Running head: Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Job Satisfaction in SEGi Malaysia

Impact of emotional intelligence on job satisfaction in SEGi Malaysia Lim Yee Chern SCSJ-0009805 American Degree Program Upper Iowa University branch at SEGi College Subang Jaya PSY 440 Industrial Psychology Mr. Jasonraj

Running head: Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Job Satisfaction in SEGi Malaysia

Impact of emotional intelligence on job satisfaction in SEGi Malaysia A more affective approach had been emerging (Barsade & Gibson, 2007) as emotional intelligence (EI) is said to be key to job satisfaction in workplace (Daus & Ashkanasy, 2005). In past research on employee satisfaction, and job performance, many scholars (Babin and Boles, 1998; Bernhardt et al., 2000; Van Scotter, 2000; Koys, 2003; Testa, 2001) have validated that employees job satisfaction positively influences job performance So finding out how much does EI affects job satisfaction is important and hence the proposed research.

Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to perceive accurately, appraise and express emotion; the ability to access and/or generate feelings when they facilitate thought; the ability to understand emotion and emotional knowledge; and the ability to regulate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth (Mayer & Salovey, 1997). It is argued that emotional intelligence affects individuals health, mentally and physically and career achievements (Goleman, 1995). Mayer and Saloveys (1997) emotional intelligence model is based on the following four factors: (1) Perceiving Emotions: the degree to which people are capable of attending to their emotions, expressing those emotions, and reading the emotions of others; (2) Using Emotions: the process of knowing which emotions facilitate cognition effectively and using them to do so; (3) Understanding Emotions: the understanding of complicated emotional dynamics, including how emotions can change from one to another (e.g., embarrassment can turn into anger rather than apology); and (4) Managing Emotions: the knowledge of how to regulate ones own and others emotions to reach goals.

Running head: Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Job Satisfaction in SEGi Malaysia

Job satisfaction, this term is proposed by Hoppock, which refers to employees emotions and attitude toward their jobs, and is their subjective reaction toward their jobs (Hoppock, 1935). Besides that, according to Smith et al. (1969), job satisfaction is the outcome after a person interprets the job traits according to the criterion framework. Factors such as age, health, social status, emotional stability, length of job experiences, and other social relationship can influence an employees job satisfaction (Schultz & Schultz, 2006). Job satisfaction also refers to affective reaction to ones job as the most (Ozer & Gunluk, 2010). Job satisfaction is one of the most important necessities for an individual to be successful, happy and productive, is a feeling of satisfaction, that is, an outcome of the perception of what the job provides for an individual (Ay and Av_aro_lu, 2010). Job satisfaction also differs from individual whereby it differs from the actual returns and the required return (Porter and Lawler,1968).

There are several reasons why workers EI may influence job satisfaction. Interpersonally, emotion awareness and regulatory processes associated with EI are expected to benefit peoples social relationships hence affecting the experience of emotion and stress at work. Intrapersonally, use of emotion and being aware of ones own emotions can lead to regulating stress and negative emotion so that one can perform better at work.

The idea behind emotional intelligence in the workplace is that it is a skill through which employees treat emotions as valuable data in navigating a situation (Barsade & Gibson, 2007). Lets say a sales manager has come up with an amazing idea that will increase corporate revenue by up to 200%, but knows that his boss tends to be irritable and short-tempered in the

Running head: Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Job Satisfaction in SEGi Malaysia morning. (Barsade & Gibson, 2007). Having emotional intelligence means that this manager will first recognize and consider this emotional fact about his boss, and despite the stunning nature of his ideaand his own excitementhe will regulate his own emotions, curb his enthusiasm, and wait until the afternoon to approach his boss. It also means understanding how ones own emotions and those of others can facilitate thinking (Barsade & Gibson, 2007).

Research examining relationships between EI and job satisfaction has returned mixed findings. A number of studies have observed weak to modest relationships between trait EI measures (i.e., EQi, Carmeli, 2003 & Kafetsios & Loumakou, 2007) and job satisfaction. A study of food service workers and their managers (Sy et al., 2006) observed a positive association between an ability based EI scale (Wong Law Emotional Intelligence Scale, WLEIS; Law & Wong, 2002) and job satisfaction in employees and their managers. The WLEIS has proven to be a predictor of job satisfaction in different organizational levels (Law et al., 2004; Sy et al., 2006). Wong's Emotional Intelligence Scale (WEIS), a self-report EI measure developed for Chinese respondent (Wong et al., 2007). This makes WEIS more suitable to be used in this study, as the cultural and other social factors are similar to Malaysias. WEIS is a scale based on the four ability dimensions described in the domain of EI: (1) appraisal and expression of emotion in the self (2) appraisal and recognition of emotion in others (3) regulation of emotion in the self (4) use of emotion to facilitate performance

