Is emotional intelligence the panacea for a better job performance? A study on low-skilled back office jobs

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 683-698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Ángel Sastre Castillo ◽  
Ignacio Danvila Del Valle

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI), organizational affective commitment (AC), and performance at low-skilled back office positions. Design/methodology/approach In all, 397 participants in low-skilled back office positions from a service company completed a questionnaire assessing EI, AC, and performance. The authors used multiple regression models for testing whether higher levels of EI and AC predicted better performance. Additionally, they tested to see whether EI and AC were positively related. Findings The results showed that workers in low-skilled back office positions with higher EI and AC had better performance. In this sense, intrapersonal skills and mood management were the dimensions of EI with the highest predictive power. Also, EI and AC were positively related, with intrapersonal skills and adaptability being the dimensions of EI most closely associated with AC. Finally, the predictive power on performance was increased when EI and AC were considered simultaneously. Originality/value Traditionally, the involvement of EI and other personal dimensions in increasing organizational commitment and better work performance has been studied in high-skilled and executive positions, as well as in front office low-skilled positions. However, there is little empirical evidence regarding the simultaneous influence of EI and AC on performance in low-skilled back office positions. This gap prompted this research, which suggests that the investment of organizational resources is mandatory for improving EI and, hence, organizational commitment and work performance in these employees.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emna Gara Bach Ouerdian ◽  
Nizar Mansour ◽  
Khadija Gaha ◽  
Manel Gattoussi

PurposeThe present study attempts to examine the mediating effect of leader member exchange (LMX) and affective organizational commitment on the relationship between followers' emotional intelligence (EI) and their turnover intention.Design/methodology/approachUsing a cross-sectional design, survey data were obtained from 182 employees in Tunisia. Survey responses were analyzed using Model 6 in PROCESS (Hayes, 2017).FindingsAs predicted, LMX and affective organizational commitment were found to sequentially and totally mediate the causal relationship between EI and turnover intention.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations include using a cross-sectional design, convenience sampling and self-report measures for EI, LMX, affective commitment and turnover intention.Practical implicationsOrganizations need to encourage more emotionally intelligent responses in employees which improve the quality of their leader–follower relationships. The quality of LMXs enhances the affective commitment that drives lower turnover intention.Originality/valueWhile the relationship between EI and turnover intention has been theorized, this study is one of the first to enable us to explore the mechanisms underlying this relationship. Specifically, a sequential mediation model linking EI with turnover intention through LMX and affective commitment was proposed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 282-289
Author(s):  
Alison Horstmeyer

Purpose This paper aims to describe mind–body infused coaching and to explain four distinct effects it can have on organizational executives and employees. Design/methodology/approach A review of theory and research on mind–body practices, emotional intelligence and work performance was conducted. A case study from the author’s experience also is included. Findings Mind–body infused coaching activates employees’ awareness, ignites a strengths-based approach, improves inner workings of the brain, boosts emotional intelligence and promotes curiosity. Practical implications HR professionals and managers are encouraged to obtain training in evidence-based mind–body principles to improve and sustain outcomes when coaching organizational executives and employees. Originality/value Conventional coaching approaches tend to be highly reductionistic by focusing solely on employees’ personality types, soft skills or achievement of specific goals. This paper discusses a holistic approach to coaching the whole person and outlines four specific benefits that could be anticipated as a result.


2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 583-603 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florence Stinglhamber ◽  
Géraldine Marique ◽  
Gaëtane Caesens ◽  
Dorothée Hanin ◽  
Fabrice De Zanet

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine why and when followers of transformational leaders exhibit increased affective organizational commitment. Particularly, the authors examined the role played by perceived organizational support (POS) and supervisor’s organizational embodiment (SOE), i.e. a perception concerning the extent to which employees identify their supervisor with the organization, in this relationship. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 287 employees of a water producer organization responded to a questionnaire. Findings – The results show that, when employees strongly identify their supervisor with the organization, transformational leadership is positively related to POS, with positive consequences in terms of emotional attachment to this organization. In contrast, when the supervisor is not identified to the organization, his/her transformational leadership does not extend to POS and, finally, to affective organizational commitment. Practical implications – The findings suggest that a high transformational leadership and a high SOE together engender the highest POS and affective commitment. Organizations should thus provide their managers with training programs and feedbacks over their performance as leaders to promote transformational leadership. Furthermore, to foster perceptions of SOE, organizations might implement socialization tactics aiming to strengthen managers’ organizational identification or person-organization fit, and give managers more power and influence in their day-to-day work to increase employees’ attributions of informal organizational status to managers. Originality/value – By showing that POS and SOE are important mechanisms in the transformational leadership-affective commitment relationship, this research explains why and when transformational leadership of supervisors has spillover effect on organization-directed attitudes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 11-21
Author(s):  
Suyoto Suyoto ◽  
Ahmad Zainal Abidin ◽  
Hariyaty Hariyaty

