The impact of leaders’ emotional intelligence on employee engagement : a South African Telecommunications study

Abstract

Studies in the area of employee engagement (EE) became popular in the late twentieth century. Over the past two years, Covid-19 has shone the spotlight on the topic once again due to mega trends such as the “great resignation” and “quiet quitting”. The pandemic also caused shockwaves in economies around the world and resulted in increased competition in markets. Employees contribute to the competitive advantage of an organisation and firms are looking into employee engagement to enable staff retention. Many studies have been conducted on the factors that influence EE and have mainly looked into the impact different leadership styles have on EE. This study aimed to investigate the impact that a leaders’ emotional intelligence (EI) has on the EE of their workforce. The research investigated the impact that the 5 dimensions of EI (self-regulation, self-awareness, motivation, empathy and social skills) has on EE. A quantitative methodology was adopted to test hypothesis. A cross-sectional survey questionnaire was used to collect data. The data consisting of 184 items was collected and analysed using statistical correlational tests. The research concluded that there are significant positive correlations between each of the five dimensions of EI and EE. This study contributes to the body of knowledge within the area of EE, EI and leadership.