The Effect of Emotional Intelligence on Employees’ Job Performance in the Ethiopian Public Sectors

Abstract

Emotional Intelligence (EI) has been claimed important for performance of leaders and workers in
organizations. But little research has examined these issues in the Ethiopian context in general and in the
public sector in particular. Hence, this study explores the relationship between the four dimensions of
Emotional Intelligence: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and social skills. Hence, in order
to address this research objective, the study employed a mixed research approach with descriptive and
explanatory research designs. A total of 308 usable questionnaires were used for further analysis. The
descriptive statistics results revealed that, the level of emotional intelligence is at average or moderate level
in the public sector in terms of the four dimensions of emotional intelligence skills. The correlation result,
confirmed that, all the four dimensions of emotional intelligence skills have a positive and strong to moderate
relation with employees’ job performance. Furthermore, the regression analysis confirmed that, all the four
dimensions of emotional intelligence skills have a positive and significant effect on employees’ job
performance. The result was further supported with SEM analysis and it was verified that, self-emotional
appraisal and others’ emotional appraisal have the strongest effect on employees’ job performance. Based on
the results of the study, it is recommended that, the organizations need to focus on conducting employee
emotional intelligence skill test apart from the conventional aptitude tests during selection and recruitment
process. recruiting employees externally or promoting employees internally, should not only be based on
indicators such as their academic qualifications, but it is also equally important to consider and evaluate their
emotional intelligence. Improving the sense of organizational support should also receive the organization's
attention. The sense of organizational support will have a positive impact on the positive work behavior of
employees.