Assessing the mediating effect of organizational climate in the context of Malaysian banking industry

Abstract

This study examined the mediating effect of organizational climate on the relationship between emotional intelligence and leader-member exchange on organizational citizenship behavior within the context of Malaysian banking industry. The study began by assessing the links that exist between emotional intelligence, leader-member exchange, and organizational citizenship behavior in terms of conceptual theory, context and measurement. The context selected for this study refers to the commercial banking industry of Malaysia. The reason for selecting this particular industry is because it involves the quality effort of developing leader-member exchange relationship among workers. By looking into the employees’ citizenship behavior, the outcome of this study can be used to improve job commitments and work climate of employees. A successful organizational climate has to consider the leader-member exchange approach so as to increase employees’ commitment, their mental ability, and employees’ citizenship behavior. In meeting the research objectives, both survey and systematic analysis methods were employed. The relationships between the variables were examined using IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software Version 24, whereas the mediation analysis was determined using SMART PLS-3. This study gathered 384 usable data via survey. The study findings revealed that emotional intelligence and leader-member exchange had a positive relationship on organizational citizenship behavior, while the hypotheses are positively supported, directly and indirectly (the impression of partial mediation) with all 12 hypotheses revealing positive and high test for all constructs with significant levels. The study outcomes pave the path for future researchers to further analyze the recommended variables, especially when organization functions and performances are closely associated to evaluating employee’s emotional intelligence, employee’s exchange relationships and employee’s commitment toward organizational citizenship behavior.