in literature has been
proved empirically in the service sector in enhancing performance.

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