Position, gender, emotional intelligence and job ... - Inderscience Online

Int. J. Work Organisation and Emotion, Vol. 7, No. 4, 2016

Position, gender, emotional intelligence and job performance Bassem E. Maamari* and Micheline Shouweiry Lebanese American University (LAU), P.O. Box 13-5053 – F13, Chouran, Beirut 1102-2801, Lebanon Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] *Corresponding author Abstract: With increased pressure for higher levels of performance and output, human resources managers are seeking new ways for matching employees’ competencies with job requirements and fitting employees into the best positions for maximising outputs. As a result, emotional intelligence appears to have an important role in fitting the customer service employees. This study is conducted in Lebanon and compares the front-desk to the back-office employees using the financial sector for field. The results of statistical analysis, correlations and regressions, reveal a number of interesting findings that if applied, may impact the performance of both front-desk and back-office employees. Keywords: emotional intelligence; job performance; gender; front-desk; back-office; Lebanon; financial sector. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Maamari, B.E. and Shouweiry, M. (2016) ‘Position, gender, emotional intelligence and job performance’, Int. J. Work Organisation and Emotion, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp.299–315. Biographical notes: After a long executive career, Bassem Maamari joined the academic world as a full-time faculty at the Lebanese American University’s School of Business. He brings a wealth of practical experience in the areas of sales management, finance, MIS and human resources management. He has a number of studies and his research interests include job satisfaction of employees, emotional intelligence and the impact of technology on people. Micheline Shouweiry holds an MBA in Management Studies. She is a bank employee interested in improving managerial perceptive attitude. Joining her work experience to her research interest, she played a major role in completing this research field study. Her current plans include several studies on human behaviour and the role of the employee in the customer’s decision at the bank.

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B.E. Maamari and M. Shouweiry

Introduction

Traditionally, the main examination for employee competence that is considered by organisations and human recourse managers is the ‘intelligent quotient’. However, in the last decade, another important and attractive testing tool evolved and was found to be significant at the work place, emotional intelligence (Young and Dulewicz, 2005). Salovey and Mayer (1990) describe emotional intelligence as the ability of the person to understand his or her feelings in addition to the feelings of others, observe them carefully, understand and control them, and deduce the important information from them. Many factors contribute to the success of companies, one of which is job performance. According to Robbins (2005), job performance is related to the effort that an individual employee exerts in doing the job that is required from him or her, and to the outcomes. According to Goleman (1998), emotional intelligence is an essential ingredient in order to reach high level of job performance. Goleman (1998) also stated that emotional intelligence is proved to be positively correlated to the thriving persons’ outcomes that are set within the organisation. The main goal of this study is to understand the relationship, if any, between emotional intelligence and job performance, and what factors affect this relationship, since job performance is one of the major concerns of today’s competitiveness in organisations.

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Literature review

2.1 Emotional intelligence Emotional intelligence is defined by Goleman (1998, p.317) as “the capacity to recognise our own emotions and the emotions of others”. Some researchers categorise emotional intelligence as an ability (Salovey and Mayer, 1990), others as a competency (Goleman, 1996), while a third group of researchers view it as a hybrid mix of personal factors (Dulewicz and Higgs, 2000; Dulewicz et al., 2005; Baron, 1997). Emotional intelligence helps manage and control one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions. Emotional intelligence is made up of: appraisal of own emotions, appraisal of others’ emotions, use of emotions, and regulation of emotions. Appraisal of emotions means that the person is being able to articulate and communicate his or her emotions in an understandable way to others. Emotional appraisal of others means that a person is able to be sympathetic with others and understand how they really feel. The use of emotions is related to a person’s cognitive reasoning. Finally, regulation of emotions is simply managing the others’ emotions in order to make the best use of them. This dimension is very important for leaders and managers within the organisation (Zhou and George, 2003). According to Garner and Associates (2009), human behaviour is multi-phased with four levels. The first level is being able to understand the reason behind one’s own, and others’ emotions. The second is self-management where the person recognises bigger goals and the process to achieve them. The third is social awareness including empathy, where a person recognises others’ feelings and non-verbal cues such as fear. Finally, relationship management is the degree to which a person can sway and influence the

