Research Article - (2014) Volume 4, Issue 1
1Department of Educational Administration, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran
2Young Researchers and Elite Club, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran
This study aims at investigating the relationship between the faculty members' emotional intelligence and educational performance at Urmia University. The statistical population includes all 450 faculty members at Urmia University during the academic year 2012-13; 110 statistical samples were selected according to the stratified random sampling proportional to the size. The research method was descriptive and correlative. In this study, two questionnaires of emotional intelligence and educational performance were applied as the measurement tools with the validity coefficients of 0.96 and 0.78, respectively. The research findings indicate that: There is a significant positive relationship between the faculty members' each component of emotional intelligence and educational performance (p<0.05). There is no significant difference between the faculty members' emotional intelligence and educational performance based on gender, academic rank and years of experience. Furthermore, the results of Pearson correlation coefficient indicate that there is no significant relationship between the faculty members' viewpoint on the emotional intelligence and educational performance based on the age.
Emotional Intelligence, Educational Performance, Faculty Members, Urmia University
Since the mid-nineteenth century, numerous and various studies have been conducted in the field of identifying different reasons which lead to the successful managers; such these studies can be classified into three main groups: The first group includes those studies which attribute the manager's success to his personal characteristics [20]. The second group refers to those studies which attribute the manager's success to his behavior [21]. And the third group covers the studies which consider the manager's success associated with the contingent leadership style proportional to the created circumstances and conditions [17].
However, there are doubts about the managers' success in the organizations and there are not definitive answers to them yet. For instance:
Why does a successful manager with stable IQ fail to manage the other organization?
To find the answers to such these questions, the continuous and permanent studies are conducted in the field of factors affecting the manager' success in the organizations and several researchers are seeking to achieve the new and accurate findings through making efforts. These efforts have resulted in new terms such as the emotional intelligence entered into the management studies and literature [13].
Thorndike was one of the first researchers who introduced the emotional intelligence and called it the "Social Intelligence" as the ability to understand and manage the human relationship and interaction; in this regard, Wechsler concluded in his studies that except for IQ there are factors which increase the personal efficiency and performance[13]. Goleman argues that despite the fact that IQ determines the career progress and success, it contributes only in less than 20% of these successes. According to his viewpoint, the emotional intelligence is the most important factor distinguishing the superior managers from the above-mentioned ordinary managers. He presented an emotional intelligence model which indicated that how a person's ability and skills in the field of self-awareness, social awareness, self-management and organization of relationships can be effective in improving the performance [18].
Goleman argues that the emotional intelligence is another intelligence aspect which plays the more significant role than the cognitive intelligence in personal achievement of success in various aspects of life. The emotional intelligence study roots in the early works by Darwin who enumerated the importance of emotional tool for survival and adaptation [14]. According to Goleman's view, various aspects of emotional intelligence can be acquired and the dimensions associated with the emotional intelligence can be taught or learned through education [16].
Bar-on is another mixed emotional intelligence model theorists and defined the emotional intelligence as follows: It is a set of non-cognitive skills, talents and abilities and enhances the person's ability to succeed in coping with the environmental pressures and factors. Thus, the emotional intelligence is one of the most important factors in determining the individual success in life and directly affects a person's mental health. The emotional intelligence is correlated with other crucial determinants (the individual ability to succeed in coping with environmental factors) such as the biomedical readiness, cognitive intelligence talent, and realities, and environmental constraints[11].
Theoretical Foundations
Bar-on Model of emotional intelligence is multifactorial and related to the performance talents not the performance itself (i.e., the ability to succeed not the success itself). This model is also process-based not the conclusion-based; the comprehensive nature of this conceptual model is based on a group of functional components (EI skills) and the way under which they are defined.
