Is emotional intelligence the panacea for a better job performance? A study on low-skilled back office jobs
| Published date | 07 August 2017 |
| Pages | 683-698 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-11-2016-0216 |
| Date | 07 August 2017 |
| Author | Miguel Ángel Sastre Castillo,Ignacio Danvila Del Valle |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
Is emotional intelligence the
panacea for a better job
performance? A study on
low-skilled back office jobs
Miguel Ángel Sastre Castillo and Ignacio Danvila Del Valle
Faculty of Economics and Business, Complutense University of Madrid,
Madrid, Spain
Abstract
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 officelow-skilled positions.However, there is little empiricalevidence regardingthe
simultaneous influence of EI and AC on performance in low-skilledback office positions. This gap prompted
this research, whichsuggests that the investment of organizational resources is mandatory for improving EI
and, hence, organizational commitmentand work performance in these employees.
Keywords Emotional intelligence, Affective commitment, Work performance, Low-skilled back office jobs
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The reason behind the success of people or companies is an issue that generates great
attention amongst executives and scholars traditionally, depending on the level of analysis.
At a personal level, this success may be foreseen, to a large extent, by several dimensions
defining emotional intelligence (EI), and not only by cognitive intellig ence as it
was habitually considered (Mandell and Pherwani, 2003). This may explain a widespread
interest in EI, which has shown up in the increasing number of research works that are
centered on this field over the last years.
In high-skilled and executive positions, work and personal sides identify each other to
some extent. Holding executive positions provides prestige outside one’s professional
environment, and, in the same way, performing meaningful work, may raise personal
satisfaction and work performance. Consequently, the assumption of traits defined within
the concept of EI can foster both their personal satisfaction and their work performance
(Longhorn, 2004; Chaudhry and Usman, 2011), and lead people to achieve a higher level of
professional effectiveness. Also, some studies have found that the social feedback received
in front office low-skilled positions might play a motivational role for performance, mainly Employee Relations
Vol. 39 No. 5, 2017
pp. 683-698
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-11-2016-0216
Received 14 November 2016
Revised 10 May 2017
Accepted 22 May 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness
(Project ECO2014-54301-P), as well as that of the UCM-Cofares Research Chair.
683
Low-skilled
back office
jobs
in workers with higher social abilities (Karimi, 2014; Prentice and King, 2013; Higgs, 2004;
Chaudhry and Usman, 2011; Huang et al., 2010; Shahzad et al., 2011).
Nevertheless, there is little empirical evidence regarding the influence of the personal
side on performance in low-skilled back office positions. For these workers, less
identification between personal and work sides is expected, since work tasks usually
generate dissatisfaction in personal life and there is a lack of opportunities for personal
development. In this context, the study of EI as part of the personal side is absolutely
significant, because a higher level of EI may be behind better performance in low-skilled
back office positions as observed in high-skilled and executive positions (Longhorn, 2004;
Chaudhry and Usman, 2011).
Even though the labor force is, in many occasions, the easiest to replace, in some
industrial and service activities it accounts for a highly important part of its value added, so
we consider that ascertaining the factors which impinge on firm performance is an essential
topic in human resources management.
Additionally, the positive effect of EI might not only be restricted to getting better
performance, but also to an increased organizational commitment as demonstrated in
previous studies (Vakola et al., 2004). Organizational commitment is a relevant personal
dimension for predicting performance at work. In this regard, there is an evidence
suggesting positive effects of commitment on employee rotation levels (Yücel, 2012),
absenteeism (Blau and Boal, 1987; Hausknecht et al., 2008), or individual employee
performance in general (Chungtai, 2013; Ortega and Sastre, 2013).
Taken together, the available evidence suggests that both EI and organizational
commitment are positively related and both are relevant for predicting performance at work.
However, there is a lack of studies simultaneously analyzing these relationships at low-skill
back office positions. This gap prompted our research. Thus in the current study, we
explored the impact of EI and the affective dimension of organizational commitment on
individual performance, as well as the relationship between these two personal dimensions,
in a sample of low-skill back office workers from a service company. Therefore, we aimed to
go more deeply into how EI affects performance and whether there are links to commitment,
isolating the effect from other personal or contextual variables such as training, type of job,
or surrounding work environment.
Conceptual background and hypotheses
The concept of EI
Coexisting theories and measurements of EI have been developed using theoretical
frameworks such as the seeding works of Danvila and Sastre (2010). The theory of EI is
developed and conceptualized into three models: ability models, traits models, and mixed
models (which are a combination of ability and traits) (Kulkarni et al., 2009).
Ability models consider EI as “the ability to carry out accurate reasoning about
emotions and the ability to use emotions and emotional knowledge to enhance thought”
(Mayeret al., 2008, p. 511). According to the EI ability model, EI is a ty pe of intelligence,
and thus EI and cognitive capacity are moderately correlated (Roberts et al., 2001).
Traits models include non-cognitive competencies such as self-esteem,
self-actualization, general mood, and general well-being. Thus, the EI conceptualized
from this perspective has a limited relation with the measures of cognitive intelligence and
is highly correlated with personality measures, since it serves as a broad umbrella
including a constellation of personality traits, affect, and self-perceived abilities
(Bar-On, 1997; Joseph et al., 2015). Mixed models consider EI as a mix of personality and
cognitive intelligence (Schutte et al., 1998). Thus, EI is not considered a type of intelligence
purely (Brackett and Mayer, 2003; Daus and Ashkanasy, 2003). In fact, a recent
meta-analysis has suggested that mixed EI measures capture content from the following
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