Position, gender, emotional intelligence and job performance

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emotions of other people, using tools such as team leading skills and negotiation skills (Ahuja, 2016). Emotional intelligence was introduced in year 1990 by Salovey and Mayer. With time it became a popular criterion that human resource managers, leaders, and organisational behaviour specialists, use in their concepts and models of interpersonal and intrapersonal communication tools. This, as a result of research findings that proved that intellectual quotient, emotional quotient and managerial competencies are related to overall performance (Dulewicz et al., 2005). Further research proved that employees must be trained in managing their own, as well as others’ emotions, effectively. This can lead to effective information processing (Naseer et al., 2011). Studies proved that the person, with time, experiences more emotions and has the chance to perceive and interpret them. Thus, the person would be able to handle his/her emotions and hence, learn to handle the emotions of others (Goleman, 1998). And seeing the emotional roots of emotional intelligence, researchers suggest it may impact one’s priorities and value system (Higgs and Lichtenstein, 2011). Furthermore, today’s work environment relies more on tools such as communication, teamwork and cooperation to achieve high levels of performance and productivity. The limitation related to Goleman’s EI model remains the attempt for registering almost everything except IQ (Verbeke et al., 2004). This requires more emotional intelligence abilities on the part of the employees, especially those in the services industry. Therefore, we will dedicate the following sections to discuss the different results surveyed from the literature reviewed, beginning with its relationship if any, with job performance, then with gender and finally with position or job title.

2.2 Emotional intelligence and job performance Our analysis of the reviewed literature begins with the relationship between emotional intelligence and job performance. Performance and efficiency touch on every firm. Job performance can be identified by the achievements that employees accomplish. EI is reported to affect people’s happiness, well-being, performance, and their perception of life. The same are at the essence of the positive psychology theory (Bar-On, 2010). It is today widely applied because of its link to better performance (Ciarrochi and Mayer, 2013; Zhang and Schutte, 2015). Thus, organisations need to assess every employee’s performance, monitor, and take corrective actions in order to improve performance (Deadrick and Gardner, 2000). In a competitive work environment, where promotion is related to achievement and outcomes, every manager thrives to meet high job performance levels and reach organisational goals. It is very important to set certain procedures and targets for the employees. However, what is more important, is giving the employee the opportunity to partake and be a part of this process (Locke and Latham, 2002). Naseer et al. (2011) highlight some factors pertaining to the job performance of Pakistani teachers. They specify that the important factors relating to emotional intelligence include emotional appraisal, using emotions, emotion appraisal of other people, and regulation of emotions. These are proven to be very critical when the employee is at the work-place. Wu (2011) conducted a study in order to explain the role of emotional intelligence on job stress and job performance on Taiwanese financial services sector employees. The results show that there is a moderate positive correlation between emotional intelligence and job performance (r = 0.444, p < 0.001), while the correlation between job stress and emotional intelligence is weak and negative

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(r = –0.100, p < 0.05). In addition to that, job stress and job performance are found to be inversely related (r = –0.100, p < 0.05). Likewise, the results report that emotional intelligence acts as an intermediary mediator between job stress and job performance. According to Wu (2011), people with a high level of emotional intelligence are ready to deal with a stressful situation. Shipley et al. (2010) studied the correlation between emotional intelligence and work experience, and emotional intelligence and academic performance with respect to the GPA of students. The study shows that there is a positive correlation between emotional intelligence and work experience (r = 0.166, Sig. = 0.05). Therefore, the literature concludes that emotional intelligence “made a greater contribution to overall performance” [Dulewicz et al., (2005), p.71], but this effect differs among people, and remains to be tested in the Lebanese environment.

2.3 Emotional intelligence and gender Our second factor under study and review in the literature is the relationship between emotional intelligence and gender. In 2002, Brackett et al. studied how gender affects emotional intelligence and behaviour. The tests used were the ‘Mayer-Salovey-Caruso emotional intelligence test’, life space, and the ‘big five personality traits’ model. The results showed significant differences between females and males in many aspects. Nasir and Masrur (2010) surveyed a sample composed equally of female and male participants using Baron’s (1997) ‘emotional quotient inventory’ to determine the different levels of emotional intelligence. Their results show that little difference exists in the levels of emotional intelligence between males and females, which they refer to how a person is raised. Petrides and Furnham (2000) tested emotional intelligence and self-control, using Salovey and Mayer’s (1990) famous three factors model (imagination, cognition, and personality), and reported that males and females have different levels of emotional intelligence. The main gender differences were shown in items such as ability to understand your own emotions, ability to handle conflict and disputes and being positive and optimistic. In these items mentioned, male respondents scored higher on emotional intelligence. Moreover, males scored higher on self-motivating factors while females scored higher on social skills. Brackett et al. (2002) focused on emotional intelligence and gender differences in relationships using the ‘Mayer-Salovey-Caruso emotional intelligence test’ (Mayer et al., 2002). Their results show that overall female emotional intelligence is higher than that of the overall male counterparts. Moreover, they used the ‘life space test’ by Mayer et al. (1998) to study emotional intelligence with respect to behaviours. Results showed that females’ emotional intelligence, and deviant behaviours and alcohol consumption, were uncorrelated, while an inverse relationship exists among men. Males with lower emotional intelligence tend to have more deviant behaviours and more alcohol consumption. Petrides and Furnham (2006) studied four job related criteria, namely job stress, perceived job control, organisational commitment and job satisfaction. They used the ‘trait emotional intelligence questionnaire’ (TEIQue-SF) (Petrides et al., 2004) along with the ‘job control questionnaire’ (Bacharach and Aiken, 1976), the ‘overall job satisfaction questionnaire’ (OJSQ) (Warr et al., 1979), and the ‘organisational commitment questionnaire’ (OComQ) (Cook and Wall, 1980). One overall result of the study is that high levels of emotional intelligence are aligned with lower levels of stress and with higher levels of satisfaction and commitment. Petrides and Furnham (2006) explained that in the males’ model, people with high emotional intelligence are confident. On the other hand, they postulated that there was an absence of


