Development emotional intelligence for increased work engagement, organisational commitment, and satisfaction with work life

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Highly competitive organisations are aware that their competitive edge lies within theirhuman capital. In order for such organisation to stay ahead investing in best practicesregarding people management and development is of paramount importance. In recent times,work engagement has been empirically linked to many positive organisational outcomes(Bakker, Demerouti, & Verbeke, 2004; Salanova, Agut, & Peiro, 2005; Schaufeli, Taris, &Bakker, 2006a). However, research on practical organisational interventions, aimed atincreasing work engagement, is scant.Engaged employees often experience positive emotions (Bakker & Demerouti, 2008). Happypeople are more sensitive to opportunities at work, more outgoing and helpful to others, moreconfident when interacting with others and more optimistic when taking on challenges.According to Bakker, Schaufeli, Leiter, and Taris (2008) engagement not only stems from jobresources, but from personal resources as well. Building on Fredrickson's (2000) Broad andBuild theory of positive emotions, it is argued in this study that Emotional Intelligence (EI) isa personal resource that has not been studied in relation to work engagement. EI refers to thecapacity to effectively perceive, express, understand and manage emotions in a professional andeffective manner at work (Palmer & Stough, 2001). EI regulation abilities (e.g. emotionalmanagement and control) help increase individuals' coping and / or resilience when morepositive affect is experienced, according to Fredrickson's Broad and Build theory, and should therefore be a particularly important personal resource for the enhancement of workengagement. The development of EI has progressively been gaining positive momentum andvarious studies have provided empirical support to suggest that EI can be developed(Dulewicz & Higgs, 2004; Fletcher, Leadbetter, Curran, & O'Sullivan, 2009; Gardner, 2005;Gorgens-Ekermans, 2011; Nelis, Quoidbach, Mikolajczak, & Hansenne, 2009; Slaski &Cartwright, 2003). By using the Swinburne University Emotional Intelligence Test (SUEIT)theoretical framework, it is argued that by developing emotional recognition and regulationabilities, specifically that of emotional management, employees would be better able tomanage their positive and negative emotions, thereby improving their positive psychologicalstate at work, which should increase their level of engagement. It is furthermore argued thatincreased EI will also affect other positive organisational outcomes, such as organisational commitment and satisfaction with work life. To this end, an EI training interventionprogramme was implemented and evaluated within an international courier company based inCape Town, South Africa.A controlled experimental design (two-group pre- and post-test design) was utilised for theresearch. The EI training programme was evaluated in terms of its effect on EI, workengagement, organisational commitment and satisfaction with work life. A second objectiveof the study was to investigate and replicate previous research on the interrelationshipsbetween the constructs in the study within a South African sample. The total sampleconsisted of 35 full time employees. Three assessments were conducted (one week beforethe start of the intervention, immediately after the completion of the training, and two and ahalf months thereafter) The findings of the study demonstrated limited empirical support forthe notion that EI training could improve levels of EI. Although definite trends to suggest thiswere evident in the data, the results were not statistically significant. Empirical evidencefurther suggested partial and weak support for work engagement and satisfaction with worklife levels increasing as a result of the intervention. Unfortunately no support fororganisational commitment levels improving as a result of the training was found. In terms ofexploring and replicating the interrelationships between the constructs in the study,favourable results were found. Significant positive relationships emerged between all therelated constructs. The results, however, need to be interpreted in terms of the limitations thatwere identified for this study. The results suggest that more research is required in thisdomain.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University