Running head: Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Job Satisfaction in SEGi Malaysia

Many researches have been done on the relationship between EI and job satisfaction, but not much was done in Malaysia. Even with mixed findings in many empirical researches, many of them are of positive association between EI and job satisfaction. As a result, it is worth conducting a research to examine the impact of EI on job satisfaction of workers in Malaysia. Another issue that worth to carry out this research is that the Malaysian culture is different from western countries, where most researches were done. Malaysia working culture is similar to that of Indian work culture where the practice collectivism and affective reciprocity (Kumar & Sankaran, 2007, as cited in Gill et al., 2010). Hence, the objectives of this proposal will determine the impact of emotional intelligence on employees job satisfaction in SEGi Malaysia.

The hypothesis is there is a positive relationship between employees emotional intelligence and their job satisfaction. Where employees emotional intelligence (EI) score on WLEIS (Law, Wong & Song, 2004) is the independent variable, while the employees job satisfaction score on Voisaards questionnaires (Voisaard, 2008) is the dependent variable.

Running head: Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Job Satisfaction in SEGi Malaysia

Method Subjects The proposed research will recruit 20 employees from each of the six campuses of SEGi Malaysia. A total of 120 employees of SEGi Malaysia will be participating in this study. Participants will be selected randomly from each campus. SEGi Malaysia is chosen because it has campuses located on various location across the entire country.

Design This is a correlation study as there are independent variable which is emotional intelligence and dependent variable which is job satisfaction. We hypothesized that there is a strong relationship between employees emotional intelligence and employees job satisfaction.

Materials Trait Emotional Intelligence Scale by Law, Wong and Song (2004) known as Wong and Law EI Scale (WLEIS).The WLEIS is a 16-item scale consisting of 4 sections: Self emotions appraisal, others emotions appraisal, Use of emotions and regulations of emotions. It adopted a 5-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree= 1, to strongly agree= 5. Together with a job satisfaction questionnaire by Voisaard (2008) and a consent letter will be given to all participants.

Procedures Participants will be requested to answer the questionnaires based on their availability and they can answer them anywhere they feel comfortable in (within campus). They will be informed that this will not take more than 15 minutes of their time. Participants will be asked to fill in a

Running head: Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Job Satisfaction in SEGi Malaysia

consent form before proceeding to the questionnaires. Researchers will inform the participants that their participation will be strictly confidential and nothing will be conveyed to any thirdparty. Upon completion of consent letter, the questionnaires will be presented to the participants. Researcher will explain how to answer the questionnaires and asks if there is any further queries before proceed to letting the participants 10 minutes to answer all 30 questions in three parts. First part will contain 6 forced choice questions where participants will select the answer most suitable for them. The second part will consist of Law and Wong Emotional Intelligence Scale, with 16 questions where answers are chosen from a Likert scale of 1 to 5 ranging from strongly disagree= 1, to strongly agree= 5. The last part of the questionnaire consist of 8 questions whereby the participants have to select their level of satisfaction by putting a tick on very satisfied, satisfied, neutral, dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. After completing the questionnaires, participants will be thanked by the researchers for their participation and that they are free to go.
.

Running head: Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Job Satisfaction in SEGi Malaysia

References Ay M, Av_aro_lu S (2010). Research on accountants professional burnout, job and life satisfaction: 2-Burnout and job satisfaction. Afr. J. Bus. Manage., 4(8): 1576-1585. Barsade, Sigal G. & Gibson, Donald E. (2007). "Why Does Affect Matter in Organizations?" Academy of Management Perspectives, February, 36-59. Daus, C. S., & Ashkanasy, N. M. (2005). The case for the ability-based model of emotional intelligence in organizational behaviour. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26, 453466. Gill, A., Flaschner, A.B, Shah,C., Bhutani,I. (2010). The Relations of Transformational Leadership and Empowerment with Employee Job Satisfaction. A study Among Indian Restaurant Employees. Retrieved from Astonjournals database. Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than I.Q. London, Bloomsburg. Hoppock R (1935). Job satisfaction. New York: Harper and Brother Kafetsios, K., & Loumakou, M. (2007). A comparative evaluation of the effects of trait emotional intelligence and emotion regulation on affect at work and job satisfaction. International Journal of Work Organization and Emotion, 2(1), 7187. Law, K. S., Wong, C., & Song, L. J. (2004). The construct and criterion validity of emotional intelligence and its potential utility for management studies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 483496. Mayer, J. D., & Salovey, P. (1997). What is an emotional intelligence? In P. Salovey & D. Sluyter (Eds.), Emotional development and emotional intelligence: Implications for educators. New York: Basic Books.

