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As organizational leaders worry about the appalling low percentage of people who feel engaged in their work, academics are trying to understand what causes an increase in engagement. We collected survey data from 231 team members from two organizations. We examined the impact of team members’ emotional intelligence (EI) and their perception of shared personal vision, shared positive mood, and perceived organizational support (POS) on the members’ degree of organizational engagement. We found shared vision, shared mood, and POS have a direct, positive association with engagement. In addition, shared vision and POS interact with EI to positively influence engagement. Besides highlighting the importance of shared personal vision, positive mood, and POS, our study contributes to the emergent understanding of EI by revealing EI’s amplifying effect on shared vision and POS in relation to engagement. We conclude by discussing the research and practical implications of this study.
Employee engagement has quickly become an important construct in organizational studies (e.g.,
In spite of what we have learned so far about employee engagement, there is still a clarion call for more work to be done (e.g.,
Our purpose is to address the need for further research on the antecedents of engagement. We first define employee engagement and review the current research on its antecedents. In doing so, we show that little has been done to explore the complex socio-psychological antecedents of engagement. Next, we test the association of two psychological climate factors and organizational support with employee engagement and whether individual characteristics moderate the relationship with engagement. Specifically, we investigate the association of (1) shared personal vision and shared positive mood (climate factors), (2) perceived organizational support (POS), and (3) peer-rated employee emotional intelligence (EI) with organizational engagement. Finally, we discuss the research and practical implications and contributions of these results and propose directions for further research.
To date the definition of engagement still lacks universal agreement (
Drawing on the denotation of engagement being role related,
Recently scholars have started to explore the potential antecedents to employee engagement. Drawing upon social exchange theory (
In contrast,
Thus, while the aforementioned work on the antecedents of employee engagement represents a significant initial step toward understanding the drivers of engagement, it provides an incomplete explanation for the complex socio-psychological phenomenon engagement represents. If employee engagement is driven by an employee’s level of psychological presence in and emotional commitment to their role as organizational member, then a better understanding of the psychological drivers (e.g., aspirations, hopes, mood, etc.) and emotional and social capabilities of an employee should help identify other key antecedents of engagement. For example, it would seem that an exploration of antecedents that measure “the degree to which the person can implement his or her preferred self” (
Psychological climate has been defined as the “perceptions that assess the significance and meaning of work environments to individuals” (
Intentional Change Theory (
As a way of classifying these personal factors,
Shared personal vision positively associates with organizational engagement.
Shared positive mood positively associates with organizational engagement.
Perceived organizational support is defined as “a general belief that one’s organization values [employees’] contributions and cares about their wellbeing” (
Following our interests and the literature reviewed earlier, we retest
Perceived organizational support positively associates with organizational engagement.
As a distinguishing individual capability, EI has caught the attention of scholars and practitioners alike (e.g.,
To date, most research has intelligence and motivation as relatively separated constructs (e.g.,
Under the current conceptualization of EI, there are three primary domains of research (
Finally, the third domain is a behavioral approach based on behavioral competencies. Similar to leadership competency models, this approach is related to combining affective and cognitive abilities. Under this third, behavioral domain (
Competencies have been defined as learned capabilities that contribute to effective performance at work (
As an important component of employees’ emotional energy and preferred self, few studies have closely looked at association between interpersonal capability and employee engagement. Yet, some have suggested that behavioral competencies like communication skills and the ability to give upward feedback impact employee engagement levels (
There has been little research relating EI to psychological climate. Some initial results show that managers’ EI positively correlates with climate (
How one performs in his or her job has been linked to the person’s level of engagement (e.g.,
The behaviors that compose EI competencies help employees gain self-knowledge and engage in self-regulation to effectively facilitate relationships with others. Because EI is centered on understanding and managing self and employee engagement is about connecting oneself to one’s role as an organizational member, we surmise that EI will help facilitate the connection of self to an organizational role. We found one study (
We surmise that EI will impact engagement but, as noted earlier, prior research has not found this relationship to be one of a direct association. In contrast, we believe EI will have an “amplifying” role in its association with psychological climate factors, POS, and employee engagement. By “amplifying,” we mean to suggest EI increases the positive association of POS and psychological climate factors on engagement. We theorize that as an individual characteristic, EI does not have a direct association with organizational engagement because EI is centered on the self, particularly the self-awareness and self-management aspects of the self. On the other hand, POS, shared personal vision, and shared positive mood are constructs that assess how employees feel about the organization and their role as organizational members. This level of assessment of comparing self to one’s organizational role will be enhanced the more self-knowledge an employee possesses. As employees are clear about who they are, what they value, what they aspire to be, what they are good at doing, what type of support they want and need, for example, they can make more accurate judgments as to whether their goals and aspirations are being met.