Bar-on provided a model for the emotional ability and it covered five range of abilities or skills:
1- Intra-personal skills which cover the emotional self-awareness (Recognition and understanding the personal feelings), courage (expressing the feelings, ideas, thoughts and defend the personal rights by the constructive way), self-regulation (awareness, understanding, acceptance and self-respect), self-actualization (Realizing the potential talents) and independence (self direction and control in thinking and acting and freedom from the emotional dependency).
2- Interpersonal skills which include the interpersonal relationships (knowledge, understanding the other people's feelings), creating and maintaining the mutual satisfactory relationships (which are resulted in the emotional closeness and dependency), social commitment (being an effective and a constructive social group member and showing yourself as a good partner) and the empathy.
3- Consistence which includes problem solving (recognizing and defining the problems as well as creating the effective strategies), reality test (Evaluating the correspondence between what is experienced subjectively and objectively) and flexibility (Regulating the emotion, thought and behavior during changing the situations).
4- Stress management which covers the ability to tolerate stress (resistance to adverse and stressful events), controlling the impulses (impulses impulse or denying it).
5- General mood which involves the happiness (satisfaction with personal life, and making the own and the others' life happy) and optimism (looking at the bright sides of life and maintaining a positive attitude even facing the adversity) [2].
Since the higher education is considered as the major factor of development and progress in the society in all communities and the universities as the higher education executives play the effective role in the human resources development and this role is undeniable, the faculty members should have the higher competence and abilities according to the role of universities in order to be efficient in teaching, researching, investigating and developing the knowledge and skills. According to a general view, it is concluded that the faculty members' emotional intelligence is a prerequisite for improving their educational performance and helps to deal with the other individuals' emotions and motivate them effectively.
Therefore, this study is conducted with the aim at explaining and determining the major variables which are associated in a way with the faculty members' performance and success and its findings can be applied as the effective model in the faculty members' success of and improvement of their educational performance and it can also be studied and considered as the factor affecting the educational performance while selecting or appointing the faculty members [7].
Seyed Kalan, Mir Mohammad [3]. investigated the relationship between the faculty members' emotional intelligence and efficiency at Islamic Azad University of Parsabad-Moghan and the results of his study indicated that there was a significant positive relationship between each research hypothesis (6 hypotheses) associated with the emotional intelligence components with the faculty members' efficiency. Among those five components of emotional intelligence, three ones including the self-motivation, empathy and social skills were the appropriate predictors of faculty members' efficiency.
Bakhtiari [1]. conducted a study for examining the relationship between the public and private school principals' emotional intelligence in district 18 of Tehran through the management strategies. According to his results, there was a significant positive relationship between the emotional intelligence and conflict management strategy and not avoidance, but no significant relationship between the emotional intelligence and control strategy.
Abdi, Darioush [4]. examined the relationship between the emotional intelligence and the elementary, secondary and high schools principals' performance in Bonab city. The results of his study indicated that there was a significant relationship between the school principals' emotional intelligence and performance. There was no significant difference between the principals' performance and their gender, work experience and educational degree. Furthermore, there was no significant difference between the principals' emotional intelligence and work experience. Nouraei, Mahmoud [7]. examined the impact of faculty members' emotional intelligence on their educational performance at Islamic Azad university of District 2. In both first and second hypotheses, he studied the relationship between the faculty members' self-awareness and self-management with their educational performance and concluded in both hypotheses that there was a significant positive relationship between the faculty members' self- awareness and self-management with their educational performance.
Fattah, Nazem [5]. investigated the principals' emotional intelligence at Islamic Azad Universities of 12 districts and achieved the following results: Among 12 districts, the principals' average emotional intelligence in district 1 was lower than districts 2 and 8 and there was no significant difference with other districts. In the field of principals' emotional intelligence in district 2, the principals' emotional intelligence in the units of this district was higher than the principals in districts 3, 6, 10 and 12. In the field of principals' emotional intelligence in districts 3 and 4, the principals' emotional intelligence in these units had no significant difference with the principals in other districts. For the principals' emotional intelligence in district 7, there was a significant difference between their emotional intelligence and the principals in District 7. In the field of principals' emotional intelligence in district 8, the results indicated that the principals in that district had higher emotional intelligence level than the principals in Districts 10 and 12.
