International Journal of Innovation and Economic Development
Volume 4, Issue 2, June 2018, Pages 24-31
Impact of Emotional Intelligence and Gender on Job Satisfaction: An Empirical Study amongst the Employees of HDFC Banks in Chandigarh Tricity, India
DOI: 10.18775/ijied.1849-7551-7020.2015.42.2002
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.18775/ijied.1849-7551-7020.2015.42.2002
Vishal Kumar
Professor, School of Management, Maharaja Agrasen University, Baddi (H.P), India
Abstract: Emotional intelligence is the most significant concept used in the present scenario of the work environment towards the job satisfaction. Nowadays, Emotional intelligence is used as a tool for measuring the organization’s performance and also playing a key role in stress management and job satisfaction of employees. Job dissatisfaction results in higher absenteeism, lower productivity, defensive behavior and lower performance. The study was organized on the employees’ of HDFC banks, working in Chandigarh Tricity to analyze the impact of emotional intelligence and gender on job satisfaction. A descriptive correlational research was conducted, by taking the population of all the employees of HDFC Banks, Chandigarh Tricity. Convenience sampling method was used to select the sample of the study which included 100 respondents from various branches of HDFC banks in Chandigarh Tricity. The inferences of the study were made with the help of statistical tools such as Karl Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient, Regression analysis, t-test, and ANOVA. In the study, it has been observed that both emotional intelligence and job satisfaction has a positive relationship. It also indicates that Gender has no significant impact on these variables.
Keywords: Emotional intelligence, HDFC banks, Job satisfaction, Employees’ satisfaction
1. Introduction
In the era of globalization, liberalization, and privatization, where competition has been increasing rapidly, the tasks of the employees of Indian banks has become demanding. Implementation of new technologies, the entrance of more private sector banks, new trade policies and regulations have influenced the working patterns in the banking sector. These changes forced the service industries to get adjusted to gain competitive benefits to cope with multinational’s led environment. Due to these changes, the satisfaction level has been decreasing in employees who influence organizational performance (Miguel-Guzmán et al, 2018). Organizations need individuals who have both technical knowledge and emotional abilities to cope with these changes and to delight the customers. Robbins (1998) states that only those individuals have a high level of satisfaction from their jobs who possess a positive attitude, on the other hand, the employees with a negative attitude are not satisfied from their jobs. Rowden (2002) stated that the organizational performance is greatly affected by the individual’s competencies and emotional intelligence is one of the most significant qualities of an individual. He also described it as an important variable leading to job satisfaction. If an individual is aware of these emotions and able to control it, he will get more satisfaction and success in his career.
1.1 Emotional Intelligence
Salovey and Mayer introduced the concept of emotional intelligence. They described it as “a form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and use this information to guide one’s thinking and action” (Salovey and Mayer, 1990, 1994, p. 773). The ability model of emotional intelligence comprises four dimensions of abilities as to perceive, appraise and express emotion (1), generate feelings when they facilitate thought (2), understand emotion (3), and regulate emotions (4) (Machmud, 2018).” On the basis of the literature studied on emotional intelligence, one can easily describe that emotional intelligence mainly originates from three models as given by Peter Salovey and John Mayer who proposed it the first time in the year 1990 and became very popular among the academicians, researchers, and various organizations. According to this model, emotional intelligence is a pure intelligence and also indicates it as cognitive ability. Reuven Bar-On (1997) introduced the second model and described it as mixed intelligence that consists of cognitive ability and personality factors. The model explains how these factors persuade general well-being. Daniel Goleman (1995; 1998), presented the third model which also assumes emotional intelligence in the same way as the Bar-On model and describes EI as a mixed intelligence that includes cognitive and personality factors. Goleman has described how these factors influence success at workplace. His theory focuses on the impact of emotional intelligence on the job performance. According to him, social and emotional competencies are relevant to outstanding job performance (Emmerling and Goleman, 2003).
