{"title":"Examining leaders’ emotional intelligence as a distal antecedent of employee engagement: The role of employee voice and trust in direct leadership","authors":"O. Amah","doi":"10.1080/23322373.2023.2187612","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The study investigated leaders’ emotional intelligence (EI) as a distal antecedent of employee engagement, using employee voice and trust in direct leadership as mediating variables. Based on the Affective Event Theory, the study recognized the emotional intelligence of leaders as a proximal antecedent of the work climate (event) which serves to influence employee behavior, such as voice and trust in leadership. The study is a cross-sectional design that utilized data from 250 subordinates and their leaders from organizations in Lagos, Nigeria's banking, manufacturing, and consulting industries. Leaders provided the data for emotional intelligence, while subordinates provided the data for employee engagement, employee voice, and trust in leadership. Structural Equation Modeling showed that leaders’ emotional intelligence affects employee engagement directly, as well as indirectly through employee voice and trust in leadership as hypothesized. The study highlighted the importance of the emotional intelligence of leaders in creating workplace climates that affect individual and organizational productivity. Hence, a significant managerial implication is that organizations should consider the enhancement of leaders’ EI an important aspect of leadership development. Directions for future studies include performing longitudinal studies and exploring the role of emotional intelligence in creating other dimensions of organizational climate.","PeriodicalId":37290,"journal":{"name":"Africa Journal of Management","volume":"9 1","pages":"117 - 133"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2000,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Africa Journal of Management","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23322373.2023.2187612","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"MANAGEMENT","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
ABSTRACT The study investigated leaders’ emotional intelligence (EI) as a distal antecedent of employee engagement, using employee voice and trust in direct leadership as mediating variables. Based on the Affective Event Theory, the study recognized the emotional intelligence of leaders as a proximal antecedent of the work climate (event) which serves to influence employee behavior, such as voice and trust in leadership. The study is a cross-sectional design that utilized data from 250 subordinates and their leaders from organizations in Lagos, Nigeria's banking, manufacturing, and consulting industries. Leaders provided the data for emotional intelligence, while subordinates provided the data for employee engagement, employee voice, and trust in leadership. Structural Equation Modeling showed that leaders’ emotional intelligence affects employee engagement directly, as well as indirectly through employee voice and trust in leadership as hypothesized. The study highlighted the importance of the emotional intelligence of leaders in creating workplace climates that affect individual and organizational productivity. Hence, a significant managerial implication is that organizations should consider the enhancement of leaders’ EI an important aspect of leadership development. Directions for future studies include performing longitudinal studies and exploring the role of emotional intelligence in creating other dimensions of organizational climate.
期刊介绍:
The beginning of the Twenty First Century has witnessed Africa’s rise and progress as one of the fastest growing and most promising regions of the world. At the same time, serious challenges remain. To sustain and speed up momentum, avoid reversal, and deal effectively with emerging challenges and opportunities, Africa needs better management scholarship, education and practice. The purpose of the Africa Journal of Management (AJOM) is to advance management theory, research, education, practice and service in Africa by promoting the production and dissemination of high quality and relevant manuscripts. AJOM is committed to publishing original, rigorous, scholarly empirical and theoretical research papers, which demonstrate clear understanding of the management literature and draw on Africa’s local indigenous knowledge, wisdom and current realities. As the first scholarly journal of the Africa Academy of Management (AFAM), AJOM gives voice to all those who are committed to advancing management scholarship, education and practice in or about Africa, for the benefit of all of Africa. AJOM welcomes manuscripts that develop, test, replicate or validate management theories, tools and methods with Africa as the starting point. The journal is open to a wide range of quality, evidence-based methodological approaches and methods that “link” “Western” management theories with Africa’s indigenous knowledge systems, methods and practice. We are particularly interested in manuscripts which address Africa’s most important development needs, challenges and opportunities as well as the big management questions of the day. We are interested in research papers which address issues of ethical conduct in different African settings.