This study aims to determine the application of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS) to the organizational commitment and work performance of the Midwife of Public Health Centre in Banyumas Regency. Central Java, Indonesia. Data collection techniques using purposive sampling. The sample of this study were 243 midwives with the following criteria: minimum education D3 midwifery, minimum working period of one year and minimum age of 22 years. The data analysis technique uses SEM AMOS. Model fit is shown by good and significant goodness of fit results. The results showed that indicators of organizational commitment consisting of affective commitment, continuous commitment and normative commitment were able to explain the construct of organizational commitment. Work performance indicators consisting of work performance, contextual performance, adaptive performance and productive work performance can explain the construct of work performance. The construct of organizational commitment has a significant positive effect on the construct of work performance.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jungkun Park ◽  
Jiseon Ahn ◽  
Hyowon Hyun ◽  
Brian N. Rutherford

PurposeIn this study, the authors examine the impacts of two facets of retail employees' cognitive support and affective commitment on emotional labor-related outcomes.Design/methodology/approachTo test the study hypotheses, 521 retail service employees participated in the survey. By using the structural equation modeling, the results show that employees' perceived organizational support directly and positively employees' affective organizational commitment and emotional exhaustion.FindingsBy using the structural equation modeling, the results show that employees' perceived organizational support directly and positively influence employees' affective organizational commitment and emotional exhaustion. The extent of employees' affective organizational commitment directly and negatively influences emotional labor and exhaustion. Furthermore, employees' emotional exhaustion exerts an influence on retail employees' propensity to leave.Research limitations/implicationsDrawing on social exchange and conservation of resources theories, this study contributes to emotional labor research and practices by examining factors that potentially influences employees' propensity to leave. For future studies, researchers can expand the proposed framework of the current study to other retailing settings.Practical implicationsFindings of the study suggest that retail organizations need to manage employees' support and commitment concerning to understand emotional labor.Originality/valueThe current study found that employees' affective commitment influences key emotional labor constructs including emotional labor and emotional exhaustion. Employees who have a high level of identification, involvement and emotional attachment toward the organization, they are less likely to feel of overload and inefficiency. Given the importance of emotional labor in the retailing setting, the proposed model and findings of this study contribute the existing knowledge of retail employees' behavior.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Furnham ◽  
Luke Treglown ◽  
Daria Topic

Purpose The study aims to look at whether trait emotional intelligence (EI) was related to the job performance level of a manager, their immediate team and their peers. Design/methodology/approach This study looked at the relationship between trait EI and performance appraisals, as evaluated by the person themselves, their peers, manager and team. Trait EI facets of 903 employees were compared to evaluated performance appraisals of the different groups four months later. Findings All 15 of the correlations (20 < r < 0.42) between the emotional intelligence facets and self-ratings were significantly positive whilst for managers 10, peers 6 and team only 4 were significant, though all were positive. In line with affective primacy theory, structural equation modelling revealed performance was rated higher by non-manager colleagues when employees exhibited traits associated with positive interpersonal interactions. Originality/value There are very few studies using multi-source ratings to explore the consequences of EI on a manager’s team and peers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-156
Author(s):  
Mohammadkarim Bahadori ◽  
Matina Ghasemi ◽  
Edris Hasanpoor ◽  
Seyed Mojtaba Hosseini ◽  
Khalil Alimohammadzadeh

Purpose It is necessary for organizations to have committed employees to perform properly and be able to survive in a competitive world. One of the key components of organizational commitment is implementation of ethical leadership. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between ethical leadership and organizational commitment in fire organizations of Tehran. Design/methodology/approach A descriptive-correlational study was carried out in 2019. The sample consisted of 200 randomly selected participants, active in executive and headquarters divisions of fire department in Tehran. To collect data, a questionnaire with three different parts: demographics, organizational commitment questionnaire and the ethical leadership scale, was used. Data analysis were performed by AMOS24 and SPSS software, and data are presented as descriptive statistics of frequency, percentages, mean ± standard deviation (SD) and Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Findings Mean and SD for organizational commitment and ethical leadership were 3.44 ± 0.7 and 3.66 ± 0.62, respectively. Affective commitment had the highest average score among organizational commitment dimensions (3.63 ± 0.75). Among ethical leadership dimensions, ethical management showed the highest average (3.79 ± 0.70). Each component of organizational commitment, i.e. affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment, also showed a significant relationship with ethical leadership (p < 0.05). Model fit results revealed that independent variables could anticipate 87% of changes of dependent variables in organizational commitment. Originality/value The results show a significantly positive relationship between ethical leadership and organizational commitment among the firefighters. Therefore, by using ethical leadership method, i.e. being a role model, improving the relations between management and employees, establishing trust and mutual respect, managers of fire departments can increase firefighters’ organizational commitment, affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment and prevent them from quitting.