1.2 Job Satisfaction
Human resources are the lifeblood and nerve center of any organization. The success of an organization mainly depends on its human resources and without them, the organization would not exist. Over the passage of time, assessing employees’ satisfaction has become an important topic of research for the corporates and academicians. Locke (1976) defined job satisfaction as “a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences.” There are two basic components of ‘satisfaction’: a cognitive (the perception that individual needs must be fulfilled) and an affective (the feeling that accompanies the cognition). There are various factors which determine the satisfaction level of employees. Factors affecting job satisfaction can be categorized as external factors and internal factors (Tett and Meyer, 1993). External factors consist of organizational, cultural and social characteristics and internal factors include personality, effective and emotional characteristics. When employees are satisfied, they enhance their work performance which increases the productivity and profitability of an organization. On the other hand, dissatisfied employees may result in disruptive behaviors that negatively influence their performance and productivity, and also mold others around them (Spector, 1997).
2. Literature Review
R. Ramamoorthy and C.S. Gowtham (2017) conducted a study on “Impact of Emotional Intelligence on job satisfaction in everyday banking solution, Chennai” and revealed that Emotional Intelligence and Job Satisfaction are strongly correlated with each other. The study emphasized the need for proper training to employees so that their emotional quotient can be enhanced and also help in developing their emotional intelligence skills. Sudhir Chandra Das and Wasif Ali (2014) in their article attempted to investigate the relationship between these two variables and also study how Job Satisfaction is influenced by the Emotional Intelligence of bank employees in the District Varanasi, India. A positive relationship was found between the components of Emotional Intelligence but the moderate influence of EI on Job Satisfaction was reported. Papathanasiou and Siati (2014) revealed that there are many factors which affect the levels of emotional intelligence of employees like gender, age, marital status and job position. He conducted this study on the banking sector. Abi and Jijo (2012) in their study revealed that emotional intelligence has a positive correlation with job satisfaction. His study indicated that job satisfaction is not influenced by the designation of an employee. Experience and marital status of the employee are positively associated with both the variables. Afolabi et al. (2012) conducted a study on Nigeria police officers and found that the performance of the employees is highly influenced by emotional intelligence and the employees with high emotional intelligence perform better than the employees with low emotional intelligence. Mousavi et al. (2012) revealed the positive relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction. The results of the study further showed that social skills, empathy, and motivation were predictors of a job satisfaction among the five components of emotional intelligence. Khouly et al. (2010) also concluded that emotional intelligence is the key indicator for assessing the job satisfaction of an individual. The study pointed out that the individuals who have high emotional intelligence are more satisfied with their jobs as compare to the employees with low emotional intelligence. Further, the study couldn’t find any significant correlation between gender and job satisfaction, while emotional intelligence and job satisfaction were highly correlated. Alam (2009) conducted a study to analyze the relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction among the administrative staff in higher education institutions in Malaysia. The study reported the positive relationship between the two variables in university work settings. Millet (2007) conducted a study on police officers and reported an insignificant relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction. He threw a light on the relationship between stress management components of emotional intelligence and found a weak negative correlation, while a positive relationship was found between adjustment and general mood components of emotional intelligence and job satisfaction.
Thus, various studies have been conducted by various researchers and due to variations in the results of the researches, carried out so far on emotional intelligence and job satisfaction, the researcher found it suitable to examine the impact of emotional intelligence and gender on job satisfaction of employees of HDFC banks in Chandigarh Tricity.
The Primary objective of the study is to:
- Investigate the impact of emotional intelligence on the level of job satisfaction among the employees of HDFC Banks, Chandigarh Tricity.
- Analyze how gender influences the level of emotional intelligence and job satisfaction.
3. Research Methodology
3.1 Hypotheses of The Study
After reviewing the literature, the following hypotheses are formulated as per the objectives of the research:
- H01: There is a positive relationship between the emotional intelligence and job satisfaction.
- H02: Gender has a positive influence on employee’s job satisfaction.
- H03: Gender has a positive impact on an employee’s emotional intelligence.
3.2 About the Study
The current study is focused on examining the impact of emotional intelligence and gender on job satisfaction among the employees of HDFC banks in Chandigarh Tricity by using the correlation. Both emotional intelligence and gender are considered as independent variables, and job satisfaction is considered as the dependent variable.
3.3 Sample of The Study
The subjects of the present study are employees of HDFC Banks in Chandigarh Tricity, India. Convenience sampling was used for conducting this research. The sample consists of 100 respondents, out of which 60% were males and 40% were females.
