This chapter provides an overall understanding of this research. More specifically, the following areas will be outlined: the background of the study, the problem statement, the purposes of the study, the research questions, the research questions, the significance of the study, the delimitations and finally the definitions of the terms to be used in the study.
Background of the Study
Every organization whether for profit or non-profit work towards achieving the objectives for its existence for instance, the major goals of a bank includes generating maximum funds , both effectively and efficiently, improve the level of services and enhance its financial management. The most desired goal in this regard is to improve the organizational commitment of its employee’s because it ultimately contributes to the organizational performance. Albeit, there might be other objectives, emphasis is placed on the achievement of financial targets in a financial institution for example, a bank and it has to mostly determine its financial progress on the interval basis. The extent to which this goal can be actualized depend primarily on the organizational workforce. Bankers like other employees in various organizations are crucial in the actualization of the bank goals and objectives. Thus, The Gambia as in many developing countries, banks are a major part of the financial system and they play an important role in facilitating economic growth. Hence, they serve as financial suppliers to enterprises in the entire economy.
It is therefore not surprising that the impacts of global capital flows as well as the rising demand of consumers for service quality, the banking industry has transformed itself from the a “golden bowl” industry to a service industry. Hence questions are raised concerning how the banking personnel can survive such a transformation, whether they are willing to retain or leave their post and whether they are professionally competent to work against pressure to deal with increasingly diverse business operations. With these questions taken into consideration, this study intends to find out any feasible solutions for employees in the Gambian Banking Sector with regards to the relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction on organizational commitment.
Many organizations especially the financial industries are facing major challenges resulting in restructuring, reengineering and downsizing. Hence, recent economic changes due to the recent recession, including mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcies and changing regulations have created increase stress among the financial industry employees. The
surviving financial employees have been impacted physically, with increased work overloads and emotionally, through increased anxiety and pressure from dealing with client concerns.
Thus, due to the increasing concerns within the financial industry, it is important for financial employers to understand how to successfully retain their employees. The need for factors that predict organizational commitment has become more critical. One of the factors that could lead to healthy organization climate, increased morale, motivation and productivity is organizational commitment. Hence, the need for a greater understanding of this organizational phenomenon increases daily. The major driving force behind this continuous recognition of organizational commitment in the management literature for more than three decades is that it is often seen as a key to “business success”(Benkhoff, 1997a) and organizations need committed workers in order to face the world-wide economic competition.
In line with this, organizational commitment has emerged as a promising area of research within the study of industrial and organizational psychology in recent time (Adebayo, 2006;
Meyer and Allen, 1997; Morrow, 1993). This is in part due to the vast number of works that have found relationships between organizational commitment and attitudes and behaviors in the workplace (Porter, Steers, Mowday, & Boulian, 1974) and also with organizational efficiency and effectiveness (Beck & Wilson, 2000). Existing theoretical and field studies demonstrate that commitment has direct implications on individuals and an overall influence on organizations. In particular, the extent of employees’ commitment to the organization exerts a major effect on their performance (Allen & Meyer, 1990; Mowday, Porter, & Steers, 1982; Herscovitch & Meyer, 2002; Yousef, 2000). In the same vein, a number of studies have shown a positive correlation between organizational commitment and job performance (Hunter and Thatcher, 2007). Extensive discussions of such relationships are found in the meta-analyses (Meyer, Stanley, Herscovitch, & Topolnytsky, 2002). Employees with strong organizational commitment tend to be more productive and more willing to assume larger responsibilities (Herscovitch & Meyer, 2002). There is also evidence that points to the low productivity and poor performance in developing countries as being consequences of weak organizational commitment (Yousef, 2000). A study by Benkhoff (1997b) found that employee commitment to their organization to be significantly related to the financial success of banks.
Furthermore, one topic that has received increased attention and is believed to be important to worker effectiveness is that of emotional intelligence or EI (Kelly & Caplan, 1993). The success of practical workplace applications involving emotional intelligence and the results of empirical research investigating the relationship between emotional intelligence
and crucial work-related factors suggest that emotional intelligence of employees is an important aspect of organizations (Ashkanasy, Hartel & Daus, 2002; Cherniss, 2000;
Weisinger, 1998). Thus far, the emphasis on organizational application of emotional intelligence has been in areas such as employees’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment (Abraham, 2000; Carmeli, 2003; Lounsbury et al., 2003), effective leadership (Bass, 2002;
Higgs & Aitken, 2003), and productivity (Boyatzis, Goleman & Rhee, 2000). In addition, banking job is demanding and involves difficulties with heavy workload and it also involves satisfying different customers with different needs which may result in feelings of frustration and high levels of stress for the employees, emotional intelligence can enable employees to control this stress and prevent the negative effects of one’s attitude towards his/her work. In line with this, little empirical evidence has shown that emotional intelligence is positively related to organizational commitment and job satisfaction (Ashforth & Humphrey, 1995;
Carmeli, 2003). Moreover, since the banking or service sector is concerned with the quality of service and satisfaction provided to their customers through their employees, having emotionally intelligent employees might serve as a competitive advantage in that these employees might be able to place themselves in a positive state of mind and these may help them know how to avoid dysfunctional emotions and used emotions in adaptive ways to alleviate feelings of frustration and thus enhance customer satisfaction. In this respect, Barlow and Maul (2000) found that high emotional intelligence in service providers contributes to customer satisfaction and this might lead to its profitability and success.
