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The research reported in this paper investigates the interlinkages among Emotional Intelligence (El), Job Satisfaction (JS) and Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB). The aim of this research is to understand the role of JS as a mediator in the relationship between EI and the various dimensions of OCB. A sample of 635 IT employees in India participated in the empirical study. Bootstrapping technique using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to test the research hypotheses. Findings of the research reveal that employees who are high on EI display more discretionary behaviors and are more satisfied with their jobs. Results further suggest that job satisfaction partially mediates the hypothesized relationship between EI and OCB. As this research used a cross-sectional design based on self-report data, it could lead to biased results, which is a limitation of this study. Organizations should focus on developing high EI among their employees to enhance their job satisfaction and OCB. The present research contributes to a better understanding on the interrelationships among EI, JS and OCB, especially on the role of emotional intelligence in enhancing OCB through job satisfaction.
Key Words: Emotional Intelligence, Job Satisfaction, IT employees, Mediation, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior
INTRODUCTION
Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) has several benefits to the organizational outputs, such as, organizational productivity, revenue, effectiveness, efficiency, reduced cost, customer satisfaction and turnover (Podsakoff and MacKenzie, 1994; and Podsakoff, Whiting, Podsakoff and Blume, 2009). It indicates that OCB is one of the essential aspects of organizational growth. Organ (1988, p. 4) has defined OCB as "individual behavior that is discretionary, not explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in the aggregate promotes the effective functioning of the organization". Such behavior of employees is typically not acknowledged by formal reward system of organization (Organ, Podsakoff and MacKenzie, 2006). OCB of employees improve the organizational performance. Several research studies were undertaken to identify the antecedents and consequences of OCB. Employees' own characteristics, job characteristics, organization characteristics, and leadership behaviors stimulate the OCB among the employees. (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Paine and Bachrach, 2000).
OCB of employees is one of the key factors, which influences the organization (Podsakoff, Whiting, Podsakoff and Blume, 2009). OCB is considered as a dependent variable in the several studies of OB (Azmi, Desai and Jayakrishnan,...