Table 1: Respondents (N=100)
| Respondents characteristic | Sub-profile | Percentage |
| Gender
|
Male | 60% |
| Female | 40% | |
| Age | 21-25 years
26-30 years 31-35 years 36 years or above |
14%
14% 44% 28% |
3.4 Data Collection Tools
Two standardized scales were used to collect data:
3.4.1 Emotional Intelligence Scale
Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS) has been followed by the researcher to measure the emotional intelligence of employees, which was introduced by Wong and Law in 2002 consisting of 16 items. There are four dimensions of Emotional Intelligence i.e. “self-emotion appraisal (SEA), others-emotion appraisal (OEA), use of emotion (UOE), and regulation of emotion (ROE).” A 7-point Likert-Scale ranging from 1 (Strongly disagree) to 7 (Strongly agree) was applied. The internal consistency reliability for this scale, as reported by Wong and Law (2002), is quite good (α = 0.94).
3.4.2 Job Satisfaction Scale
The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) was used to measure employees’ satisfaction towards their jobs which is developed by Weiss Dawis, England, and Lofquist (1967). A 5-point Likert Scale ranging from 1 (Very Dissatisfied) to 5 (Very Satisfied) was taken in this measure. The alpha reliability test of this scale was 0.81. A higher score on the scale shows a greater level of respondent’s job satisfaction.
3.5 Statistical Tools Used for Data Analysis
Various statistical tools were used in this study such as Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Cronbach Alpha Reliability test, ANOVA, t-test, Pearson’s Coefficient of Correlation, and Regression analysis.
4. Data Analysis and Interpretation
4.1 Kolmogorov – Smirnov Test for Normality:
Table 2: Testing the normality of the parameters
| Variables | Kolmogorov Smirnov | ||
| Statistics | df | P-value | |
| Emotional intelligence | .060 | 100 | .002 |
| Job satisfaction | .073 | 100 | .002 |
In order to examine the normality of data Kolmogorov – Smirnov test of normality has been applied. Table 2 lists the normality of emotional intelligence and job satisfaction. Observing the above table, the researcher found that the value of P is less than .05 for both the variables which indicate that data is normally distributed.
4.2 Cronbach Alpha Reliability Test
To test the reliability of the scales, Cronbach Alpha was examined. A scale with C. Alpha Coefficient of 0.7 or above is acceptable as per the researches (Pallant, 2001). Table-3 highlighted that both the scales used in this research were over 0.7, so these scales were fully acceptable.
Table 3: Cronbach Alpha Reliability Test
| Scale | No. Of items | Current alpha coefficient |
| Emotional intelligence | 16 | .911 |
| Job satisfaction | 20 | .711 |
4.3 Hypotheses Testing
Hypothesis 1: There is a positive relationship between the emotional intelligence and job satisfaction.
Table 4: Data and results of the coefficient of correlation between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction
| Variables | N | R | t | P |
| Emotional intelligence
Job satisfaction |
100
100 |
.767 | 11.841 | P < 0.01 |
The analysis of the study found r = 0.767, which indicates a positive correlation between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction of employees. An R² value of 0.589 shows that 58% of the variance in job satisfaction is explained by emotional intelligence. F=140.211 (P=.000) both F-Value and P-Value (P<0.5) reflecting the significant relationship between the two variables, t-test = 11.841 (P=.000) and is statistically significant. Hence, Emotional intelligence has a positive impact on employee’s job satisfaction. Therefore, the Null hypothesis is accepted.
Table 5: Results of the regression analysis
| Variables | Unstandardized
Coefficient |
Standardized | t | Sig. | F | Sig. | R | R² | |
| B | Std. Error | Beta | |||||||
| Constant
EI |
2.094
.722 |
5.825
.061 |
.767 | .372
11.841 |
.711
.000 |
140.211 | .000 | .767 | .589 |
According to the result obtained from the statistical analysis, the regression model is statistically significant with F=140.211 and P = .000.
Hypothesis 2: Gender has a positive impact on employee’s job satisfaction.
