Volume 8, Issue 8 (August 2021), Pages: 79-93
----------------------------------------------
Original Research Paper
Title: How does emotional intelligence improve employee satisfaction and performance with mediating effect of employee engagement? Perspective from Saudi Arabian private companies
Author(s): Adel Alferaih *
Affiliation(s):
Department of Business Administration, College of Business Administration, Majmaah University, Al-Majmaah, Saudi Arabia
Full Text - PDF XML
* Corresponding Author.
Corresponding author's ORCID profile: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7547-0750
Digital Object Identifier:
https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2021.08.011
Abstract:
The main focus of this study is to examine how Emotional Intelligence (EI) improves Employee Job Satisfaction and Performance (EJSP) with mediating effect of Employee Engagement (EE) in private sector organizations of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The nature of the research study is quantitative, and a correlational design has been adopted for the study. Primary data was collected from a sample of 537 employees of private organizations in major cities of KSA. SPSS and Smart PLS were used to run different statistical techniques to test the proposed model. The results of this research study reveal that EI positively impacts the performance and satisfaction level of employees where EE also mediates the relationship between EI and performance and satisfaction level of employees. Also, age, gender, and experience of employees act differently as a moderator in this study. The contribution from this research study would be an addition to existing literature. This research study holds a significant involvement towards theory, practice, and methodological progression in the field of learning and creating EI abilities and its vital influence on performance and satisfaction level of employees in the Saudi Arabian context, as no such study has been conducted in Saudi Arabia, to the best of our knowledge. The study is supposed to provide useful insights into the methodological advances in the field of EI as a learnable ability that can be created. EI should be enhanced to employees to get a significant level of performance and satisfaction in the working environment.
© 2021 The Authors. Published by IASE.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Keywords: Emotional intelligence, Employee engagement, Employee performance, Employee satisfaction
Article History: Received 9 November 2020, Received in revised form 23 February 2021, Accepted 19 May 2021
Acknowledgment
The author would like to thank the Deanship of Scientific Research at Majmaah University for extending support to this research work under project Number No. R-2021-16.
Compliance with ethical standards
Conflict of interest: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Citation:
Alferaih A (2021). How does emotional intelligence improve employee satisfaction and performance with mediating effect of employee engagement? Perspective from Saudi Arabian private companies. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 8(8): 79-93
Permanent Link to this page
Figures
Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Fig. 5
Tables
Table 1 Table 2 Table 3 Table 4 Table 5 Table 6 Table 7 Table 8
----------------------------------------------
References (71)
- Adkins A (2016). Employee engagement in US stagnant in 2015. Gallup, Washington, USA. [Google Scholar]
- Al Kahtani A (2013). Employee emotional intelligence and employee performance in the higher education institutions in Saudi Arabia: A proposed theoretical framework. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 4(9): 80-95. [Google Scholar]
- Alnidawy AAB (2015). The effect of emotional intelligence on job satisfaction: Applied study in the Jordanian telecommunication sector. International Journal of Business Administration, 6: 63-71. https://doi.org/10.5430/ijba.v6n3p63 [Google Scholar]
- Alvi AK, Haider R, Haneef M, and Ahmed AA (2014). A critical review of model and theory of employee engagement. Science International, 26: 821-824. [Google Scholar]
- Anand R (2016). Emotional intelligence and its relationship with job satisfaction of software engineers. Global Journal of Commerce and Management Perspective, 5(1): 26-31. [Google Scholar]
- Anitha J (2014). Determinants of employee engagement and their impact on employee performance. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 63(3): 308-323. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPPM-01-2013-0008 [Google Scholar]
- Bande B, Fernández-Ferrín P, Varela JA, and Jaramillo F (2015). Emotions and salesperson propensity to leave: The effects of emotional intelligence and resilience. Industrial Marketing Management, 44: 142-153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2014.10.011 [Google Scholar]
