Organizational resilience and employee performance in COVID-19 pandemic: the mediating effect of emotional intelligence

Purpose Explosion of the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19) has led to an unprecedented crisis lately, which has adversely affected the performance level of professionals in the educational sector worldwide due to a number of constraints, imposition of lockdown being one of those. Organizational Resilience (OReg) and Emotional Intelligence (EI) discretely have been identified as indicators of employee performance (EP) over the years, but during the period of crisis, these have been scarcely analyzed. Therefore, the present study aims to examine the mediating role of emotional intelligence on the relationship between organizational resilience and employee performance during the pandemic. Design/methodology/data-analysis 390 responses from the teaching and non-teaching professionals working in the Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) were collected from different HEIs located in India through online survey questionnaires. The collected data was further analyzed using regression analysis, factor analysis, structural equation modeling along with bootstrapping technique, reliability and validity analysis, mediation analysis, and model fit indices analysis. Findings The results of the study confirmed partial mediation effect of EI on OReg-EP relationship, and further results also exhibited that employees with a higher level of EI, contribute more positively to the organizational resilience level, which further enhances the performance level at the workplace. Research limitations The samples collected for the current study pertain to the higher educational institutions (HEIs) only, therefore the present study results have limited general applicability. Furthermore, the study doesn’t investigate the influence of time. Practical implications This study would assist practitioners of HEIs in improving the resilience capabilities of the organization. Employee performance can be improved by enhancing the levels of organizational resilience and individuals’ emotional intelligence, which is in line with the findings of the current study. Originality/value The current study examines the mediating effect of emotional intelligence on organizational resilience and employee performance relationship for the first time in the HEIs in India