The Relation Between EI and OCB (Research Paper Sample)

The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence (EI) And Organizational Citizenshp Behaviour (OCB): The Moderating Role Of Islamic Work Ethics (IWE)
ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 16 (1), January - June 2015: XX-XX
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE (EI) AND ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHP BEHAVIOUR (OCB): THE MODERATING ROLE OF ISLAMIC WORK ETHICS (IWE)
Syed Nadeem Abbas Haider
Management Sciences Department, Mohammad Ali Jinnah University Islamabad, Plot No. 36 Mahria Land Sub-division phase 2, Attock. Punjab, Pakistan.
Abstract
Objective: This study intended to investigate the relationship between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) with moderating role of Islamic Work Ethics (IWE). Methods: A sample of 123 students of Islamabad were surveyed on EI, OCB and IWE and data from this survey were entered into a linear regression model to study the links between these variables. Thirty-four (27.6%), 45 (36.6%), 9 (7.3%), 27 (21.9%) and 8 (6.5%) of the respondents were in the age range of 20 - 25, 25 - 30, 30 - 35, 35 and above, respectively. Furthermore, 7 (5.7%), 23 (18.7%), 43 (34.9%), 31 (25.2%) and 19 (15.4%) had qualifications of Graduate, Masters, MS, PhD and Post Doc, respectively. Eighty-two (66.67%) were male and 41 (33.33%) female. Results: There was a statistically significant linear relation between EI and OCB (Beta = 0.292) whereas IWE also had a notable link with OCB (Beta =0.559). IWE had no significant impact on the relationship between EI and OCB. Conclusion: The interaction effect of EI and IWE did not cause the target sample of the study to exhibit OCB to a significant level. ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 16 (1): January – June 2015: XX XX.
Keywords:Organizational Citizenship Behaviour, Emotional Intelligence,
Islamic Work Ethics
Introduction
Emotional Intelligence (EI) is recognized as an effective and efficient tool to prolong one’s existence and tenure in an organization because it helps oneself in building social relations and respect amongst the employees in a particular organization [1]. The prolongation of tenure increases employees’ commitment towards the organization and therefore, they want to do something extra for their workplace in order to express their attachment. The attachment is often expressed by exhibiting Organizational Citizenship
Behaviour (OCB) that is defined as a set of voluntary actions that employees perform for their organization [2]. Nevertheless, in collective culture, employees are famous for serving the organizations for longer periods [3] and because of this reason, it is inferred that there is viable link between the constructs of EI and OCB in a featured cultural setting [4]. However, the Muslims ideally take their work as an integral part of the lives and therefore, they tend to perform their duties in the light of religious values [5]. The main contribution of this study is stemming from considering the role of IWE as a moderating
The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence (EI) And Organizational Citizenshp Behaviour (OCB): The Moderating Role Of Islamic Work Ethics (IWE)
ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 16 (1), January - June 2015: XX-XX
variable for the well-established relationship between EI and OCB [6].
The EI is believed to be the ability of a person that allows him or her to identify his or her own emotional state and along with this, it allows him or her to effectively judge others’ cardinal state as well. However, the people with higher level of EI are known to use the emotional state of others to their advantage or to meet certain goals, and their ability to develop long-term communal relationships is considered important. Additionally, the people who are emotionally intelligent have been known to have the ability to work towards organizational and personal goals with vigour. The most difficult phase of practicing EI is to delay the original emotional responses to the situation and manifest an entirely different and socially acceptable reaction [7]. OCB is defined as a set of voluntary activities that an employee or a group of employees is performing in order to better the organizational work climate. These activities are not part of the formal duties of the participants and neither are they considered during the process of employee’s evaluation [8]. OCB is often fostered in staff when they receive good level of institutional responsiveness from administration and have sufficient opportunities to achieve their career goals while working with a certain organization [9]. The dimensions of OCB are believed to be supportive attitude, ethical responsibility, and self-initiation. The OCB literature suggests that the construct is the result of an individual’s dedication towards an organization [10] and therefore, he or she works towards betterment of organizational work climate. Moreover, the employees involved in OCB are rather responding to supervisor’s good behaviour or attached to the image of organization to an extent where they consider working for the betterment of the company as their ethical duty. Attachment theory describes that workers have a profound tendency of sharing their problems and issues with people who possess significant and notable level of ability to care for others [11].
The middle and operational managers are primarily and informally responsible for resolving issues in the workplace [12]. The Social Exchange Theory helps in identification
of peers as the best solvers of workforce related issues as their exposure and knowledge about work conditions is better than both middle and top managerial levels. Based on the above argument, it can be established that OCB is more abundantly customary amongst horizontal levels of the organization due to strong social relations amongst peers. Socially active people are anticipated a great deal to render help for their colleagues in difficult times. The associative behaviours are neither recognized nor rewarded by the institutions in a major number of cases in the corporate sector of Pakistan and therefore, the strength of social relations can render great help in terms of applying the notion of OCB as it involves helping colleagues against no apparent benefit [13].
IWE is a construct that is developed in order to incorporate religious ethical values in one’s professional life. Islam promotes professional engagement so that an individual can become an active and supportive participant of the society. Islamic cultures work significantly towards building a society and community, and the societal relationships are established with the help of corporation and collaboration. In modern perspective, an organization is a social construct and therefore, it can thrive based on building synergetic relationships. However, Islamic philosophy is of the view that helping others in positive professional endeavors is nobility and it will be rewarded in the afterlife [14]. Islamic Ethics in general, promote selfless service to the society and as organizations can be taken as communities of a smaller scale, OCB can be used as a means of applying Islamic values in the workplace, and there is a sustainable statistical link between the featured constructs [15] as well.
The construct of OCB cannot be applied without strong social and communal relations with the organization’s employees because the construct gives substantial amount of value to OCB practitioner’s ability to solve problems and help troubled colleagues and none of these activities can be performed in absence of social relations [16]. Thus, there is a logical and scientific need to study the moderation effect of IWE on previously established link between EI and OCB. The moderation influence should be empirically tested because
The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence (EI) And Organizational Citizenshp Behaviour (OCB): The Moderating Role Of Islamic Work Ethics (IWE)
ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 16 (1), January - June 2015: XX-XX
Muslim workers have profound psychological need to practically apply religious practices in their professional lives [14] and therefore, it is yet to be seen that the abovementioned need is compelling them to serve their organizations without receiving compensation in exchange or not.
This research would help organizational managers to understand the role of IWE in strengthening OCB among the Muslim workers who constitute major and notable percentage of the entire global workforce. This study intended to investigate the relationship between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) with moderating role of Islamic Work Ethics (IWE).
Methods
Sampling technique and population
This study has used the technique of convenient sampling in order to draw a sample from the target population that consist the students of private universities in Islamabad. The researcher was a student of a privately owned university and because of this reason; it was cost effective for him to conduct a survey in above-mentioned type of educational institution. The sample was finally drawn from a private university located in the city where 150 questionnaires were distributed among the students of the institution whereas, 123 completely filled instruments were collected
(123/150 = 82%). The participation of the respondents was voluntary and ethical approval was duly obtained from administration of the educational institution from where sample was drawn.
Instruments, score interpretation and Cronbach’s Alphas
Three instruments were employed and all of them were measured on a five point Likert scale. The questionnaires developed by Rahim, Psenicka, Polychroniou, and Jing-Hua [17], Bukhari and Ali [18] and Ali, [19] were used to mea...