In a study entitled as "The emotional intelligence at work on 230 nurses, teachers and principals, Oqinska [13]. obtained a result that the emotional intelligence was an essential determinant in the life success and mental health. The emotional intelligence had the critical impact on the individual job stress and prevented creating the negative effects on their mental health.
Barsade [9]. concluded in his study that the development of positive emotions within the group facilitated the group members' cooperation and reduced the conflict and improved the group members' performance. Given that training the efficient manpower at university needs each inter and intra-group member's consultation, coordination and cooperation, the university management and educational departments should have the adequate ability and skills for understanding the complex excitements, the reason for their existence and the way of changing the emotions in order to be able to encourage the professors and students to achieve the desired goals.
Drew, Todd L [16]. examined the relationship between the student teachers' emotional intelligence and performance and found no significant relationship between each of the research variables; in general, there was a significant relationship between the student teachers' scores of emotional intelligence and the score of intra and inter-personal aspects.
Zhou and George [17]. found in a study that the managers, who had high emotional intelligence, could increase the creativity among the employees. They were able to do that through several ways including: data identification and collection, generating the new ideas, changing and modifying the ideas, and utilizing the ideas. It seems that the professors can prepare the students to deal with difficult situations and apply the problem solving methods or social decisions by training the emotional intelligence such as the self-relaxation and self-control ways in order to take steps towards the progress and excellence with the motivation, enthusiasm, enjoyment, and wise contemplation.
Research Hypotheses
1) There is a significant relationship between the faculty members' each component of emotional intelligence and educational performance.
2) There is a significant relationship between the faculty members' each component of emotional intelligence and teaching method.
3) There is a significant relationship between the faculty members' each component of emotional intelligence and scientific abilities and proficiency.
4) There is a significant relationship between the faculty members' each component of emotional intelligence and teaching discipline.
5) There is a significant relationship between the faculty members' each component of emotional intelligence and their social and personal characteristics.
6) There is a significant relationship between the faculty members' viewpoints on the emotional intelligence based on the demographic characteristics.
7) There is a significant relationship between the faculty members' viewpoints on the educational performance based on the demographic characteristics.
The research method is descriptive-correlative in terms of data collection and applied based on the research objective. In terms of time domain of research, it is cross-sectional and conducted during 2012-13; and in the field of spatial domain it was conducted at Urmia University. The statistical population in this study includes all 450 faculty members of Urmia University faculty during the academic year. 110 women and men were selected from the population as the statistical samples through the stratified random sampling proportional to the size. The data collection tools included 2 standard questionnaires, Bar-on emotional intelligence and the researcher-made educational performance questionnaires.
A) Bar-on Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire: This questionnaire has 90 questions and 15 scales and it includes 7 scales and 42 questions in this study and the options are set on the five-point Likert scale; scoring is from 5 to 1 (totally agree: 5 and totally disagree: 1) and in some of the questions with negative contents from 1 to 5 (totally agree: 1 and totally disagree 5). The total score for each scale is equal to the total score of each question of that scale, and the total score of test is equal to the total scores of 15 scales (7 scales in this study).
B) Educational Performance Assessment Questionnaire: This questionnaire consists of 30 questions and includes the professor's teaching methods, proficiency and academic ability, teaching discipline, and the personal and social characteristics. The questions are distributed in the form of four components as shown in the table.
Distribution of questions in the Educational Performance Assessment Questionnaire
The questionnaire is based on Five-point Likert scale. Scoring is done from 5 to 1 (totally agree: 5 and totally disagree: 1). The reliability of questionnaires was obtained equal to 0.96 and 0.78, respectively, through Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The descriptive and inferential statistics are used to describe data, and also Pearson correlation coefficient and Stepwise Multiple Regression Analysis were applied for data analysis by using SPSS 18 software.
