Leadership and citizenship performance behaviour of tomorrow's managers

Abstract

The primary role of universities is to nurture productive citizens. Youth view university education as a vital step to become future's managers. Possession of leadership initiatives and display of citizenship performance have been viewed helpful in securing preferred jobs, and career development for the youth. Citizenship Performance Behaviour (CPB) and leadership styles have been empirically found to be important factors for career enhancement. Objectives of the study are to empirically assess the CPB, leadership styles and Emotional Intelligence (EI) levels of university students, and to analyse the relationships among them. Hundred and seventy six university students (103 girls, and 73 boys) were selected from Zlin, Czech Republic. A shortened version of the multifactor leadership questionnaire, Genos EI Inventory, and Poropot & Jone's index of CPB were used to measure the key variables among respondents. Descriptive and inferential analyses of survey data were conducted using SPSS software. Variations were observed between boys, and girls in their leadership styles, EI levels, and CPB. Fluctuation of EI levels indicated the volatility of the reasoning ability of university students in competitive emotional encounters. Study concludes positive relationships of transformational leadership style with CPB, and EI in a collectivist and non-for profit context. There was no moderation effect of EI level to the relationship between transformational leadership style and CPB of university students. Improving awareness and practice of EI, and transformational leadership style among university students is expected to facilitate grooming of societally contributory managers. Further research among practicing managers will enrich knowledge and practice.