Therefore, we believe EI will amplify the association between POS, mood, and vision and engagement. For example, EI can help an employee understand his or her personal vision and to assess the degree to which this vision is shared. EI likely empowers self-management to reconcile concerns about possible disconnects between an employee’s personal vision and the employee’s role as an organizational member. As the association between vision and one’s organizational role weakens, for example, EI can enable an employee to recognize and appreciate this disconnect and use self-management behaviors like emotional self-control and/or adaptability to rectify and strengthen the relationship. As EI increases, clarity and management of one’s vision and mood increases, which can in turn increase engagement. In sum, we propose that EI serves as a “check and balance” to amplify the association between POS and climate factors and engagement that would not be possible without the self-awareness and self-management capability that EI provides.
Therefore, we predict there will be positive association between EI, psychological climate, POS, and employee engagement such that EI will amplify the positive association shared vision, positive mood, and POS have on organizational engagement. In sum, the hypotheses that follow are designed to test the moderating role we believe individual characteristics (EI) play in amplifying psychological climate factors and POS that associate with engagement.
Emotional intelligence positively increases the association of personal shared vision on organizational engagement.
Emotional intelligence positively increases the association of shared positive mood on organizational engagement.
Emotional intelligence positively increases the association of POS on organizational engagement.
Data were collected from one for-profit public company and one not-for-profit educational institution, both headquartered in a Midwestern state of the United States. These two consenting organizations agreed to provide full access to directly contact organizational members for possible participation in a web based data collection effort. In total, 638 engagement surveys were sent between the two organizations with a 44.7% response rate. Thus, 285 employees completed the engagement survey. The Institutional Review Board approved the Informed Consent and ethical conduct of the study at the third author’s university, and all protocols governing the use of human subjects were followed.
The for-profit company provided email addresses to all personnel in their Information Technology department while the not-for-profit institution provided email addresses for all of its administrative personnel. The web-based survey was administered over a 1 month period. The engagement, POS, and climate surveys started with the request for each employee to provide up to seven names of their co-workers that could rate the employee’s EI. An EI survey was then sent to each of the persons nominated. 798 co-workers completed the EI survey rating 238 study participants. Follow-up reminders were sent twice during the survey period.
After linking the climate, engagement, POS, and EI surveys, and retaining those cases that had complete data on all analysis variables, we obtained an analytic sample of 231 cases. Job tenure (time in
Demographic profile of the respondents by company type.
Job tenure | 2.32 (0.94) |
Work experience | 3.49 (0.83) |
Salary | 2.89 (0.79) |
Gender (male) | 0.65 |
Clericala | 0.04 |
Individual contributor a | 0.27 |
Managementa | 0.69 |
Job tenure | 2.73 (0.95) |
Work experience | 3.93 (0.25) |
Salary | 2.62 (0.78) |
Gender (male)a | 0.25 |
Clericala | 0.43 |
Individual contributora | 0.41 |
Managementa | 0.16 |
Psychological climate, POS, and organizational engagement survey items used a five-point Likert scale, ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. We measured EI using a seventy-two item survey (discussed later). The climate factors were assessed with the PNEA Survey developed by Boyatzis based on earlier work (
The POS scale contained three items adapted from
Using
The EI variables were derived from the
The
For the current study, we only used the EI scales. Because we were assessing aspects of the interpersonal climate through the perception of shared vision and POS, we believed we would likely have some overlap with the social intelligence behaviors and risk multicollinearity with the personal vision, POS and engagement measures. As a result, we chose to focus on the EI competencies rather than the SI competencies in our study. Further, when reviewing prior research, we concluded that among the EI competencies, emotional self-awareness seems to be predominantly an internal observation. This would make others’ observation of a team member’s emotional self-awareness more of a projection or attribution based on features other than observed behavior.
Conceptual logic based on past EI research (e.g.,
To test the research hypotheses, we estimated path models using AMOS with simultaneous estimation of engagement. We tested the moderation hypotheses (i.e., H4–H6) using interaction terms.
Because there has been little attention devoted to the antecedents of engagement, there is not much theory to suggest which control variables may be most important. Given engagement is strongly connected to how one feels with their experience at work, it made sense for us to control for the type of organization one works for (for-profit versus not-for-profit), the type of work one does (e.g., clerical versus managerial), and the amount of time in one’s current role. We also chose to control for how much money an employee earns since one report noted that pay is a key driver of employee engagement (
Bivariate correlations, means and standard deviations for the analysis variables are presented in
Means, standard deviations, and correlations for the studied variablesa.