The findings of this study are investigated within the framework of explained hypotheses.
First hypothesis: There is a relationship between each component of emotional intelligence and the educational performance.
The coefficients of F in Table 1 indicate that there is a significant relationship between the educational performance and the independence (P= 0.000) with an integration rate of 16%; self-actualization (P= 0.000) with an integration rate of 7%; interpersonal relationship (P=0.002) with an integration rate of 21%; self-regard (P=0.000) with an integration rate of 9%; responsibility (P=0.001) with an integration rate of 19%, empathy (P=0.000) with an integration rate of 10%, and self-assertiveness (P=0.000) with an integration rate of 13%. Therefore, the hypothesis is confirmed in seven cases and their statistical powers are also higher than 8% which shows the sufficient sample size to test this hypothesis.
Table 1: Results of the MANOVA analysis on the relationship between each component of emotional intelligence and the educational performance
Second hypothesis: There is a relationship between each component of emotional intelligence and teaching method.
The results of Table 2 indicate that the value of test statistics is equal to 6.65 and meaningful at the level of P=0.000 for investigating the relationship between the components of emotional intelligence and teaching method. The value of R2 indicates that 31% of teaching method variance is explained by the components of emotional intelligence. Furthermore, the regression coefficients indicate that the self-regard (β=0.26), responsibility (β=0.23), and empathy (β=0.22) can positively and meaningfully predict the teaching method.
Table 2: Results of Multiple Regression Analysis for the relationship between each component of emotional intelligence and teaching method
Third hypothesis: There is a relationship between each component of emotional intelligence and academic proficiency and ability.
The results of Table 3 indicate that the value of test statistics is equal to 4.16 and meaningful at the level of P=0.000 for investigating the relationship between the components of emotional intelligence and academic proficiency and ability. The value of R2 indicates that 22% of academic proficiency and ability variance is explained by the components of emotional intelligence. Furthermore, the regression coefficients indicate that the empathy (β=0.28) can positively and meaningfully predict the academic proficiency and ability.
Table 3: Results of multiple regression analysis for the relationship between each component of emotional intelligence and academic proficiency and ability
Fourth hypothesis: There is a relationship between each component of emotional intelligence and teaching discipline.
The results of Table 4 indicate that the value of test statistics is equal to 3.02 and meaningful at the level of P=0.000 for investigating the relationship between the components of emotional intelligence and teaching discipline. The value of R2 indicates that 17% of teaching discipline variance is explained by the components of emotional intelligence. Furthermore, the regression coefficients indicate that the responsibility (β=0.25) can positively and meaningfully predict the teaching discipline.
Table 4: Results of multiple regression analysis for the relationship between each component of emotional intelligence and teaching discipline
Fifth hypothesis: There is a relationship between each component of emotional intelligence and the social and personal characteristics.
Table 5: Results of multiple regression analysis for the relationship between each component of emotional intelligence and social and personal characteristics
The results of Table 4 indicate that the value of test statistics is equal to 4.17 and meaningful at the level of P=0.000 for investigating the relationship between the components of emotional intelligence and social and personal characteristics. The value of R2 indicates that 22% of social and personal characteristics' variance is explained by the components of emotional intelligence. Furthermore, the regression coefficients indicate that the responsibility (β=0.28) can positively and meaningfully predict the social and personal characteristics.
Sixth hypothesis: There is a difference between the faculty members' viewpoints on the emotional intelligence based on the demographic characteristics (gender, age, academic rank, and years of experience).
Hypothesis 6-1: There is a difference between the faculty members' viewpoints on the emotional intelligence based on the gender.
Table 6-1: Results of t test for comparing the faculty members' viewpoints on the emotional intelligence based on the gender
As shown in Table 6-1 and observed t at the level of P<0.05, there is no significant difference between the faculty members' mean viewpoint on the emotional intelligence based on the gender.
