Organizational Citizenship Behaviour and Emotional Intelligence

The relationship between organizational citizenship behaviour and emotional intelligence has been explored among employees of thermal plants in India. This empirical study intends to examine the relationship between organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) as a dependent variable and emotional intelligence (EI) as an independent variable. Five dimensions of OCB namely, altruism, sportsmanship, conscientiousness, courtesy and civic virtue have been included in the study; whereas four dimensions of EI based on Schutte et al. (1998) i.e. perception of emotions, managing own emotions, managing others' emotions and utilization of emotions have been tested. EI of the respondents has been self-reported, while OCB has been superior rated. The outcomes indicated that there is positive relationship between OCB and EI and EI significantly predicted OCB of the respondent after controlling for the demographic variables. Among OCB dimensions, sportsmanship and courtesy emerge as statistically significant; while among EI dimensions, utilization of emotions and managing own emotions have been found as greatest contributors.