Women Leaders in Healthcare: Emotional Intelligence, Job Satisfaction, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior

The purpose of this nonexperimental quantitative correlational study was to explore the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI), organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and job satisfaction among women in nonclinical leadership roles within the U.S. healthcare sector. As healthcare organizations adapt to technological, social, and economic transformations, they must increase their focus on cultivating EI and promoting OCB, especially in leadership roles (Bowling & Sessa, 2021; Herr et al., 2022; Marstand et al., 2021). Additionally, research has shown that EI facilitates business development and diminishes obstacles to organizational sustenance. Although prior research has established a link between EI and OCB, there is limited understanding of how EI influences OCB in women leaders in nonclinical healthcare settings. This study addressed this critical research gap by focusing on two central RQs related to how women leaders’ EI influences OCB and job satisfaction in nonclinical healthcare environments. Women aged 18 and older in nonclinical healthcare leadership positions were surveyed regarding EI, OCB, and job satisfaction. Using SPPS, Kendall’s tau_b correlation indicated that there was a weak positive statistically significant relationship between EI and OCB, r(54)=.195, p=.043. While EI demonstrates a statistically significant relationship with OCB, its explanatory power is limited. Specifically, EI accounts for only 4% of the observed variance in OCB. This means that 96% of the factors influencing OCB remain unexplained by EI alone, warranting further research to identify these factors.