Assessing Emotional Intelligence and Organizational Citizenship Behavior among Executives: Examples from Bruneian SMEs

Abstract

Emotional Intelligence (El) is emerging paradigm discussed and researched widely within the domain of organizational behavior and leadership research continuum in the workplace. This has further been recognized as an effective tool along with Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) in enhancing the organizational productivity. Keeping in view the relative importance and the potential of these two domains; El and OCB on the management of SMEs, this pioneering study was conducted among the executives of 101 SMEs in Brunei Darussalam. The study uses the Swinburne University Emotional Intelligence Test (SUEIT) and standard instrument to measure organizational citizenship behavior. The study using survey methodology aims not only to establish empirical evidence of examining executives' relationship between El and OCB but also to find out the role of demographical and organizational variables such as gender, age, educational qualifications, no. of years of experience, job title and types of business with the El among these executives. The result indicates that both El and OCB are significantly correlated and there exists a significant relationship between all contextual variables excluding gender and EL The results are discussed and recommendations are made based upon the data analysis and conclusion.