EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND JOB SATISFACTION AS PREDICTORS OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Emotional intelligence (EI) is a new concept, which has been used and defined in the management literature since 1990. Different studies have demonstrated that emotional intelligence is one of the virtues associated with success in life (Ranjbar et al, 2012). Developing emotional intelligence among the staff can solve many problems in education, health and management (Miri et al, 2013). There is a growing body of evidence regarding the emotional aspects of work in an organization. Although, few management researchers have accepted this concept, the concept of emotional intelligence has been used by the administrative authorities in many workplaces to explain issues related to the job satisfaction, performance, absenteeism, organizational commitment and leadership (carmeli, 2003).

In the context of the emerging ‘affective revolution’ in social and organizational psychology, emotional intelligence is proposed as an important predictor of key organizational outcomes including job satisfaction and employee commitment (Carmeli, 2003). Emotional intelligence is considered to play a significant role in the work environment. It is a basic requirement in any profession that is based on human relations especially in the teaching. Emotions play an important role in the teaching profession which requires both technical expertise and psychologically oriented teaching, so an emotionally intelligent teacher is a person who can work in harmony with his/her thoughts and feelings (landa & Lopez-Zafra, 2010). Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive, evaluate and express emotions rapidly and to understand and manage them using emotional information and to direct thoughts, actions and affects to have a successful work experience. There are two types of Emotional Intelligence measure: ability and trait. The trait Emotional Intelligence theory distinguishes between the intrapersonal and interpersonal domains. Intrapersonally, use of emotions can lead to regulating stress and negative emotions so that one can perform better at work. Interpersonally, the ability to understand and respond appropriately to the motivations and feelings of other people can lead to the appraisal and regulation of emotions in others and achieving maximum performance (Nozaki & Koyasu, 2013). Researchers specifically propose that such an ability can predict work outcomes, such as organizational commitment, intention to quit, the staff turnover, job satisfaction and job performance. Studies have shown that the selection of personnel based on the emotional intelligence had better results compared to the traditional methods which may have a greater reliance on cognitive abilities and technical knowledge, while this issue has been rarely studied in the teaching profession (Miri et al, 2013).

On the other hand, one of the important issues in the field of organizational success is job satisfaction. Job satisfaction can be defined as the extent to which employees like their jobs. It is an emotional state of individuals that is enhanced by achieving favorable results at work and the feelings of belonging to a functioning work place. Traditional job satisfaction pointed to the feelings of an individual towards his/her job. Two sets of factors are considered to influence job satisfaction: intrinsic (recognition, tasks and responsibility) and extrinsic factors (working conditions, company policies and salary). Internal job satisfaction is an internal desire to perform a task which deals with pleasure and is related to internal motivation. External factors are defined as those external benefits provided to the professional staff by the organization. These factors are unrelated to the task and include money, good scores and other rewards (Golman, 2000). Schools that have higher job satisfaction scores among the employees, have a better students performance and more favorable outcomes. Studies have shown that high degree of emotional exhaustion can predict lower self-rated performance and higher intention to quit work which is a consequence of low job satisfaction

1.2   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM                                          

Emotionally healthy behaviour is mirrored in individuals’ ways of thinking; recognizing, managing and expressing feelings; and choosing effective behaviours. Emotions are of high significance in educational settings. Emotional health is important for teachers; it influences what they do, who they meet, how they look and feel and it makes decision about their life. Job satisfaction is one of the ways to look at an individual in the workplace. Scherler (2001) simply defined job satisfaction as ‘the degree to which people like their jobs’. Teacher job satisfaction is ‘a predictor of teacher retention, a determinant of teacher commitment, and a contributor to teacher effectiveness’. Teacher job satisfaction decreases exhaustion, improves job performance, and has a positive impact on student outcomes. It depends on teachers’ attitude, and helps to express emotions appropriately instead ignore them. The researcher is examining emotional intelligence and job satisfaction as predictors of organizational commitment.

1.3   OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The following are the objectives of this study:

1. To examine the influence of emotional intelligence on organizational commitment among secondary school teachers.
2. To examine the impact of job satisfaction on organizational commitment among secondary school teachers.
3. To identify the factors that influences organizational commitment among secondary school teachers

1.4   RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What is the influence of emotional intelligence on organizational commitment among secondary school teachers?
2. What is the impact of job satisfaction on organizational commitment among secondary school teachers?
3. What are the factors that influence organizational commitment among secondary school teachers?

1.6   SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The following are the significance of this study:

1. The result of this study will educate stakeholders in the education sector on the importance of emotional intelligence and job satisfaction and how they can be used as a tool to promote organizational commitment among secondary school teachers.
2. This research will also serve as a resource base to other scholars and researchers interested in carrying out further research in this field subsequently, if applied will go to an extent to provide new explanation to the topic

1.7   SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

This study will cover some selected secondary school in Egor Local Government area of Edo State. It will also cover the level of staff commitment in the selected secondary schools.

LIMITATION OF STUDY

Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

 Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.