Hypothesis 6-2: There is a relationship between the faculty members' viewpoints on the emotional intelligence based on the age.
Table 6-2: Results of Pearson Correlation Coefficient test for the relationship between the emotional intelligence and the age
As shown in Table 6-2 and observed r at the level of P<0.05, there is no significant correlation between the emotional intelligence and age.
Hypothesis 6-3: There is a difference between the faculty members' viewpoints on the emotional intelligence based on the academic rank.
Table 6-3: Results of F-test for comparing the faculty members' viewpoints on the emotional intelligence based on the academic rank
As shown in Table 6-3 and observed F at the level of P<0.05, there is no significant difference between the faculty members' mean viewpoints on the emotional intelligence based on the academic rank.
Hypothesis 6-4: There is a difference between the faculty members' viewpoints on the emotional intelligence based on the years of experience.
Table 6-4: Results of F-test for comparing the faculty members' mean viewpoints on the emotional intelligence based on the years of experience
As shown in Table 6-4 and observed F at the level of P<0.05, there is no significant difference between the faculty members' mean viewpoints on the emotional intelligence based on the years of experience.
Seventh hypothesis: There is a difference between the faculty members' viewpoints on the educational performance based on the demographic characteristics (gender, age, academic rank, and years of experience).
Hypothesis 7-1: There is a difference between the faculty members' viewpoints on the educational performance based on the gender.
Table 7-1: Results of t test for comparing the faculty members' viewpoints on the educational performance based on the gender
As shown in Table 7-1 and observed t at the level of P<0.05, there is no significant difference between the faculty members' mean viewpoint on the educational performance based on the gender.
Hypothesis 7-2: There is a relationship between the faculty members' viewpoints on the educational performance based on the age.
Table 7-2: Results of Pearson Correlation Coefficient test for the relationship between the educational performance and the age
As shown in Table 7-2 and observed r at the level of P<0.05, there is no significant correlation between the educational performance and age.
Hypothesis 7-3: There is a difference between the faculty members' viewpoints on the educational performance based on the academic rank.
Table 7-3: Results of F-test for comparing the faculty members' viewpoints on the educational performance based on the academic rank
As shown in Table 7-3 and observed F at the level of P<0.05, there is no significant difference between the faculty members' mean viewpoints on the educational performance based on the academic rank.
Hypothesis 7-4: There is a difference between the faculty members' viewpoints on the educational performance based on the years of experience.
Table 7-4: Results of F-test for comparing the faculty members' mean viewpoints on the educational performance based on the years of experience
As shown in Table 7-4 and observed F at the level of P<0.05, there is no significant difference between the faculty members' mean viewpoints on the educational performance based on the years of experience.
Findings of the first hypothesis indicate that the correlation coefficient of each component of emotional intelligence is as follows: Independence (p=0.000) with the integration rate of 16%, self-actualization (p=0.000) with the integration rate of 07%, interpersonal relationship (p=0.002) with the integration rate of 21%, self-regard (p=0.000) with the integration rate of 09%, responsibility (p=0.001) with the integration rate of 19%, empathy (p=0.000) with the integration rate of 1%, and the self-assertiveness (p=0.000) with the integration rate of 13% and in general p<0.05; and according to confidence level of 95% it can be concluded that there is a significant positive relationship between the faculty members' emotional intelligence and their educational performance. In other words, it is expected that the faculty members' educational performance will be enhanced by increasing their emotional intelligence.