Mean | SD | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(1) Shared personal vision | 4.02 | 0.73 | ||||
(2) Shared positive mood | 4.37 | 0.68 | 0.61** | |||
(3) Organization engagement | 3.80 | 0.84 | 0.59** | 0.65** | ||
(4) Perceived organizational support | 3.99 | 0.97 | 0.61** | 0.54** | 0.59** | |
(5) Emotional intelligence | 4.20 | 0.48 | 0.23** | 0.29** | 0.20** | 0.27** |
To further ensure the validity of the measures, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis. The measurement model had 23 manifest variables specified as indicators of five latent constructs. All factor loading paths were positive and significant at the 0.001 level. Our measurement model for subsequent analysis had a good fit (Chi square 470, 219 df, IFI 0.930, CFI 0.929, RMSEA 0.071). The model had a PCFI of 0.737, indicating that the model was parsimonious and had acceptable fit.
Unstandardized regression coefficients for organizational engagement.
Model 1 | Model 2 | Model 3 | Model 4 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Company | -0.02 (0.11) | -0.02 (0.11) | -0.02 (0.11) | -0.03 (0.12) |
Gender | 0.01 (0.09) | 0 (0.09) | 0.01 (0.09) | 0 (0.09) |
Clerical | 0.11 (0.14) | 0.06 (0.14) | 0.11 (0.14) | 0.08 (0.14) |
Manager | 0.19 (0.10) | 0.19 (0.10) | 0.19 (0.10) | 0.20 (0.10)* |
Work experience | 0.03 (0.07) | 0.04 (0.07) | 0.03 (0.07) | 0.04 (0.07) |
Time in current role | 0.06 (0.05) | 0.08 (0.04) | 0.06 (0.05) | 0.08 (0.05) |
Salary level | -0.01 (0.07) | -0.02 (0.07) | -0.01 (0.07) | -0.02 (0.07) |
Emotional intelligence | -0.06 (.09) | -1.29 (0.44)** | -0.09 (0.48) | -0.68 (0.29)* |
Shared personal vision | 0.24 (0.08)** | -1.08 (0.47)* | 0.24 (0.08)** | 0.25 (0.07)** |
Shared positive mood | 0.46 (0.08)** | 0.46 (0.08)** | 0.43 (0.46) | 0.46 (0.08)** |
Perceived organizational support | 0.24 (0.05)** | 0.26 (0.05)** | 0.24 (0.05)** | -0.43 (0.31) |
EI × shared personal vision | 0.31 (0.11)** | |||
EI × shared positive mood | 0.01 (0.11) | |||
EI × perceived organizational support | 0.16 (0.07)* | |||
Constant | -0.17 (0.44) | 4.87 (1.83)** | -0.06 (1.96) | 2.26 (1.19) |
0.54 | 0.56 | 0.54 | 0.55 |
Model 1 in
Model 2 adds the interaction terms of EI*shared personal vision to the model.
Model 3 in
Model 4 in
In sum, we found that peer-rated EI moderates the association of shared personal vision and POS with organizational engagement but does not do so with shared positive mood.
Our primary contribution is we have confirmed POS’s impact on engagement and have introduced two additional antecedents (shared personal vision and shared positive mood) to engagement worthy of additional further research. We have extended prior theory by considering the association individual characteristics (EI), POS, and psychological climate factors (i.e., shared personal vision and shared positive mood) have with organizational engagement. Our research contributes to the understanding of engagement by revealing shared vision and shared positive mood have positive, direct associations on engagement. As an additional highlight of our results, this is the first study, to our knowledge, that presents EI as having an amplifying relationship between our predictor and outcome variables. Most prior studies on EI have only explored its role as an independent or dependent variable.
Our research emphasizes engagement’s role as a construct that is self-driven. This can be seen from
As we noted at the start of this paper, very limited work has been done to examine the relationship between EI and engagement. We found only one study that explored these relationships (
We also proposed EI would interact with psychological climate factors such that EI would have an amplifying effect on the relationship between climate factors and engagement. In fact, our results indicate that for organizational engagement, shared vision indeed has an amplifying pattern whereby when individuals have high EI, shared vision strengthens the level of engagement. Those with high EI would, as our data show, be dissatisfied and therefore less engaged in a relational climate with low shared vision. In sum, EI is an important moderator in amplifying the association of shared vision with organizational engagement. As noted earlier,
Perhaps individuals use their EI to clarify and make use of their shared personal vision to strengthen their commitment to and connection with their organization. Organizational engagement items such as “one of the most exciting things for me is getting involved with things happening in this organization,” connote a connection beyond the functional area of one’s job. Therefore, it is understandable to see a significant and positive relationship between organizational engagement and the interactions of EI with POS and shared vision. EI may help the self (with its values, goals, aspirations, hopes, etc.) clarify how the vision and purposes of the organization relate to the self and to then, in turn, increase the connection one feels to the organization.