- Barden CL (2017). The correlation between employee engagement and job satisfaction in the social security administration. Ph.D. Dissertation, Governors State University, University Park, USA. [Google Scholar]
- Çekmecelioğlu HG, Günsel A, and Ulutaş T (2012). Effects of emotional intelligence on job satisfaction: An empirical study on call center employees. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 58: 363-369. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.09.1012 [Google Scholar]
- Chandani A, Mehta M, Mall A, and Khokhar V (2016). Employee engagement: A review paper on factors affecting employee engagement. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 9(15): 1-7. https://doi.org/10.17485/ijst/2016/v9i15/92145 [Google Scholar]
- Christian MS, Garza AS, and Slaughter JE (2011). Work engagement: A quantitative review and test of its relations with task and contextual performance. Personnel Psychology, 64(1): 89-136. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2010.01203.x [Google Scholar]
- Cropanzano R and Mitchell MS (2005). Social exchange theory: An interdisciplinary review. Journal of Management, 31(6): 874-900. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206305279602 [Google Scholar]
- Dagher GK and Al Hajj R (2010). An empirical investigation of the relation between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction in the Lebanese service industry. The Business Review, 16(2): 71-77. [Google Scholar]
- De Clercq D, Bouckenooghe D, Raja U, and Matsyborska G (2014). Unpacking the goal congruence–organizational deviance relationship: The roles of work engagement and emotional intelligence. Journal of Business Ethics, 124(4): 695-711. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1902-0 [Google Scholar]
- Demerouti E, Cropanzano R, Bakker A, and Leiter M (2010). From thought to action: Employee work engagement and job performance. In: Bakker AB and Leiter MP (Eds.), Work engagement: A handbook of essential theory and research: 147–163. Psychology Press, Hove, UK. [Google Scholar]
- Deshwal S (2015). Impact of emotional intelligence on employee engagement. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development, 2(3): 255-256. [Google Scholar]
- El Badawy TA and Magdy MM (2015). Assessing the impact of emotional intelligence on job satisfaction: An empirical study on faculty members with respect to gender and age. International Business Research, 8: 67-78. https://doi.org/10.5539/ibr.v8n3p67 [Google Scholar]
- Emdady M and Bagheri N (2013). The relation between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction. European Journal of Experimental Biology, 3(1): 554-558. [Google Scholar]
- Fleming JH and Asplund J (2007). Human Sigma: Managing the employee-customer encounter. Gallup Press, Washington, USA. [Google Scholar]
- Goleman D (2011). The brain and emotional intelligence: New insights. More Than Sound LLC, Northampton, USA. [Google Scholar]
- Goleman D and Boyatzis R (2017). Emotional intelligence has 12 elements. Which do you need to work on? Harvard Business Review, 84(2): 1-5. [Google Scholar]
- Goleman D, Boyatzis RE, and McKee A (2013). Primal leadership: Unleashing the power of emotional intelligence. Harvard Business Press, Boston, USA. [Google Scholar]
- Gryn M (2010). The relationship between the emotional intelligence and job performance of call center leaders. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa. [Google Scholar]
- Gunavathy DJ and Ayswarya MR (2011). Emotional intelligence and job satisfaction as correlates of job performance-A study among women employed in the Indian software industry. Paradigm, 15(1-2): 58-65. https://doi.org/10.1177/0971890720110109 [Google Scholar]
- Hair JF, Sarstedt M, Ringle CM, and Gudergan SP (2017). Advanced issues in partial least squares structural equation modeling. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, USA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05542-8_15-1 [Google Scholar]
- Hair JF, Sarstedt M, Ringle CM, and Mena JA (2012). An assessment of the use of partial least squares structural equation modeling in marketing research. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 40(3): 414-433. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-011-0261-6 [Google Scholar]
- Halbesleben JR (2010). A meta-analysis of work engagement: Relationships with burnout, demands, resources, and consequences. In: Bakker AB and Leiter MP (Eds.), Work engagement: A handbook of essential theory and research: 102-117. Psychology Press, Hove, UK. [Google Scholar]
- Hanaysha J and Tahir PR (2016). Examining the effects of employee empowerment, teamwork, and employee training on job satisfaction. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 219: 272-282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.05.016 [Google Scholar]
