Organizational Commitment and Emotional Intelligence in a Service Learning Setting

Extended Abstract This paper examines the relationship between emotional intelligence and organizational commitment. To examine the relationship and to explore whether there are underlying clusters of people based on responses... [ view full abstract ]

Extended Abstract
This paper examines the relationship between emotional intelligence and organizational commitment. To examine the relationship and to explore whether there are underlying clusters of people based on responses emotional intelligence instrument. Then the relationship between these clusters and the normative and affective components of commitment are examined.
Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence (EI) is the assessment and expression of emotions, in one’s self and others (Mayer and Salovey 1990). Goleman 1995 conceptualized EI as a domain of intelligence dealing with the experience and expression of intelligence. As a domain of intelligence, one would expect different levels of this intelligence to be found in respondents. It would make sense that there would be underlying segments and levels present. This paper utilizes a cognitive oriented measurement of emotional intelligence developed by Schutte, Malouff, Hall, Haggerty, Cooper, Golden, & Dornheim (1998) as the basis of the measurement of EI.
Organizational Commitment
Organizational commitment has been conceptualized as having multiple components. In this study we will explore the affective and normative components. The affective component refers to the emotional attachment, identification with and involvement with an organization (Allen & Meyer 1990). Normative commitment refers to the feeling of obligation to stay with the organization (Allen & Meyer 1990). Organizational commitment has been shown to lead to improved performance in nonprofit board members (Preston & Brown 2004) . Organizational commitment has been shown to be positively related to emotional intelligence (Nikolaou & Tsaousis 2002).
This paper explores the relationship between emotional intelligence and organizational commitment. Specifically are there underlying segments in the emotional intelligence of the service learning students and do these underlying relationships correspond to different levels of organizational commitment.
Methods
The survey instrument was designed using the Schutte, Malouff, Hall, Haggerty, Cooper, Golden, & Dornheim (1998) 33-item measure of emotional intelligence. A copy of the items is provided in Appendix A. A web survey was developed and included a request for participation as well as reminders sent as suggested by Hair et al. (2010, p. 192).
The survey was sent to all students, however only those who actually were participating in a service learning experience that semester were asked to complete the survey. A total of 658 respondents completed both the pre- and post-experience survey.
Analysis and results
Analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics 21. K means clustering was used to examine underlying segments in the respondents based on the 33 item emotional intelligence scale. The best solution revealed two underlying cluster and converged in 19 iterations. An examination of the clusters revealed that there were 326 in cluster one and 332 in cluster .two. Cluster one had average scores that were higher than cluster two’s average scores on the items. There were significant differences on all emotional intelligence items between the clusters. The following table shows the cluster centers and the Anova resuls for differences between the segments.