Moreover, Job satisfaction is a key variable in organizational studies (Connolly
&Viswesvaran, 2000). It has been found to be pivotal to processes as diverse as organizational commitment (Mattieu & Zajac, 1990; Petrides & Furham, 2006), job performance (Podsakoff & Williams, 1986), organizational citizenship behaviors (Fisher, 2003), employee withdrawal (Price,2001), and absenteeism ( Tharenou,1993). Given the key role job satisfaction plays with respect to pivotal organizational factors, the implications of understanding the components and sources of job satisfaction are immense. This is particularly true for service organizations such as the banking sector in The Gambia.
Despite the tremendous interest that organizational commitment and job satisfaction research generates (Beck & Wilson, 2000) and the importance of these two variables for successful and competitive organization, there is still very little research done in developing countries (Meyer et al., 2002). Given the growing significance of the banking sector in The Gambia in facilitating economic growth, there is an important need to extend our understanding of the factors that predict employee’s organizational commitment. In addition,
there is also relatively little known about the relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction and also its relations with organizational commitment. Hence, more research is needed to further examine the relationship between emotional intelligence with variables such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Sy, Cote & Saavedra, 2005).
As such this study will investigate whether specific demographic data would make no significant difference on organizational commitment. This research also aims to contribute to the work on job satisfaction and organizational commitment and fill the gap identified above by investigating whether there is a positive relationship between EI and organizational commitment. It will further examine whether there is a positive relationship between EI and job satisfaction. Finally, it will also look whether there is a positive and significant relationship between job satisfaction and organizational commitment.
Research Purposes
There is a growing interest that the variables of gender, age, marital status, level of education and organizational tenure make no significant difference on organizational commitment. These variables have been suggested in previous research to be inconsistent predictors of organizational commitment (Bateman & Strasser, 1984; Mathieu & Hamel, 1989; Steers, 1977) and thus, these demographic variables will be tested in this study to see whether they make no significant difference on organizational commitment. As mentioned above, the relations between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction and emotional intelligence and organizational commitment are limitedly investigated in the literature (Gardner, 2003). In line with this, fairly little is known as it pertains to the relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction in general (Abraham, 2000; Sy, Tram &
O’Hara, 2006) and even less is known in regards to this relationship as it applies to the banking industry in The Gambia. As a result of the limited empirical studies on these variables, the aim of this study is to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction on organizational commitment. The total emotional intelligence construct (EI) consist of four dimensions: self-emotion appraisal, other’s emotion appraisal, use of emotion and regulation of emotion; the total job satisfaction scale (JS) comprise of nine facets: pay, promotion, co-workers, nature of work, communication, supervision, fringe benefits, contingent rewards, operating procedures; while organizational commitment (OC) has three components: affective OC, normative OC and continuance OC. These terms will be highlighted in the literature review of this research. Specifically, the following research purposes were developed for this research:
1. To examine the effects of demographic data on organizational commitment.
2. To examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and organizational commitment.
3. To examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction 4. To examine the relationship between job satisfaction and organizational
commitment.
Research Questions
Based on the purposes, five questions were generated in the present study, which are:
1. Do demographic data make no significant difference on organizational commitment?
2. Is there a positive relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Organizational Commitment?
3. Is there a positive relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Job Satisfaction?
4. Is there a positive and significant relationship between Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment?
Significance of the Study
Organizations are increasingly becoming aware that their employees are their most valuable resource (Hafeez & Abdelmeguid, 2003). There are instances in the banking industry where an entire group of employees have left an organization to form a rival organization. These people take with them not only organization-specific knowledge and expertise but also some of the old clients, leaving the parent company impoverished (Alvesson, 2000). Thus, these are some of the reasons why organizational commitment has attracted considerable interest as attempts have been made to better understand the intensity and stability of an employee’s dedication to the organization (Lumley, 2000). Allen and Meyer (1990) identified the link between organizational commitment and employee turnover and conclude that employees who were strongly committed to the organization were less likely to leave it and hence the majority of studies suggest that organizational commitment will remain one of the most popular management in the years to come. Moreover, a recent study by the Small Business Organizations (SBO), which is a state-owned organization in the United States, argues that organizations should build and maintain organizational commitment in order to survive and succeed in the year 2000. The organization stated that:
“Whether you are a one or two- man organization or larger business you need to look at the year 2000 problem as a business issue rather than a technology issue.