For years organizations have created vision and mission statements and research has supported the importance of their use in organizations (e.g.,
Finally, shared positive mood had the strongest direct association on organizational engagement, but it did not have an interactive effect with EI on engagement. Employees’ shared positive mood is a driver that harnesses the self to the employees’ work in positive ways. Thus, it is no surprise to find that when shared positive mood is high, employees feel more engaged. As noted earlier,
In terms of the insignificant association between EI and mood and engagement, prior research has argued that mood, in contrast to emotions, “are weaker or diffuse, last longer,…and tend to elicit a wider range of cognitive and behavioral responses than do emotions because they are not targeted toward specific causes” (
Even though the findings in our study generally support five out of six of the hypotheses, the study is not without limitations that should be considered in the design of future research. First, this study’s sampling procedure was not random, opening the possibility of selection bias, as we have no way of knowing if the responses to our survey are different than those that chose not to complete the survey. Selection bias reduces the external validity of this research. Further limiting the external validity of this research is the ability to generalize differences between for-profit and not-for-profit organizations due to our sampling strategy. That is, we did not take a sample of for-profit and not–for-profit organizations but chose two that were willing to participate. Differences found between these organizations could be due to specific characteristics of these two organizations rather than differences between the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors.
Second, due to the large number of questions being asked of each respondent, we were unable to ask a full set of demographic questions (e.g., educational attainment). This characteristic of the data collection could lead to omitted variable bias if an unobserved factor is related to our independent and dependent variables.
Third, upon examination of frequency tables, histograms, box plots and distributional statistics to determine the shape of the distributions of the individual items, we found that items comprising the engagement and climate scales were not normally distributed around their mean, rather most items in this survey showed distributions with negative skewness and high kurtosis values, a pattern caused by many respondents answering on the high end of each item. Given the non normal distributions, we will interpret inferential results (i.e., any significant tests) with caution, and it should be noted that the limited range and variance might under estimate true population associations among the variables in our model.
Finally, a common method bias analysis indicated that there was a possibility of common method bias. We suspect this is related to the non-normal variable distributions. Given this possibility, we again interpret results with caution and view it as a limitation of this research. Analyses of path models accounting for common method bias were estimated and showed no substantive differences from the results presented above.
Our research findings serve as an invitation toward a new agenda in vision, POS, EI, and engagement research. As an individual characteristic, EI plays an important role in the relationship between engagement, POS, and shared vision. We see this as a vital area for further study. As others have done recently (e.g.,
Future research should seek to understand how shared vision, mood, and POS build on the relational aspects of engagement. In this study we examined EI. Social intelligence relies on behaviors that help people understand others and manage others effectively. Engagement has relational qualities given an organization’s culture is a composite of the shared values and vision of many. It would be interesting to see if social intelligence also plays an amplifying role in its association with the variables used in this study.
We join the call for additional research on the antecedents of engagement, but our work has called attention more directly to the importance of socio-psychological factors that may drive engagement. More work is needed to understand EI as a moderator to the relationship between shared vision and POS and engagement. The importance and impact of positive emotions in organizational life is a growing area of organizational scholarship (
Leaders must be concerned with engagement in the workforce. Having a clear awareness of engagement levels is a useful predictor of behavior and performance. Future research should continue to examine engagement as an important aspect of organizations. The current study found interesting differences in the determinants of engagement (vision, mood, and POS versus EI) suggesting different processes might lead individuals to be engaged to their organizations. Future research should attempt to clarify why these processes are different and what this means for managers trying to lead their workforce in an optimum way.
The purpose of our study was primarily focused on testing empirical relationships between individual characteristics, organizational support, and psychological climate factors and engagement. On the other hand, our findings do lend themselves to several practical implications. First, one of the challenges in organizations today is how to help employees believe in and become loyal to the organizational vision, see their job as important, and trust that the organization supports its employees (
Next, our research also exposes the importance of fostering the emotional and socio-psychological factors of climate. Our findings reveal empirical evidence of their impact on engagement at a time when the relationship between engagement and performance are becoming well documented (e.g.,
This study highlights the importance of shared personal vision, shared positive mood, and POS as key areas for further research on engagement. This study also contributes to our growing understanding of EI by displaying EI’s amplifying effect on shared vision and POS in relation to engagement. We now invite others to join the call for understanding these and other important antecedents to engagement.
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.