ANOVA
Cluster Error F Sig.
Cluster Center one Cluster Center two Mean Square df Mean Square df
I know when to speak about my personal problems to others 6 5 241.425 1 1.630 656 148.094 .000
When I am faced with obstacles I remember times I faced similar obstacles and overcame them 6 5 278.229 1 1.323 656 210.303 .000
I expect that I will do well on most things I try 6 5 141.255 1 1.219 656 115.855 .000
Other people find it easy to confide in me 6 5 220.716 1 1.114 656 198.173 .000
I find it hard to understand the non-verbal messages of other people 3 3 13.459 1 2.702 656 4.980 .026
Some of the major events of my life have led me to re-evaluate what is important and not important 6 5 203.314 1 1.732 656 117.407 .000
When my mood changes I see new possibilities 5 4 187.891 1 1.651 656 113.792 .000
Emotions are one of the things that make my life worth living 6 4 285.165 1 1.597 656 178.604 .000
I am aware of my emotions as I experience them 6 5 318.335 1 1.104 656 288.447 .000
I expect good things to happen 6 5 234.385 1 1.531 656 153.074 .000
I like to share my emotions with others 5 4 285.326 1 2.547 656 112.020 .000
When I experience a positive emotion I know how to make it last 6 4 320.962 1 1.394 656 230.174 .000
I arrange events others enjoy 5 4 348.994 1 1.869 656 186.764 .000
I seek out activities that make me happy 6 5 174.288 1 1.085 656 160.689 .000
I am aware of the non-verbal messages I send to others 6 4 309.492 1 1.537 656 201.357 .000
I present myself in a way that makes a good impression on others 6 5 235.890 1 .921 656 256.260 .000
When I am in a positive mood solving problems is easy for me 6 5 203.570 1 .899 656 226.523 .000
By looking at their facial expressions I recognize the emotions people are experiencing 6 5 279.661 1 1.007 656 277.630 .000
I know why my emotions change 6 5 327.654 1 1.452 656 225.714 .000
When I am in a positive mood I am able to come up with new ideas 6 5 321.582 1 .974 656 330.183 .000
I have control over my emotions 6 4 250.914 1 1.545 656 162.435 .000
I easily recognize my emotions as I experience them 6 5 353.515 1 .886 656 398.806 .000
I motivate myself by imagining a good outcome to tasks I take on 6 5 403.592 1 1.107 656 364.613 .000
I compliment others when they have done something well 6 5 239.698 1 .946 656 253.494 .000
I am aware of the non-verbal messages other people send 6 5 243.063 1 1.245 656 195.154 .000
When another person tells me about an important event in his or her life I almost feel as though I have experienced this event myself 5 4 282.411 1 1.762 656 160.311 .000
When I feel a change in emotions I tend to come up with new ideas 5 4 321.650 1 1.389 656 231.503 .000
When I am faced with a challenge I give up because I believe I will fail 2 3 23.319 1 2.548 656 9.152 .003
I know what other people are feeling just by looking at them 5 4 253.368 1 1.603 656 158.057 .000
I help other people feel better when they are down 6 5 292.512 1 1.022 656 286.258 .000
I use good moods to help myself keep trying in the face of obstacles 6 4 457.390 1 .991 656 461.522 .000
I can tell how people are feeling by listening to the tone of their voice 6 5 235.162 1 1.146 656 205.265 .000
It is difficult for me to understand why people feel the way they do 3 3 26.193 1 2.306 656 11.360 .001



To examine the differences between the clusters on the scales of affective and normative commitment anova was conducted. The results indicate there are significant differences in the clusters affective (.000) and normative commitment. (.005). An examination of the means shows that in for both commitment components the level of commitment was directly related to the level of emotional intelligence based on the cluster. Cluster one’s average affective commitment was 51.62 while cluster two’s average was 44.54. Normative commitment followed the same pattern, cluster one’s average was 22.10 and cluster two’s average was 19.82.
Selected References
Allen, N., & Meyer, J. (1990). The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance and normative commitment to the organization. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 63(1), 1-18.

Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., & McKee, A. (2013). Primal leadership: Unleashing the power of emotional intelligence. Harvard Business Press.
Hair, J., Wolfinbarger, M., Ortinau, D., & Bush, R. (2010). Essentials of marketing research: Wiley.
Kidwell, B., Hardesty, D. M., Murtha, B. R., & Sheng, S. (2011). Emotional intelligence in marketing exchanges. Journal of Marketing, 75(1), 78-95.
Mayer, J.D., Salovey, P. and Caruso, D.R. (2004), “Emotional intelligence: theory, findings, and implications”, Psychological Inquiry, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 197-215.
Mayer, J.D., Caruso, D.R. and Salovey, P. (1999), “Emotional intelligence meets traditional standards for an intelligence”, Intelligence, Vol. 27 No. 4, pp. 267-99
Nikolaou, I., & Tsaousis, I. (2002). Emotional intelligence in the workplace: Exploring its effects on occupational stress and organizational commitment. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 10(4), 327-342.

Preston, J. B., & Brown, W. A. (2004). Commitment and performance of nonprofit board members. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 15(2), 221-238.
Schutte, N. S., Malouff, J. M., Hall, L. E., Haggerty, D. J., Cooper, J. T., Golden, C. J., & Dornheim, L. (1998). Development and validation of a measure of emotional intelligence. Personality and individual differences,25(2), 167-177.