Teachers Emotional Intelligence and Its Relationship with Job Satisfaction

ADVANCES IN EDUCATION VOL.1, NO.1 JANUARY 2012 4 Teachers Emotional Intelligence and Its Relationship with Job Satisfaction Soleiman Yahyazadeh-Jeloudar 1 Fatemeh Lotfi-Goodarzi 2 Abstract- The study was designed to examine the relationship between teachers' emotional intelligence and their job satisfaction index at senior secondary schools level. Participants were 177 educators who completed the Emotional Intelligence Scale (ECI), and a version of the Job Descriptive Index which is a scale used to measure six major factors associated with job satisfaction based on a selected demographic variable. The findings of the study showed that there were significant relationship between teachers' emotional intelligence and their job satisfaction. The study also revealed that there was a significant difference between teachers emotional intelligence and their academic degree levels. Further, significant relationship was found between teachers emotional intelligence and five factors of job satisfaction: (nature of the work itself, attitudes towards supervisors, relations with co-workers, opportunities for promotion, work condition in the present environment), but no significant relationship with one factor (salary and benefit) of job satisfaction. Keywords- Degree, Emotion, Intelligence, Job satisfaction, workplace INTRODUCTION Job satisfaction can be described as a positive emotional state resulting from the characteristics and aspects of a work setting (Arches, [2]; Dressel, [8]; Jayaratne & Chess, [12]), and there appears to be multiple factors that influence satisfaction with a job (Acker, [1]). Since that time, studies of job satisfaction revealed several complex and interrelated ways to conceptualize that concept (Madlock & Kennedy-Lightsey, [17]). A more contemporary definition of job satisfaction is a pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one s job-an affective reaction to one s job and an attitude toward one s job (Shahnawaz & Jafri, [21], p. 160). Porter, Steers, Mowday & Boulian [20] summarized the abundant literature showing the consistent and moderate relationship between greater job satisfaction and the propensity to remain with the organization. Individuals with high emotional intelligence demonstrated higher measures of job satisfaction and performance (Sy, Tramm & O'Hara, [23]). A possible explanation for this relationship is that 1 Universiti of Mazandarn-Iran, P.hD Mail: Yahyazadeh_so@yahoo.com Corespondent Author 2 Ministry of Education- P.hD Candidate

ADVANCES IN EDUCATION VOL.1, NO.1 JANUARY 2012 5 employees with high emotional intelligence respond more effectively to workplace stress and to the emotional cues of coworkers. These emotionally intelligent behaviors positively affect job satisfaction (Dong & Howard, [17]). The construct of emotional intelligence has been utilized in an attempt to understand employee functioning within the work setting (Sy et al., [23]; Wright & Cropanzano, [24]). Emotional skill has been determined to be an important asset to an employee. Goleman [10] identified a large number of work-related competencies, two thirds of which were emotional in nature. High emotional awareness has been considered to be important for the workplace Regulation of emotion in self and others is also an important work-based skill suggested by Goleman [10]. Empathy is another key element of emotional intelligence and may play an important role in the workplace. Matthews, Zeidner and Roberts [18]note that empathy can be employed to facilitate an understanding of workplace conflicts and to assist in their resolution. Additionally, Matthews et al. (18) note that handling the emotions of others is an important part of emotional intelligence, and consists of two sub skills: 1) influencing others, and 2) effectively communicating with others. All of these components of emotional intelligence allow an employee to function at a distinct advantage over their less emotionally intelligent counterparts (Goleman, [10]). Suliman and Al-Shaikh [22] found that employees with higher levels of emotional intelligence exhibit higher levels of innovation and lower levels of conflict. Do teachers with higher levels of emotional intelligence experience greater job satisfaction? Kulshrestha and Sen [16] found a positive correlation between high levels of emotional intelligence and subjective well-being among executives. Bar-On [3] sampled 314 participants from a variety of occupations and found that measures of emotional intelligence predicted a slightly significant relationship between total emotional intelligence scores and job satisfaction. Sense of competence on the job appeared to better predict higher levels of emotional intelligence. Kafetsios and Zampetakis [14] noted that emotional intelligence may influence job satisfaction due to its potential relationship to emotional awareness and emotional regulation, which may positively affect social relationships at work, and enhancing work experience. Emmerling and Cherniss [9] note that emotions are linked with cognitive processes and therefore have an impact on career decision-making. The authors suggest that emotions may produce better decisions, not worse. Additionally, Odinska-Bulik [19] examined the effects of job stress on the health of the workers. She found that study participants identified work overload, lack of reward and difficult social relations to be the most stressful components of their jobs. Odinska-Bulik, [19] found that higher levels of emotional intelligence had only a slightly significant association with the prevention of stress and negative health outcomes. Odinska-Bulik [19] suggests that an ability to effectively deal with emotional content in the workplace may directly relate to the level of stress experienced by human service workers. This suggestion is consistent with Kafetsios and Zampetakis [14], who also suggest that the ability to manage emotional content in the workplace may enhance an employee's sense of job satisfaction. The main objective of the study is to analyze teachers emotional intelligence and their job satisfaction in secondary schools in Iran. It seeks to determine whether higher levels of emotional intelligence can be related to a higher level of job-satisfaction experienced. The teachers' emotional intelligence is important for their job satisfaction. The specific objectives of this study involve examining the significant differences between levels of teachers emotional intelligence based on their job satisfaction with six major factors: (nature of the work itself, attitudes towards supervisors, relations with co-workers, opportunities for promotion, salary and benefit, work condition in the present environment), and possible differences between the levels of teachers emotional intelligence and their different academic groups. II. METHODOLOGY A. Research Design Quantitative approach is applied in this study. This study is designed to use a descriptive correlational design to examine the relationship between job descriptive index, and teachers emotional intelligence in senior secondary schools. B. Sample