- Hee OC, Ibrahim R, Kowang TO, and Fei GC (2018). Employee engagement as a mediator between transformational leadership and employee performance. Asian Journal of Scientific Research, 11(3): 441-448. https://doi.org/10.3923/ajsr.2018.441.448 [Google Scholar]
- Heindel K (2009). The relationship between the emotional intelligence of leaders and critical employee engagement factors. Ph.D. Dissertation, Alliant International University, San Diego, USA. [Google Scholar]
- Inda SS and Mishra S (2016). A study on influence of employee compensation, job satisfaction, working environment on employee retention. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development, 3(7): 103-116. [Google Scholar]
- Kanwal B and Tariq A (2016). Organizational environment, job satisfaction and career growth opportunities: A link to employee’s turnover intentions in university of Sargodha. Pakistan Journal of Resources Development and Management, 20: 8-14. [Google Scholar]
- Karimi JMN (2014). Effects of emotional intelligence on employee performance in the hotel industry in Kenya. The International Journal of Business and Management, 2(12): 6-14. [Google Scholar]
- Kassim SI, Bambale AJ, and Jakada BA (2016). Emotional intelligence and job satisfaction among lecturers of Universities in Kano State: Empirical evidence. Journal of Education and Practice, 7(10): 53-59. [Google Scholar]
- Kataria A, Rastogi R, and Garg P (2013). Organizational effectiveness as a function of employee engagement. South Asian Journal of Management, 20(4): 56-73. [Google Scholar]
- Kaur J and Sharma A (2019). Emotional intelligence and work performance. International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering, 8(2S3): 1658-1664. https://doi.org/10.35940/ijrte.B1301.0782S319 [Google Scholar]
- Kaur N, Banga G, and Kumar B (2019). Effect of emotional intelligence on job satisfaction: An empirical study of organized retail store employees. Indian Journal of Positive Psychology, 10(3): 182-191. [Google Scholar]
- Khan A, Masrek MN, and Nadzar FM (2017). Emotional intelligence and job satisfaction of academic librarians: An assessment of the relationship. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 49(2): 199-210. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000616650733 [Google Scholar]
- Khanzada B, Naeem S, and Butt H (2018). Emotional intelligence influence on employee’s/organizational performance with mediating role of job satisfaction in Pakistani health sector. Journal of Health Education Research and Development, 6: 1-6. https://doi.org/10.4172/2380-5439.1000253 [Google Scholar]
- Lakshmi KN and Rao KS (2018). A study on role of emotional intelligence on employee performance. International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, 9(3): 440–448. [Google Scholar]
- Leiter MP and Bakker AB (2010). Work engagement: Introduction. In: Bakker AB and Leiter MP (Eds.), Work engagement: A handbook of essential theory and research: 1-9. Psychology Press, Hove, UK. [Google Scholar]
- Macey WH and Schneider B (2008). The meaning of employee engagement. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 1(1): 3-30. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1754-9434.2007.0002.x [Google Scholar]
- Mahdinezhad M, Shahhosseini M, Kotamjani SS, Bing KW, and Hashim E (2017). Emotional intelligence and job performance: A study among Malaysian administrators. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 7(6): 953-956. https://doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v7-i6/3055 [Google Scholar]
- Mardanpour M and Makvandi B (2015). The relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction in the staff of insurance companies in Ahwaz. International Journal of Health and Life Sciences, 5: 982–989. [Google Scholar]
- Mone EM, London M, and Mone EM (2018). Employee engagement through effective performance management: A practical guide for managers. Routledge, Abingdon, UK. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315626529 [Google Scholar]
- Motyka B (2018). Employee engagement and performance: A systematic literature review. International Journal of Management and Economics, 54(3): 227-244. https://doi.org/10.2478/ijme-2018-0018 [Google Scholar]
- Munir M and Azam RI (2017). Emotional intelligence and employee performance: An intervention based experimental study. Journal of Business and Economics, 9(2): 1-19. [Google Scholar]
- Mwangi CI (2014). Emotional intelligence influence on employee engagement sustainability in Kenyan public universities. International Journal of Academic Research in Public Policy and Governance, 1: 75-92. https://doi.org/10.6007/ijarppg/v1-i1/920 [Google Scholar]
- Naz S and Liaquat S (2015). Impact of emotional intelligence on job satisfaction and psychological ownership among public and private employees: A case study of Multan city. Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences, 35: 1121-1131. [Google Scholar]
