Emotional Intelligence and Employee Performance: An Intervention Based Experimental Study

Abstract

Emotional intelligence (EI) significantly and positively contributes
towards employees’ task and contextual performance. Previous studies
have explored this relationship in descriptive and/or cross-sectional
research designs which did not establish a true causal relationship. The
Current study used a longitudinal intervention-based pretest-posttest
experimental design where employees were trained to enhance their
emotional intelligence which consequently enhanced employee
performance. The study was carried out in a three-stage process
consisting of pretest, emotional intelligence interventions’ implementation
and post-test. As a part of the emotional intelligence interventions, four
emotional intelligence skills (Self-awareness, Self-management, Social
awareness, and Relationship management) were imparted through
training for a duration of five months followed by one month of coaching.
Thirty-six (36) participants with a low level of emotional intelligence had
joined the study voluntarily after submitting an informed consent taken for
training and coaching interventions. The results of paired sample T-Test
showed a significant increase in emotional intelligence scores from
pretest stage to posttest with a medium effect size. Results further revealed
a significant increase in employees’ performance scores of the
participants after their enhanced level of emotional intelligence. Current
study has identified a cost-effective way for the organizations to enhance
employees’ performance. This study has also discussed important insights
for future research in the field of emotional intelligence enhancement
through interventions.