Adversity Quotient Promotes Teachers’ Professional Competence More Strongly Than Emotional Intelligence: Evidence from Indonesia

Teachers’ professional competence has become a popular issue since the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this study investigates teachers’ professional competence, in terms of emotional intelligence (EI), adversity quotient (AQ), and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), when teachers need to deal with abnormal situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, this study also seeks to explore the relationship of EI and AQ with teachers’ professional competence mediated by OCB. The research data were collected through a questionnaire using a Likert scale from 589 participants: elementary school teachers in Indonesia were chosen through accidental sampling. The data analysis used structural equation modeling (SEM), complemented by common method bias, correlational, and descriptive analysis. The result shows that EI, AQ, and OCB have a significant relationship with teachers’ professional competence. However, AQ more strongly promotes teachers’ OCB and professional competence than EI does. In addition, OCB mediates the relationship between EI and AQ with teachers’ professional competence. Accordingly, a new model regarding the relationship of EI and AQ with teachers’ professional competence mediated by OCB was confirmed. Therefore, it is suggested that teachers’ professional competence can increase through EI, AQ, and OCB. Hence, the new empirical model deserves to be discussed, adapted, and even adopted by practitioners and researchers to develop the professional competence of teachers in the future.