Employees’ emotional intelligence and innovative behavior in China: Organizational political climate as a moderator

We used conservation of resources theory to explore the moderated mediation effect of employees’ emotional intelligence on their innovative behavior in an organization context. Data were collected from 237 employees and their supervisors in two innovative Chinese enterprises, with a dual time point pairing design. The results show that emotional intelligence positively influenced innovative behavior via innovative process engagement, a strongly negative organizational political climate negatively moderated the effect of emotional intelligence on innovative process engagement, and innovative process engagement mediated the relationship between emotional intelligence and innovative behavior. These results support the need to strengthen the management of employees’ emotions; to build a new ecology of organizational politics in China (e.g., offering fair pay and promotions); and to promote coworker relationships that are characterized by openness, transparency, and integrity, to promote innovation among employees.