Generation Y employees: the role of psychological empowerment on the relationship between emotional intelligence and interpersonal citizenship behaviors

Abstract

The present study aims to propose and test an integrative model that considers the mediating effects of Generation Y employees’ psychological empowerment (PE) on the relationships between their emotional intelligence (EI) and interpersonal citizenship behaviors (ICB). The model was tested on a sample of 477 Generation Y employees working in IT sector. For the indicators of employees’ EI, Wong and Law’s model, involving ‘self-emotion appraisal’, ‘others’ emotional appraisal’, ‘use of emotion’ and ‘regulation of emotion’, has been applied in the study. Hierarchical regression analyses postulated that EI and ICB were mediated by PE. The relationships between use of emotion and ICB were fully mediated by PE, while the relationships between self-emotion appraisal, others’ emotional appraisal and regulation of emotion and ICB were partially mediated by PE. The findings indicate that organizations should focus more on enhancing PE of Generation Y employees, which is the underlying effect between their EI and ICB.