ADVANCES IN EDUCATION VOL.1, NO.1 JANUARY 2012 6 This study employed senior secondary schools teachers in Iran. The target population for this study was secondary school teachers. This study employed random sampling procedures. To achieve the required number of samples, 10 secondary schools needed to be selected for the study. Based on this method of identifying the samples needed, 177 teachers were chosen. Moreover, a sample size of 170 based on Cohen table [6] is sufficient to answer all the research questions that required the use of mean and standard deviation, Pearson r and t-test. The sample was chosen according to secondary school type (public). III. Measures Two instruments were used to collect data from the respondents. They include: A. Emotional Intelligence Scale (ECI) This section describes emotional intelligence based on the Emotional Competencies Inventory (ECI) designed by Boyatzis, Goleman and Rhee [5]. The ECI was developed in order to evaluate the emotional competencies of people as well as organizations. The ECI was used in this study because it was shown to have high validity and reliability (Norsidh 2008). The emotional competence inventory scales of twenty five competencies are classified into four subscales: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and social skill. The inventory includes 110 items showing adaptive orientation toward emotional intelligence. Each item in the questionnaire explains a single behavior. Participants use a 7-point scale on which they are supposed to show if the items are "slightly", "somewhat" and or "very" traits of themselves (Boyatzis et al. 2000). The scale has a Cronbach alpha of.094. B. Job Descriptive Index (JDI) The job Descriptive Index (JDI) was officially introduced in 1969 by Smith, Kendall, and Hulin and has since become the gold standard of job satisfaction scales (Landy, Shankster, & Kohler, [13], p. 271)..Job Descriptive Index is a scale used to measure six major factors associated with job satisfaction: the nature of the work itself, attitudes towards supervisors, relations with co-workers, opportunities for promotion, salary and benefit, work condition in the present environment. The job satisfaction scales have 70 items. Participants use a 5-point scale on which they are supposed to show between 1 to 5. Since the original introduction of the JDI, the measure has undergone two major updates: the first in (1985), and the second in (1997), (Kihm, Smith, & Irwin, [15]). The scale has a Cronbach alpha of.094. IV. Results: A. Teachers degree An independent samples t-test analysis was conducted to compare the scores of emotional intelligences between bachelor and master degree of teachers, and to identify whether there was significant differences between the two groups of teacher respondents. TABLE I, displays that 81.9% of the teachers in the study were bachelor and 18.1% was master degree. The findings show that the mean score for bachelor is 4.93 (Std.61), and for master is 5.53(Std.46). TABLE I: Mean and Standard Deviation of Respondents Emotional Intelligence Variable Teacher Degree N Mean S.D Emotional Intelligence Bachelor 145 4.93.61