Table 6: Job satisfaction concerning Gender (ANOVA)
| Sum of Squares | Degree of freedom | Mean Square | F | Sig. | |
| Between Groups | 2.282 | 1 | 2.282 | .025 | .874 |
| Within Group | 8845.108 | 98 | 90.256 | ||
| Total | 8847.390 | 99 |
Table 7: Job satisfaction concerning Gender (Group statistics)
| Gender | N | Mean | Std Deviation | Std. Error Mean | |
| Job Satisfaction | Male | 60 | 68.4333 | 9.44990 | 1.21998 |
| Female | 40 | 68.1250 | 9.57611 | 1.51412 | |
An independent samples t-test was applied to compare the total scores of the MSQ for males (n = 60) and females (n = 40). The researcher found that there was no significant difference in total MSQ scores for males (M = 68.433, SD = 9.44) and females (M = 68.12, SD = 9.57) (t (98) = .159, p = .874). Further, no statistical significances were found in males or female employees in the level of job satisfaction. So, the hypothesis is rejected.
Hypothesis 3: Gender has a positive impact on emotional intelligence.
Table 8: Emotional intelligence concerning Gender (ANOVA)
| Sum of Squares | df | Mean Square | F | Sig. | |
| Between-group | 98.415 | 1 | 98.415 | .974 | .326 |
| Within-group | 9901.825 | 98 | 101.039 | ||
| Total | 10000.240 | 99 |
Table 9: Emotional intelligence concerning Gender (Group statistics)
| Emotional intelligence | Gender | N | Mean | Std. Deviation | Std. Error Mean |
| Male | 60 | 90.9500 | 9.21021 | 1.18903 | |
| Female | 40 | 92.9750 | 11.20551 | 1.7717 |
As shown in Table 8, the value of P is more than .05, which indicates that there is no significant difference between the males and female’s emotional intelligence. So the hypothesis is rejected.
Table 10: Level of emotional intelligence
| Level of emotional intelligence | Frequency | Percentage | Mean |
| High | 89 | 89% | 2.89 |
| Average | 11 | 11% | |
| Low | 0 | 0% |
The frequency distribution and percentage of the 100 respondents are as shown in Table 10. The highest frequency group was those from the ‘High EI’ followed by the ‘Average EI’ group. The results indicate that employees have a high level of emotional intelligence.
Table 11: Level of job satisfaction
| Level of Job satisfaction | Frequency | Percentage | Mean |
| High | 56 | 56% | |
| Average | 44 | 44% | 2.56 |
| Low | 0 | 0% |
Table 11 showed that the majority of samples scored a high level of job satisfaction. Overall, the majority of samples reported high levels of satisfaction compared with the average and low levels.
5. Conclusion and Recommendations
Emotional intelligence plays a significant role nowadays in the organizations, as it is one of the most important components of job satisfaction. The analysis of the study revealed that there is a positive correlation between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction of the bank’s employees which also depicts that the bank employees who are working with high morale and emotional connection with the bank are feeling more satisfied from their jobs. Thus, it can be concluded that the more the emotional intelligence is, the more will be job satisfaction. The findings of the study are similar to the results of Abi and Jijo (2012), Afolabi et al. (2012), Khouly et al. (2010) and several other researchers. However, many researchers have not found a significant relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction like Gill et al. (2002) revealed a negative correlation between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction of Faculty’s member. A possible cause for such an inconsistency in the results of various studies may be due to the different statistical tools used for assessing emotional intelligence and job satisfaction and the population selected in various researches has been different.
The results of the study also indicated that gender does not have any significant influence on the level of emotional intelligence and job satisfaction. It is similar to the findings of Ghoniem et al. (2011). Furthermore, research revealed that employees considered for this study have a higher level of emotional intelligence and job satisfaction. On the basis of the above discussions, it is suggested that since emotional intelligence is very important and has a significant impact on job satisfaction, therefore, other research studies should be done on the different organizations.
In a service organization, such as banking, emotional intelligence training program should be used to enhance employee’s skills and to bring out the best in employees and maintaining a sound interpersonal relationship. This helps to increase employee’s involvement, trust, and integrity. The test should be applied in the organizations for giving promotions, performance appraisal and recruitment.
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