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similar reaction when it comes to females in the same context. Lyusin (2006) also examined the relationship between emotional intelligence and gender using two scales: interpersonal and intrapersonal. The results state that the difference in emotional intelligence levels in both females and males is present. Thus females and males have different levels of emotional intelligence. All these are in line with what Johnson and Spector (2007) report on difference among genders.

2.4 Emotional intelligence and positions Our third factor of study in the literature review is emotional intelligence and its impact on job performance through job position. Kernbach and Schutte’s (2005) study on Australian service industry employees and customer satisfaction reports that participants with the least customer satisfaction were the ones that interacted with the employees of the least level of emotional intelligence. The results support the fact that emotional intelligence and the situation difficulty are positively but weakly correlated. Moreover, Sy and Cote (2003) conducted a study that showed how emotional intelligence plays a main and important role in the matrix of an organisation. After studying and observing different organisations, Sy and Cote (2003) concluded that emotional intelligence plays an important yet different role among all the levels of the matrix. They recommend that people with high empathy and social skills, for example, should be those who interact with customers, because they are better equipped to know what they exactly need and want. On the other hand, employees with high levels of self-management and self-awareness should be in planning or other positions. Thus, the levels of emotional intelligence differ with the position of employees within the organisation. As a result of surveying the available literature on emotional intelligence, a large spectrum of research was uncovered as more scholars attempt to investigate the impact of emotional intelligence on factors such as performance (Rodes et al., 2007; Baron, 1997), career path (Dulewicz and Higgs, 2000, 1999; Goleman, 1996), negotiation and decision making (Day and Caroll, 2004). As a result, it is believed that emotional intelligence may have a deeper impact at the work place than was previously thought (Higgs and Lichtenstein, 2011) while empirical studies have so far failed to align results. Thus, the researchers decided to investigate the relationship of emotional intelligence to job performance, gender, and job position. This decision is based on three in-depth interviews conducted with three human resources managers working within the financial world, the two working in the banking sector, the third in a commercial insurance and re-insurance company. The result of the exploratory interviews clearly highlighted the fact that the performance of the employees in these firms of financial nature, is mainly evaluated based on the numerical results achieved. In a world heading toward more and more balanced scorecard and 360 degree evaluation of performance, the researchers’ decision was to focus attention on the other dimension of the human element, namely emotions and the use of these emotions at work. Therefore, the researchers put forth the below model and hypotheses to test (see Figure 1). Because the study is essential in the development of the human resources management in a country whose economy relies heavily on services (Mottu and Nakhle, 2010), the researchers opted toward a quantitative study. Moreover, the researchers were encouraged by the clear characteristics of the sub-group of employees working in the services industry as both front-desk and

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back-office jobs. This category of employees is easily identifiable and appears to share common criteria as well as job-related problems of burnout and high stress.

Emotional Intelligence Factors

Figure 1

Model to test • Self-emotion appraisal • Emotion appraisal of others • Use of emotions • Regulation of emotions

GENDER

Job Performance

JOB POSITION • Back Office • Front Office

The model reveals a number of relationships that were reported in the literature reviewed as tested in different countries such as the USA, Australia, Taiwan, Pakistan, and other countries, but not in Lebanon. Therefore, we formulated three hypotheses that we intend to test in the Lebanese business environment. These hypotheses are: H1

Emotional intelligence and job performance are positively related.

H2

Gender moderates the relationship between EI and job performance.

H3

Position moderates the relationship between EI and job performance.