ADVANCES IN EDUCATION VOL.1, NO.1 JANUARY 2012 7 Master 32 5.53.46 TABLE II, shows the Levene s test values for the assumption of equality of variances for emotional intelligence (F = 8.77, p =.003). TABLE II: Levene s Test Results for Emotional Intelligence Variables EI Status of equality F Sig. t Df Equal variances assumed Sig. (2- tailed) 8.77.003 -.5.20 175.000 The findings show that there were significant differences between bachelor and master degree teachers of total emotional intelligence [t (57.37) = -.6.19, p =.000]. B. Relationship between Teachers Emotional Intelligence and Their Job Satisfaction Index TABLE III, displays the results of the Pearson Product Moment Correlation between teachers emotional intelligence and their job satisfaction. The data revealed that the relationship between emotional intelligence and the five index of teachers job satisfaction is positive and significant at the level of p < 0.05 (nature of the work itself, attitudes towards supervisors, relations with co-workers, opportunities for promotion, work condition in the present environment) and no significant relationship with one factor (salary and benefit) of job satisfaction. The magnitude of the correlation coefficients showed a range of.340 to.701. The strongest and linear relationship was seen for Nature of the Work (r =.701). The strength of the relationship is followed by relations with co-workers (r =.557), attitudes towards supervisors (r =.501), opportunities for promotion (r =.352), work condition in present environment (r =.340). For salary and benefit, the relationship is negative and not significant (r = -.015). TABLE III: Relationship between EI and Job Satisfaction Variables r p Nature of the Work.701**.000 Attitudes Towards Supervisors.501**.000 Relations With Co-workers.557**.000 Opportunities for Promotion.352**.000 Salary Benefit -.015.843 Work Condition in Environment.340**.000 **Significant at p < 0.01 V. DISCUSSION The results showed that there was significant difference between teachers with bachelor and master degree and their emotional intelligence. The findings of the current research are in line with Goleman s [10]. This section discusses there was significant relationship between teachers emotional intelligence and their job satisfaction with six major factors: the nature of the work itself, attitudes towards supervisors, relations with coworkers, opportunities for promotion, salary and benefit, work condition in the present environment. Pearson s Product Moment Correlation was used. Statistically significant and positive relationships were found between the five factors of job satisfaction and teachers emotional intelligence. This research is line with Sy et al., [23] stated

ADVANCES IN EDUCATION VOL.1, NO.1 JANUARY 2012 8 individuals with high EI demonstrated higher measures of job satisfaction and performance. A possible explanation for this relationship is that employees with high EI respond more effectively to workplace stress and to the emotional cues of coworkers. These emotionally intelligent behaviors positively affect job satisfaction (Dong & Howard, [7]). Some researchers stated that the construct of emotional intelligence has been utilized in an attempt to understand employee functioning within the work setting (Sy et al., [23]; Wright & Cropanzano, [24]). Emotional skill has been determined to be an important asset to teachers and have a good relation to the nature of the work, attitudes towards supervisors, relations with co-workers and work condition. Goleman [10] identified a large number of work-related competencies. This research no relationship was found between emotional intelligence which might be because the amount of salary and benefit in education is considerately lower than in university or other institute. The findings of this study also support the study by, Suliman and Al-Shaikh [22] found that employees with higher levels of emotional intelligence exhibit higher levels of innovation and lower levels of conflict. Kulshrestha and Sen [14] found a positive correlation between high levels of emotional intelligence and subjective well-being among executives. The findings of this study also support the study by Bar-On [3] sampled 314 participants from a variety of occupations and found that measures of emotional intelligence predicted a slightly significant relationship between total emotional intelligence scores and job satisfaction. On the role of emotional intelligence, the findings of this study were found similar to the findings of Kafetsios and Zampetakis [14] noted that emotional intelligence may influence job satisfaction due to its potential relationship with emotion awareness and emotional regulation, which may positively affect social relationships at work and among co-workers. Emmerling and Cherniss [9] note that emotions are linked with cognitive processe, therefore have an impact on career decision-making. VI. CONCLUSION The results showed that teachers with bachelor and master degree were significantly different in their emotional intelligence. The results also revealed that to determine the level of teachers emotional intelligence based on six major factors associated with job satisfaction: the nature of the work itself, attitudes towards supervisors, relations with co-workers, opportunities for promotion and work condition in the present environment. Finally, with the exception of salary and benefit of teachers job satisfaction factors were related to the teachers' emotional intelligence. VII. RECOMMENDATIONS Based on these findings, the researcher makes a few recommendations in this section. It is recommended that the Ministry of Education include some teacher training programs in order to enhance teachers emotional intelligence based on their job satisfaction. Such programs will assist teachers in developing better a management in their classes. Teacher education programs should provide instruction for novice teachers to increase their understanding and knowledge of emotional intelligence, methods, and programs that might be employed to teach about their jobs. It is suggested that this study be replicated with other variables such as different level groups teachers. It is also recommended that a future study takes into account the perceptions of school principals. REFERENCES [1] G. M. Acker, The impact of clients' mental illness on social workers' job satisfaction and burnout. Health and Social Work, 24 (2), 112-119. 1999. [2] J. Arches, Social structure, burnout, and job satisfaction. Social Work, 36, 193-272. 1999. [3] R. Bar-On, The Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i): A Test of Emotional Intelligence. Toronto, Canada: Multi- Health Systems, 1997.. [4] A. Bluedorn, A unified model of turnover from organizations. Human Relations, 35(2), 135-153. 1982 [5] R. Boyatzis, D. Goleman and K. Rhee, Clustering Competence in Emotional Intelligence: Insights From The Emotional Competence Inventory (ECI). In R. Bar-On and J. D. A. Parker (eds.), Handbook of Emotional Intelligence, pp. 343-362. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2000. [6] J. Cohen, A Power Primer. Psychology Bulletin, 112(1), 155-

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