The role of emotional intelligence in employees' organisational citizenship behaviours

Abstract

Organisational citizenship behaviours (OCBs) have been the topic of much research attempting to understand the antecedents and impacts of these behaviours on organisational effectiveness. This study examines the role of emotional intelligence (EI) on employees’ involvement in OCBs. Respondents (N = 185) from six organisations completed EI and OCBs questionnaires. The results of this study indicated significant differences between the employees with high and low EI for the involvement in OCBs. Further, employees with high EI were more involved in OCBs such as individual initiative, personal industry and loyal boosterism. There was no significant difference between high and low emotional intelligent employees on interpersonal helping behaviour. Implications and limitations of this study are discussed and avenues of future research are identified.