CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Emotional
intelligence (EI) is a new concept, which has been used and defined in
the management literature since 1990. Different studies have
demonstrated that emotional intelligence is one of the virtues
associated with success in life (Ranjbar et al, 2012). Developing
emotional intelligence among the staff can solve many problems in
education, health and management (Miri et al, 2013). There is a growing
body of evidence regarding the emotional aspects of work in an
organization. Although, few management researchers have accepted this
concept, the concept of emotional intelligence has been used by the
administrative authorities in many workplaces to explain issues related
to the job satisfaction, performance, absenteeism, organizational
commitment and leadership (carmeli, 2003).
In the context of the emerging ‘affective revolution’ in social and
organizational psychology, emotional intelligence is proposed as an
important predictor of key organizational outcomes including job
satisfaction and employee commitment (Carmeli, 2003). Emotional
intelligence is considered to play a significant role in the work
environment. It is a basic requirement in any profession that is based
on human relations especially in the teaching. Emotions play an
important role in the teaching profession which requires both technical
expertise and psychologically oriented teaching, so an emotionally
intelligent teacher is a person who can work in harmony with his/her
thoughts and feelings (landa & Lopez-Zafra, 2010). Emotional
intelligence is the ability to perceive, evaluate and express emotions
rapidly and to understand and manage them using emotional information
and to direct thoughts, actions and affects to have a successful work
experience. There are two types of Emotional Intelligence measure:
ability and trait. The trait Emotional Intelligence theory distinguishes
between the intrapersonal and interpersonal domains. Intrapersonally,
use of emotions can lead to regulating stress and negative emotions so
that one can perform better at work. Interpersonally, the ability to
understand and respond appropriately to the motivations and feelings of
other people can lead to the appraisal and regulation of emotions in
others and achieving maximum performance (Nozaki & Koyasu, 2013).
Researchers specifically propose that such an ability can predict work
outcomes, such as organizational commitment, intention to quit, the
staff turnover, job satisfaction and job performance. Studies have shown
that the selection of personnel based on the emotional intelligence had
better results compared to the traditional methods which may have a
greater reliance on cognitive abilities and technical knowledge, while
this issue has been rarely studied in the teaching profession (Miri et
al, 2013).
On the other hand, one of the important issues in the field of
organizational success is job satisfaction. Job satisfaction can be
defined as the extent to which employees like their jobs. It is an
emotional state of individuals that is enhanced by achieving favorable
results at work and the feelings of belonging to a functioning work
place. Traditional job satisfaction pointed to the feelings of an
individual towards his/her job. Two sets of factors are considered to
influence job satisfaction: intrinsic (recognition, tasks and
responsibility) and extrinsic factors (working conditions, company
policies and salary). Internal job satisfaction is an internal desire to
perform a task which deals with pleasure and is related to internal
motivation. External factors are defined as those external benefits
provided to the professional staff by the organization. These factors
are unrelated to the task and include money, good scores and other
rewards (Golman, 2000). Schools that have higher job satisfaction scores
among the employees, have a better students performance and more
favorable outcomes. Studies have shown that high degree of emotional
exhaustion can predict lower self-rated performance and higher intention
to quit work which is a consequence of low job satisfaction
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Emotionally
healthy behaviour is mirrored in individuals’ ways of thinking;
recognizing, managing and expressing feelings; and choosing effective
behaviours. Emotions are of high significance in educational settings.
Emotional health is important for teachers; it influences what they do,
who they meet, how they look and feel and it makes decision about their
life. Job satisfaction is one of the ways to look at an individual in
the workplace. Scherler (2001) simply defined job satisfaction as ‘the
degree to which people like their jobs’. Teacher job satisfaction is ‘a
predictor of teacher retention, a determinant of teacher commitment, and
a contributor to teacher effectiveness’. Teacher job satisfaction
decreases exhaustion, improves job performance, and has a positive
impact on student outcomes. It depends on teachers’ attitude, and helps
to express emotions appropriately instead ignore them. The researcher is
examining emotional intelligence and job satisfaction as predictors of
organizational commitment.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The following are the objectives of this study:
- To examine the influence of emotional intelligence on organizational commitment among secondary school teachers.
- To examine the impact of job satisfaction on organizational commitment among secondary school teachers.
- To identify the factors that influences organizational commitment among secondary school teachers
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
- What is the influence of emotional intelligence on organizational commitment among secondary school teachers?
- What is the impact of job satisfaction on organizational commitment among secondary school teachers?
- What are the factors that influence organizational commitment among secondary school teachers?
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The following are the significance of this study:
- The result of this study will educate stakeholders in the
education sector on the importance of emotional intelligence and job
satisfaction and how they can be used as a tool to promote
organizational commitment among secondary school teachers.
- This research will also serve as a resource base to other scholars
and researchers interested in carrying out further research in this
field subsequently, if applied will go to an extent to provide new
explanation to the topic
1.7 SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
This study
will cover some selected secondary school in Egor Local Government area
of Edo State. It will also cover the level of staff commitment in the
selected secondary schools.
LIMITATION OF STUDY
Financial constraint-
Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in
sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in
the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
Time constraint-
The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other
academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for
the research work.