2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 644-658 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ameer A. Basit

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to advance research on the newly developed construct of respectful engagement (RE) (Carmeli et al., 2015), which focuses on positive interrelating behaviors characterized by respect in the organizational context. Further, this study aims to examine whether RE was associated with task performance and affective organizational commitment, and whether employee job engagement mediated these relationships. Design/methodology/approach Using the self-reported measures and online survey method, data were collected from 185 employees working in one of the world’s largest hosiery firms located in the eastern part of Punjab, Pakistan. Structural equation modeling and multiple regressions were used to test the proposed conceptual model. Findings RE had significant positive effects on task performance and affective commitment. The effect of RE on affective commitment was stronger than it was on task performance. Moreover, job engagement significantly mediated the effects of RE on task performance and affective commitment. Research limitations/implications This study provides empirical evidence that RE enhances job engagement of employees by improving their levels of effort, enthusiasm and pride and concentration in work roles. Consequently, the enhanced level of job engagement leads employees to demonstrate better task performance and increased affective commitment with the organization. Practical implications Managers can institutionalize RE by applying strategies suggested by (Dutton, 2003) that focus on conveying presence, being genuine, communicating affirmation, effective listening and supportive communication. Training programs around these strategies can help managers to achieve this goal. Furthermore, in their day-to-day performance discussions, managers should follow the above strategies that could open further avenues for RE at the workplace. Managers can also allocate some weight to employees’ RE as part of their performance appraisals. The use of rewards would encourage employees to adopt RE as a norm desired by the organization. Originality/value This study extends research on the new developed construct of RE by focusing on task performance and affective commitment as its key outcomes. Furthermore, this study is the first to introduce job engagement as mediator in the relationship of RE with task performance and affective commitment. Another important aspect of this study is that its model has been tested on the data collected from Pakistan, which is an underrepresented geographical region in the management literature.


2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 609-625 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Wang ◽  
Leslie Albert ◽  
Qin Sun

PurposeIn light of the increasing popularity of telecommuting, this study investigates how telecommuters' organizational commitment may be linked to psychological and physical isolation. Psychological isolation refers to feelings of emotional unfulfillment when one lacks meaningful connections, support, and interactions with others, while physical isolation refers to physical separation from others.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was used to collect data from 446 employees who telecommute one or more days per week.FindingsThe results of this study indicate that telecommuters' affective commitment is negatively associated with psychological isolation, whereas their continuance commitment is positively correlated with both psychological and physical isolation. These findings imply that telecommuters may remain with their employers due to perceived benefits, a desire to conserve resources such as time and emotional energy, or weakened marketability, rather than emotional connections to their colleagues or organizations.Practical implicationsOrganizations wishing to retain and maximize the contributions of telecommuters should pursue measures that address collocated employees' negative assumptions toward telecommuters, preserve the benefits of remote work, and cultivate telecommuters' emotional connections (affective commitment) and felt obligation (normative commitment) to their organizations.Originality/valueThrough the creative integration of the need-to-belong and relational cohesion theories, this study contributes to the telecommuting and organizational commitment literature by investigating the dynamics between both psychological and physical isolation and telecommuters' organizational commitment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-272
Author(s):  
Nimmy A. George ◽  
Nimitha Aboobaker ◽  
Manoj Edward

Purpose Drawing from the social identity theory and social exchange theory, the purpose of this study is to examine the intervening mechanisms linking perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) and employees’ affective organizational commitment. It is proposed that organizational trust (OT) and organizational identification (OID) would serially mediate the aforementioned relationship. Furthermore, this paper attempts to understand how employees’ attitude toward the importance of CSR (ICSR), moderates the linkages under the focus of this study. Design/methodology/approach This descriptive study was conducted among a sample of 519 employees working in the manufacturing sector in India. Self-reporting standardized questionnaires were administered among the respondents, who were selected through the judgment sampling method. Measurement model analysis was done using IBM AMOS 24.0 and Hayes’ PROCESS macro 3.0 (Models 6 and 84) was used for testing the serial mediation and moderated serial mediation. Findings Results revealed a significant indirect effect of all dimensions of CSR on employees’ affective commitment, serially mediated through OT and OID. The conditional indirect effects varied significantly and it was identified that CSR to customers and CSR to employees had a significant conditional indirect effect on affective commitment, through attitude toward the ICSR, OID and OT. However, the conditional indirect effect of CSR to social and non-social stakeholders on affective commitment was not statistically significant. Originality/value This study is pioneering in conceptualizing and empirically testing an integrated theoretical framework that models the influences of perceived CSR, employees’ attitude toward the ICSR, OID and OT on their affective commitment toward the organization. CSR plays a vital role in strengthening the employer-employee relationship and managers should facilitate a work environment that befits the alignment of organizational and individual ethics and values.


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