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Methodology

As guided by the above literature review, and from which our model and hypotheses are derived, the ultimate goal of this study is to determine the existence if any, and the scope, direction and intensity, of the relationship between emotional intelligence and job performance. Moreover, the researchers intend to determine if gender and job position within the organisation moderate this relationship. The research is based on primary data collected through a field study using a self-administered questionnaire distributed to employees that work in the Lebanese services industry, mainly in the financial sector (insurance companies, banks and other financial institutions). The companies were chosen from a list of medium to large sized firms. The sampling process followed by the researchers took into consideration the geographic concentration of the targeted market segments and population. The study was unfolded mainly in Beirut, the metropolitan capital city of Lebanon, which houses more than 50% of the total population and national business volume. The sampled locations were geographically chosen to provide for a wide and dispersed representative sampling. The firms contacted were randomly chosen by the research team and in these firms a census of both front-desk and back-office employees was done. This, in order to compare employees’ responses between those working as front office employees – that work directly the customers – and those working


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in the back office. The data collection process took place between January and April 2012. The total population of the chosen sectors includes approximately 25,000 employees. For a confidence interval of 99%, a large response rate was secured (n ≥ 30) (McClave et al., 2005). One thousand and forty copies of the questionnaire were in total. In some companies, the research-trained contact persons were forwarded the questionnaire by email, while others were visited by the researchers, and given details relating to the survey. Overall, 801 questionnaires were collected (77.01%) with nine proving to be missing some data, thus not usable. The collected remaining 792 questionnaires were transferred to SPSS 20.0 for analysis. The questionnaire used is composed of three parts. The first includes the demographic characteristics including gender, age, educational background, and position in the current organisation. The second part pertains to the dimensions of emotional intelligent: self-emotion appraisal, emotion appraisal of others, use of emotions and regulation of emotions. The emotional intelligence questionnaire (composed of 16 measure items) was taken from Naseer et al. (2011). The third part was composed of the modified job performance questionnaire (composed of seven measure items) that was originally developed by Dubinsky and Mattson (1979), and was modified by Singh et al. (1996), and published by Wu (2011). A 5-Likert scale was used to measure responses, where 1 refers to ‘strongly disagree’, 2 to ‘disagree’, 3 to ‘neutral’, 4 to ‘agree’, and 5 to ‘strongly agree’. To analyse the tool’s suitability, a number of tests were run on the collected data. The reliability test was performed using SPSS 20.0. Cronbach’s alpha was high (.746). The factor analysis test was run using SPSS and the results show a high KMO (.865) with a Bartlett’s sphericity of 3,464.765 at .000 significance. The commonalities test using the extraction method (PCA) results show that all the items of the scale ranged between .572 and .747, thus can be retained, while the initial eigenvalues ranged between 14.226 and .951 (with only three items scoring below 1.0).

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Results and analysis

4.1 Frequencies Frequencies are run in order to better understand the sampled group of participants. The sample is composed of 792 respondents, 407 females (56.02%) and 385 (43.98%) males. The group of participants is composed of a majority of young adults aged 26 to 35 years (63.87%). Educational background of the respondents is divided as follows, 12 participants hold a high school or less, 92 participants hold a baccalaureate degree, 278 participants hold a college or university degree, and 410 participants hold a masters or a terminal degree (see Table 1). The frequency test shows that 217 females work in back-office and 190 females work in front-desk positions. On the other hand, 142 males work in back-office positions and 243 males work as front desk (see Table 2). The back-offices’ employees perform jobs that are not in direct contact with the customers, such as information technology, inter-branch transfers, etc.; while the front-desk employees are in direct contact with customers in their job.

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Table 1

Demographic distribution of sample Freq.

%

Gender Females

407

51.39

Males

385

48.61

Below 25 years

153

19.32

26 to 35

505

63.76

36 to 45

112

14.14

46 to 55

13

1.64

More than 56

9

1.14

12

1.51

Age

Educ. Level High school Baccalaureate

92

11.62

College/univ

278

35.10

Masters

410

51.77

Table 2

Job category distribution of sample Back office

Front desk

Freq.

%

% of total

Freq.

%

% of total

Males

142

39.55

17.93

243

56.12

30.68

Females

217

61.45

27.40

190

43.88

23.99

Totals

359

100.00

45.33

433

100.00

54.67

4.2 Correlations analysis Correlation analysis was done between each of the demographic variables and each of the emotional intelligence dimensions and performance. The results show that gender and regulation of emotions are positively and weakly correlated (r = 0.145, Sig = 0.046). Age is positively and weakly correlated to self-emotion appraisal (r = 0.198, Sig = 0.006), and to regulation of emotions (r = 0.276, Sig = 0.000). Educational background is positively and weakly correlated to use of emotions (r = 0.197, Sig = 0.006) and to job performance (r = 0.293, Sig = 0.000). And position is positively weakly correlated with use of emotions (r = 0.194, Sig = 0.007) and with job performance (r = 0.194, Sig = 0.007). All at a confidence level of .01 two tailed. Further correlation analysis was done in order to explore the relationships between job performance and the factors of emotional intelligence. The results show that job performance and self-emotional appraisal are not correlated. However, job performance is moderately correlated with a Sig. = .000 at the level of .01 (2-tailed) with emotional appraisal of others, (r = .325), use of emotions (r = .477), and with regulation of emotions (r = .248).


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Moreover, using EI as a single construct by summing up its four components reveals a number of positive moderate correlations. It is correlated with age (r = .211; Sig. = .003; p