While you will need technical help to fully understand and fix the problem- it is the business problem that you cannot ignore. Commitment from everyone in your organization insures full buy-in for the task at hand.”(www.sba.gov)
Likewise, we live in an era in which organizations frequently confront the necessity of massive change; committed employees can be an extremely valuable organizational resource in facilitating rapid adaptation to changing conditions. Thus, due to the increasing concerns within the financial industry, it is important for financial employers to understand how to successfully retain their employees. An understanding of the factors that predict or relate to organizational commitment therefore becomes more significant. In line with this, scholars have viewed emotional intelligence as a factor which has a potential to contribute to more positive attitudes, behaviors and outcomes (Cameli, 2003) in the organization. In the same vein, Cherniss (2000) pointed out that it is more useful and interesting to consider how emotional intelligence contributes to effective performance at work, the unique contributions of emotional intelligence to important work-related attitudes, behavior and outcomes have not received much attention and support. Little research is done on the subject and as such Dulewicz and Higgs (2000, p.341 & p.351) suggested there is need for rigorous research to underpin the usefulness of emotional intelligence in organizational settings whether public or private on both personal and organizational levels. Similarly, given the key role that job satisfaction plays with respect to pivotal organizational factors, the implications of understanding the facets and sources of job satisfaction are immense. This is particularly true for people-oriented, service organizations such as the banking sector. Despite its growing importance, empirical studies on the relationship between job satisfaction and other individual and organizational variables within the banking sector is sparse especially in developing countries such as The Gambia. As mentioned earlier, there is limited research examining the relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction on organizational commitment in a developing country and thus this it is hoped that the results of this study will provide information for employers in the banking sector of The Gambia and beyond in enhancing organizational commitment of their employees. It is also hoped that the finding of this study will provide an understanding of emotional intelligence and job satisfaction on organizational commitment which might help employers retain their employees, trigger customer satisfaction and ultimately make profit.
Research Delimitations
Delimitations
Delimitation refers to the choices made by the researcher. The delimitation falls under the following categories.
The process through which organizational commitment develops is complex and involves a number of factors. This research recognizes the existence of multiple factors that could lead to organizational commitment, however these variables were not considered, as the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction on organizational commitment.
In order to reduce variability that arises out of different contextual factors, this study only surveyed participants from one type of industry that is banking and from one country.
Emotional intelligence, job satisfaction and organizational commitment have been measured in different ways. In this study, Meyer, Allen and Smith’s (1997) measurement of organizational commitment, Wong and Law’s (2002) emotional intelligence scale and Spector’s (1985) job satisfaction scale was be employed.
Definition of Key Terms
In this section, the researchers will give both the theoretical and operational definitions of the variables to be studied. The theoretical definitions outline the idea and concept of each variable and the operational definition will outline how each variable will be measured.
Organizational Commitment
Organizational commitment is viewed as a psychological connection that individuals or employees have with their organization and is characterized by strong identification with the organization and the desire to contribute to the accomplishment of organizational goals (Meyer & Allen, 1997). In addition, Meyer and Allen (1991) conceive organizational commitment as reflecting three core themes, namely affective, continuance and normative commitment. Commitment can be seen as an effective point of reference towards the organization- affective commitment, acknowledgement of the consequences of leaving the organization– continuance commitment and an ethical responsibility to stay with the organizations– normative commitment. In line with the purposes of this research, Meyer and
Allen’s (1991) three component forms of organizational commitment is therefore of relevance to this research. The definition of organizational commitment by different authors is provided in Table 2.1.
The three components of organizational commitment were measured using a 18-item scale adapted from Meyer, Allen and Smith (1993). Each is measured using a 6 –item scale respectively.
Emotional Intelligence
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, p.10). This definition is perhaps the most widely accepted scientific definition of EI and perhaps the most workable contemporary definition of EI (Zeidner, Mattews, & Roberts, 2004). Emotional Intelligence is comprised of four distinct dimensions and these are: Appraisal and expression of emotion in the self- SEA, Appraisal and recognition of emotion in others - OEA, Regulation of emotion in the self- ROE and use of emotion to facilitate performance- UOE (Wong & Law, 2002). A brief explanation of these dimensions will be highlighted in the literature view of this study.
In this study, the four dimensions of emotional intelligence were used to measure emotional intelligence. EI scale items were extracted from Wong and Law’s research (2002).
A 16- item scale was used to measure the overall four dimensions of EI. As such each dimension was measured by a 4-item scale. A more detailed explanation of this scale will be highlighted in the instrumentation part of this study.
Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction is a widely researched and complex phenomenon, it follows that there are numerous definitions of the concept. For the purposes of this study, job satisfaction is defined as an individual’s total feeling about their job and the attitudes they have towards various aspects or facets of their job as well as an attitude and perception that could consequently influence the degree of fit between the individual and the organization (Spector, 1997).
In line with the aims of this study, Spector’s (1985) nine facets which make up the total job satisfaction scale were adapted. These facets are: Pay, Promotion, Supervision, benefits, contingent rewards, operating procedures, co-workers, nature of work and communication.
The short description of these facets is shown in Table 2.4. A 36– item scale was used to measure job satisfaction. Thus, each facet was be measured by a four – item scale.
In summary, this chapter has provided an explicit outline of the research problem and how it will be addressed. The research scope has also been established by the stated delimitations and limitations. The chapter also provided a brief description of the significance of the study, the research questions and finally the operational definitions that would be employed throughout the research process.