Running head: Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Job Satisfaction in SEGi Malaysia

zer G, Gnlk M (2010). The effects of discrimination perception and job satisfaction on Turkish public accountants turnover intention. Afr. J. Bus. Manage., 4(8): 15001509. Porter LW, Lawler EE (1968). What Job Attitudes Tell about Motivation? Harv. Bus. Rev., 46(1): 118-126. Schultz, D.P., Schultz, S.E. (2006). Psychology and Work Today. An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology (9th ed.). Upper Saddle, New Jersey, United Stated: Pearson. Smith, T. W., Butler, V. P., and Haber, E. (1969). New England Journal of Medicine, 281, 1212. Sy, T., Tram, S., & OHara, L. A. (2006). Relation of employee and manager emotional intelligence to job satisfaction and performance. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 68, 461473. Voisaard,V. (2008). Employee Empowerment and Employee Satisfaction in the Work Place, 1, 117. Wong, C. S., & Law, K. S. (2002). The effects of leader and follower emotional intelligence on performance and attitude: An exploratory study. The Leadership Quarterly, 13, 243 274. Wong, C.S, Wong, P.M., & Law, K. S. (2007). Evidence on the practical utility of Wong's emotional intelligence scale in Hong Kong and Mainland China. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 24, 43-60

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Appendix 1) Which of the following describes your age group? A) 18 - 26 years of age; B) 27- 42 years of age; C) 43- 62 years of age; D) 63+ years of age 2) How long have you worked for the company? A) Less than 1-one year of employment; B) At least 1-one but less but less than 5-five years of employment; C) At least 5-five or more years of employment 3) Which of the following describes your commuting time to work? A) Less than 15 minutes; B) At least 15 but less than 45 minutes; C) More than 45 minutes. 4) Which of the following best describes your scheduled work hours? A) I have a fixed work-hours schedule (for example 8:00 AM until 5:00 PM) B) I have a flexible work-hours schedule that I have agreed upon with my supervisor

Running head: Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Job Satisfaction in SEGi Malaysia

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5) What category best describes your job? A) Rank-and-file employee; B) Lead/Supervisor; C) Manager/Director 6) Which of the following describes your salary/wages? A) less than $15.00 hour; B) More than $15.00 hour but less than $25.00 hour; C) more than $25.00 hour.

Running head: Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Job Satisfaction in SEGi Malaysia

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Law and Wong Emotional Intelligence Scale (2002)

INSTRUCTIONS: Read each sentence and respond by circling around numbers that best describes you, from 1 being Strongly disagree to 5 being Strongly agree. There are no right or wrong answers. Your answers will be kept confidential.

1. I have a good sense of why I have certain feelings most of the time 2. I have good understanding of my own emotions 3. I really understand what I feel 4. I always know whether or not I am happy 5. I always know my friends emotions from their behavior 6. I am a good observer of others emotions 7. I am sensitive to the feelings and emotions of others 8. I have good understanding of emotions of people around me 9. I always set goals for myself and then the my best to achieve 10. I always tell myself I am a competent person 11. I am a self-motivating person

1 1 1

2 2 2

3 3 3

4 4 4

5 5 5

1 1

2 2

3 3

4 4

5 5

Running head: Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Job Satisfaction in SEGi Malaysia

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12. I would always encourage myself to try my best 13. I am able to control my temper so that I can handle difficulties rationally 14. I am quite capable of controlling my own emotions 15. I can always calm down quickly when I am very angry 16. I have good control of my own emotions

Running head: Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Job Satisfaction in SEGi Malaysia

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Please indicate your level of satisfaction with each of the following statements: Very Dissatisfied

Very satisfied

1. I feel my job provides steady employment 2. I feel my job and the other parts of my life are balanced 3. I am satisfied with the promotional growth opportunities within the company 4. I am satisfied with the frequency and quality of training I received 5. I am satisfied with the compensation I received 6. I am satisfied with the benefits package offered to me 7. I am satisfied with the amount of recognition I receive for my job performance 8. I am satisfied with the management style of my supervisor

Dissatisfied

Satisfied

Neutral