A few researchers conducted agreed or opposed studies in this field, some of the studies examined the relationship between the faculty members' emotional intelligence and the educational performance; for instance: Nouraei (2010) concluded in his research that there was a positive and significant relationship between the faculty members' emotional intelligence and their educational performance. Nouraei and Orsi (2009) reported that there was a significant relationship between the faculty members' self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and ability to organize the relationships with their educational performance. Maleki Avarsin and Seyed Kalan (2008) reached a conclusion in their studies that there was a significant positive relationship between the components of emotional intelligence and the faculty members' efficiency. Mollaei et al (2011) reached a conclusion in their studies that there was a significant positive relationship between the managers' emotional intelligence and their success. Abdi (2010) reported that there was a significant positive relationship between the elementary and secondary school principals performance and the emotional intelligence.
Findings in hypotheses 2 and 5 indicate that the components such as the empathy, responsibility and self-regard have the highest positive correlation with each component of educational performance; in other words, they can further predict the faculty members' educational performance positively and significantly.
Empathy: It refers to the effort to understand the status of life, accepting and understanding the other individuals. Since the students live in a different space from the adults due to different mental and emotional characteristics, they see the phenomena from their particular perspective. Thus the empathy is a key to understanding and resolving these disputes gradually and the professors, who are more sympathetic, have more effective performance in resolving the conflicts occurred in the classrooms.
Responsibility: It refers to the ability to express himself as the partner, helpful and constructive person in the social groups and this ability requires the individual responsibility and the responsible ones are accountable in their interpersonal relationship. Since the philosophy of interesting emotional intelligence means the identification of emotional skills and the ability to cope effectively with the people and because the faculty members spend most of their time with the students, the faculty members' empowerment in the social responsibility can be justified and it naturally improves their educational performance.
Self-regard: It means self-acceptance as the valuable person, self respect, and love as you are. It means to accept yourself with all capabilities, weaknesses and limitations and understand all the positive and negative points and it refers to the self-esteem. Undoubtedly, the teachers with higher self-regard realistically deal with the students and teaching method and this leads to their improved educational performance.
Furthermore, these findings also confirm the findings by Drew, Todd L (2006), Barsade (2000), Samari and Tahmasebi (2007), Bakhtiari (2009), Bazme-Mahafel (2011), Khateri Cheshmeh (2007), Zahrakar (2007), Seyed Kalan and Maleki Avarsin (2012), Samuel (2007), C. Thomas et al (2006), Heikal-Abadi (2010), Rahimzadeh (2008), and Rafiee (2007). These studies indicate that the emotional intelligence is related to the managers', employees' and professors' performance and efficiency. Accordingly, all these studies consider the positive impact of emotional intelligence and the determinants of performance and management and thus they are in line with the results of this research.
The findings of sixth hypothesis suggest that there is no significant difference between the faculty members' viewpoint on the emotional intelligence based on the gender, academic rank and years of experience.
Furthermore, the results of Pearson correlation coefficient test indicate that there is no significant correlation between the faculty members' viewpoint on the emotional intelligence based on the age.
The findings of seventh hypothesis suggest that there is no significant difference between the faculty members' viewpoint on the educational performance based on the gender, academic rank and years of experience.
Furthermore, the results of Pearson correlation coefficient test indicate that there is no significant correlation between the faculty members' viewpoint on the educational performance based on the age
Furthermore, the findings indicate that there is no significant difference between the managers' emotional intelligence and their demographic characteristics including the gender and years of experience. These are not consistent with the findings by Bakhtiari (2009), Sadat Kiadehi (2009), and Matlabi et al (2009), but they are consistent with the findings by Ciarrochi et al (2001), Naghizadeh et al (2009), and Rahmani-Hasimbeigi (2006); (Bakhtiari, 2007, p 86). Therefore, there is a relationship between the managers' emotional intelligence with their gender, years of experience, and academic rank.
Moreover, the findings indicate that there is no significant correlation between the faculty members' viewpoints on the emotional intelligence and their educational performance based on the age. This finding is not consistent with the research by Sobhani (2004) concluded that there was a significant positive correlation between the emotional intelligence and the age. It can be surely argued that the rate of managers' emotional intelligence is not correlated with their age and it is an individual ability which anyone can strengthen in any situation.