- Pandey N and Sharma MK (2016). The impact of emotional intelligence on job satisfaction: Evidence from a large Indian bank. IUP Journal of Soft Skills, 10(3): 7-23. [Google Scholar]
- Podsakoff PM and Organ DW (1986). Self-reports in organizational research: Problems and prospects. Journal of Management, 12(4): 531-544. https://doi.org/10.1177/014920638601200408 [Google Scholar]
- Rahman MKU and Haleem F (2018). On the relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction. Middle East Journal of Business, 13(2): 13-17. https://doi.org/10.5742/MEJB.2018.93372 [Google Scholar]
- Ravichandran K, Arasu R, and Kumar SA (2011). The impact of emotional intelligence on employee work engagement behavior: An empirical study. International Journal of Business and Management, 6: 157-169. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v6n11p157 [Google Scholar]
- Rexhepi G and Berisha B (2017). The effects of emotional intelligence in employees performance. International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 18(4): 467-479. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJBG.2017.084351 [Google Scholar]
- Rich BL, Lepine JA, and Crawford ER (2010). Job engagement: Antecedents and effects on job performance. Academy of Management Journal, 53(3): 617-635. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2010.51468988 [Google Scholar]
- Richman A (2006). Everyone wants an engaged workforce how can you create it. Workspan, 49(1): 36-39. [Google Scholar]
- Saks AM (2006). Antecedents and consequences of employee engagement. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 21(7): 600-619. https://doi.org/10.1108/02683940610690169 [Google Scholar]
- Samiuddin KHAN, Ahmad I, and Kazmi SZA (2017). The role of emotional intelligence in hospital administration: A case study from Pakistan. Cross-Cultural Management Journal, 19(1): 39-46. [Google Scholar]
- Shehu L and Isa KM (2017). The effect of emotional intelligence on employee’s performance. Review of Public Administration and Management, 6(12): 22-32. [Google Scholar]
- Shooshtarian Z, Ameli F, and Amini Lari M (2013). The effect of labor's emotional intelligence on their job satisfaction, job performance and commitment. Iranian Journal of Management Studies, 6(1): 27-43. [Google Scholar]
- Shukla S, Adhikari B, and Ray M (2016). Emotional intelligence and job satisfaction: An empirical investigation. Amity Global HRM Review, 6: 54-61. [Google Scholar]
- Sidhu HK (2012). An examination of relationship between emotional intelligence, employee engagement, ethical ideology and job performance. Ph.D. Dissertation, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, India. [Google Scholar]
- Singh V, Shukla S, and Mohsin F (2013). Relationship between emotional intelligence and employee engagement: A study of leading printing press in NCR. Tecnia Journal of Management Studies, 8(1): 42–49. [Google Scholar]
- Sony M and Mekoth N (2016). The relationship between emotional intelligence, frontline employee adaptability, job satisfaction and job performance. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 30: 20-32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2015.12.003 [Google Scholar]
- Suleman Q, Syed MA, Mahmood Z, and Hussain I (2020). Correlating emotional intelligence with job satisfaction: Evidence from a cross-sectional study among secondary school heads in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Frontiers in Psychology, 11: 240. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00240 [Google Scholar]
- Tseng SM and Huang JS (2011). The correlation between Wikipedia and knowledge sharing on job performance. Expert Systems with Applications, 38(5): 6118-6124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2010.11.009 [Google Scholar]
- Waldron KD (2017). The influence of leadership emotional intelligence on employee engagement. M.Sc. Thesis, Pepperdine Graziadio Business School, Los Angeles, USA. [Google Scholar]
- Welch M (2011). The evolution of the employee engagement concept: Communication implications. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 16(4): 328-346. https://doi.org/10.1108/13563281111186968 [Google Scholar]
- Wong CS and Law KS (2002). The effects of leader and follower emotional intelligence on performance and attitude: An exploratory study. The Leadership Quarterly, 13(3): 243-274. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1048-9843(02)00099-1 [Google Scholar]
- Yusof R, Muda TEAT, and Ishak NM (2016). Relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction among school counseling head teachers. Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 21: 61-68. [Google Scholar]
- Zeidner M and Matthews G (2017). Emotional intelligence in gifted students. Gifted Education International, 33(2): 163-182. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261429417708879 [Google Scholar]
|