Abraham Carmeli

The relationship between emotional intelligence and work attitudes, behavior and outcomes: An examination among senior managers

The literature suggests that managerial skills in general, and emotional intelligence in particular, play a significant role in the success of senior managers in the workplace. This argument, despite its popularity, remains elusive. This can be attributed to the fact that although a few studies have provided evidence to support this argument, it has not received an appropriate empirical investigation. This study attempts to narrow this gap by empirically examining the extent to which senior managers with a high emotional intelligence employed in public sector organizations develop positive work attitudes, behavior and outcomes. The results indicate that emotional intelligence augments positive work attitudes, altruistic behavior and work outcomes, and moderates the effect of work‐family conflict on career commitment but not the effect on job satisfaction.

Perceived External Prestige, Affective Commitment, and Citizenship Behaviors

In a study that involved social workers in the Israeli health care system, two forms of perceived external prestige (social and economic) were identified. The results indicate that both forms of perceived external prestige augment employees’ affective commitment to their organization. Compared to perceived external economic prestige, however, perceived external social prestige seems to have a larger effect on affective commitment. In addition, employees’ affective commitment to their organization appeared to mediate the relationship between perceived external social prestige and citizenship behavior. It appears, however, that affective commitment augments altruistic behavior to a larger degree than that of compliance behavior.

Self‐leadership skills and innovative behavior at work

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between self‐leadership skills and innovative behaviors at work. Design/methodology/approach – The studys participants were employees and their supervisors, working in six organizations in Israel. Data were collected through structured surveys administered to the employees and their supervisors. A total of 175 matched questionnaires were returned. Path analysis, using AMOS program, was conducted to assess the research model. Findings – The results indicate that the three‐dimensional scale of self‐leadership skills is positively associated with both self and supervisor ratings of innovative behaviors. The findings also show that income and job tenure are significantly related to innovative behaviors at work. Practical implications – Organizations that seek ways in which to foster innovative behaviors in their employees, need to recognize the importance of building up self‐leaders who can successfully meet the required expectations and standards of innovative behavior. Originality/value – This research suggests ways for organizations to enhance their innovativeness through employees who possess high self‐leadership skills and receive appropriate extrinsic rewards for their leadership skills and innovative behaviors.

How leaders cultivate social capital and nurture employee vigor: implications for job performance.

This study examined how leader relational behaviors (i.e., relational leadership) cultivate bonding social capital among organizational members and the way bonding social capital augments feelings of vigor at work. In addition, the authors examined how vigor enhances employee job performance. Using a sample of 209 participants in Israeli community centers, the results of structural equation modeling indicate a 2-stage mediation model in which leader relational behaviors are positively related to bonding social capital; this, in turn, results in feelings of vigor, which are positively associated with manager ratings of employee job performance.

Exploring turnover intentions among three professional groups of employees

Abstract Although considerable research effort has been devoted to understanding work attitudes, behaviours and outcomes regarding turnover intentions, little has been done to explore it across different professions. This study takes a step in this direction and examines the effect of affective commitment, job satisfaction and job performance on turnover intentions across three professions. To this end, we surveyed three professional groups of employees and managers: financial officers and social workers employed in the public sector and lawyers employed in the private sector. The results of these three studies show that turnover intentions vary across these professions. Social workers exhibit lower turnover intentions than financial officers and lawyers, who tend to exhibit high turnover intentions. In addition, we found that job satisfaction and affective commitment are negatively associated with turnover intentions, while no significant relationship was found to exist between job performance and turnover intentions. The implications of this study suggest that both researchers and practitioners should take into consideration not only the organizational context, but also the occupational context while exploring the process of voluntary turnover.

Inclusive Leadership and Employee Involvement in Creative Tasks in the Workplace: The Mediating Role of Psychological Safety

This study examines how inclusive leadership (manifested by openness, accessibility, and availability of a leader) fosters employee creativity in the workplace. Using a sample of 150 employees, we investigated the relationship between inclusive leadership (measured at Time 1), psychological safety, and employee involvement in creative work tasks (measured at Time 2). The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis indicate that inclusive leadership is positively related to psychological safety, which, in turn, engenders employee involvement in creative work.

The relationship between organizational culture and withdrawal intentions and behavior

Purpose – The goal of the present study is to examine the influence of five dimensions of organizational culture (i.e. job challenge, communication, trust, innovation and social cohesiveness) on employees’ withdrawal intentions and behavior. Specifically, three forms of employees’ withdrawal intentions (i.e. from the occupation, job, and organization), and one form of employees’ withdrawal behavior (i.e. self‐reported absenteeism) are examined.Design/methodology/approach – The paper investigates these relationships among social workers in the Israeli health care system through a structured questionnaire. Regression analyses were employed to test the research hypotheses.Findings – The findings of this study indicate that an organizational culture that provides challenging jobs, diminishes employees’ absenteeism, and withdrawal intentions from the occupation, job, and the organization. The results also show that other dimensions of organizational culture were not significantly correlated with the dependent ...

CEO relational leadership and strategic decision quality in top management teams: The role of team trust and learning from failure:

In this study, we examine a complex pathway through which CEOs, who exhibit relational leadership, may improve the quality of strategic decisions of their top management teams (TMTs) by creating psychological conditions of trust and facilitating learning from failures in their teams. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses of survey data collected from 77 TMTs indicate that (1) the relationship between CEO relational leadership and team learning from failures was mediated by trust between TMT members; (2) team learning from failures mediated the relationship between team trust and strategic decision quality. Supplemented by qualitative data from two TMTs, these findings suggest that CEOs can improve the quality of strategic decisions their TMTs make by shaping a relational context of trust and facilitating learning from failures.

The relationship between emotional intelligence and psychological wellbeing

Purpose – Theory suggests that highly emotionally intelligent individuals are likely to experience psychological wellbeing at a higher level than individuals who are low in emotional intelligence. This study aims to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and four aspects of psychological wellbeing (self‐acceptance, life satisfaction, somatic complaints and self‐esteem).Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from employees through two different structured surveys administered at two points in time.Findings – The results of four hierarchical regression models provide, in general, support for the positive association between emotional intelligence and psychological wellbeing components – self‐esteem, life satisfaction, and self‐acceptance. Only marginal significant support was found for the negative relationship between emotional intelligence and somatic complaints.Originality/value – The present study contributes to a growing body of literature seeking to determine the role of em...

Work commitment, job satisfaction, and job performance: an empirical investigation

This study examines the relationships between joint work commitments, job satisfaction, and job performance of lawyers employed by private law firms in Israel. Based on Morrowʼs (1993) concept of five universal forms of commitment, their interrelationship was tested with respect to the commitment model of Randall and Cote (1991), which appeared to show in previous studies (Cohen, 1999, 2000) a better fit compared to other models. In addition, the study examined the relationship between the commitment model and work attitude and outcome, namely, job satisfaction and job performance. The results show that the commitment model of Randall and Cote was almost fully supported, except for the relationship between job involvement and continuance commitment. This relationship is better understood via career commitment. An interesting finding of this study is that job satisfaction has a mediating role in the relationship between joint work commitment and job performance. The article concludes with suggestions regarding further investigation of the interrelationships between work commitment constructs, and the relationship between joint commitment forms, job satisfaction, and job performance.