Understanding The Mediating Role of Quality of Work Life on the Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors

Abstract

Organizational citizenship behaviors are not directly rewarded by organizations. However, they seem to contribute to excellent performance at work. The aim of this study is to test quality of working life’s (QoWL) mediating role in the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB). 203 French adults working regularly in teams completed validated self-report measures corresponding to each construct. The collected data showed that in the studied sample, a high quality of working life was associated with Sportsmanship behaviors. However, mediation was not observed for the other OCB subscales: Altruism, Helping, or Civic virtues. These behaviors tend to occur in individuals with high emotional intelligence scores, unrelated to their quality of working life. Theoretical background, practical implications, and limitations of the study are discussed.