Emotional Intelligence and Worker Commitment

Objective: This article reviews current research on emotional intelligence and explores the ways that leaders’ behavior has been shown to affect worker commitment. The impact of employees’ emotional intelligence on their actions and attitudes is discussed as well as suggestions for leaders to help employees utilize emotional intelligence as a resource for achieving success in the workforce. Methodology: This article presents a literature review that summarizes current research on emotional intelligence and organizational leadership theories. Study data was collected via survey methodology, with responses from more than 600 EMBA students with full-time work experience across multiple industries. Implications: This article contributes to the field of management by determining how leader behaviors impact employee commitment to their supervisor and the organization. Research to date has highlighted the importance of employee commitment, both with their job and organization, toward improved performance, worker retention, increased motivation, and reduced absenteeism and turnover. To date, minimal research has been conducted to determine how leaders might affect these outcomes. This study will focus on employee descriptions of leader behaviors in their organizations and levels of employee commitment to the leader and organization. The results of the study are expected to have implications for leader selection and training as well as strategies to improve employee performance and retention