Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

College

College of Education and International Services

Program

Leadership PhD

First Advisor

Jay Brand

Second Advisor

David Caruso

Third Advisor

Jimmy Kijai

Abstract

Problem

Research has been conducted linking high levels of Emotional Intelligence (EI) in leaders with organizational success. However, the link between leaders’ EI levels and workplace climate (as evidenced by employees’ Job-related Affective Well-being [JAW] and Organizational Citizenship Behavior [OCB] levels) has not been adequately understood. This study sought to improve the understanding of how employee affective well-being and citizenship behaviors are related to leaders’ EI, with additional consideration given to how the gender of those leaders may affect that relationship.

Method

A quantitative correlational research method has been chosen as an appropriate method for the research study in which a relationship or link is sought between Andrews University (AU) leaders’ EI as indicated by the results of the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) and their team-members’ JAW, as measured by the Job Affective Well-being Scale’s (JAWS) and OCB, as measured by the Organizational Citizenship Behavior Checklist (OCB-C), with leader gender as a moderating factor. In addition to descriptive analyses, two canonical correlation analyses were conducted, one in which leader gender was not included as an independent variable and one in which leader gender was included.

Results

Scores on the MSCEIT indicate that AU leaders in general are relatively weak at recognizing how they feel and how those around them feel, as neither the composite, nor the male or female groups, scored in the competent range on any of the EI branches; however, in no areas did they score as needing improvement, indicating that leaders in the sample have a functional EI that is similar to that of the normative population. On the JAWS, the team members’ total mean score is 2.79 (SD= 0.29). AU team members’ negative emotion scores (2.20) are lower than those reported by Rode (2.44), while AU team members’ positive emotion scores (3.33) are considerably higher (2.63). The total mean score for OCB-C is 2.83 (SD=0.36) while the total mean score for the JAWS is 2.79 (SD= 0.29). The highest average of the OCB-C test was in the Organizational Citizenship Behavior—Acts Benefiting Organization (OCB-o) with a mean score of male and female (n=80) of 2.95 (SD=0.70), which is lower than the levels found in two other studies that have also used the OCB-C. Both male (n=31, M=2.87, SD=0.66). Subsequent analysis using Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) showed that OCB-o and Organizational Citizenship Behavior—Acts Benefiting Person (OCB-p) are very highly correlated and measure basically the same thing in this population.

Two canonical correlation analyses were conducted to answer the third and fourth research questions. The third question asked: What is the nature of the relationship between AU leaders’ EI levels as measured by the MSCEIT test of EI and their team members’ JAW, as measured by the JAWS two subscales: positive and negative emotional experiences, and their team members’ OCB, as measured by the OCB subscales: OCB-o and OCB-p? The CCA performed to answer this question yielded unexpected results that indicate that lower levels of Perceiving, Using, and Understanding emotions in AU leaders produce higher levels of positive emotions towards work and lower levels of negative emotions towards work. A second CCA was completed to answer: What role does the gender of the AU leaders play in the relationship between AU leaders’ EI and their team members’ levels of JAW and OCB? Results indicate that employees who have lower levels of positive emotions and higher levels of negative emotions are associated with female leaders with lower levels of EI.

Conclusion

EI at AU can be linked to some aspects of organizational climate. This study’s findings in the first canonical correlation did not yield expected results, but the second CCA, which included gender, indicates that employees who have lower levels of positive emotions and higher levels of negative emotions are associated with leaders with lower levels of EI and being female. These results align closely with the Higher Education Work Climate (HEWC) Model developed to explain the relationship between the variables in this study.

Subject Area

Educational leadership; Emotional intelligence; Organizational behavior; Andrews University

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/dissertations/1620

Download

Share

COinS