“Emotional Intelligence Is A Game-Changer” - The Effect Of Emotional Intelligence On Job Performance

Abstract

In the turbulent era, competitive advantage in the market can only be reaped through firm‟s human resources. Recently, increasing numbers of scholars have argued that emotional intelligence (EI) is a core variable that affects the performance of employees. There has been increasing tendency in the exploration of emotional intelligence and its potential benefit for both individual and firm. Lucidly, there are contradiction findings on the relationship between emotional intelligence and employee job performance. Therefore, the present study was designed to investigate of the relationship between emotional intelligence and employee‟s job performance. Data were garnered with a self administrated questionnaire from randomly selected 81employees working in World Vision Lanka in Sri Lanka. The results of the multiple regression analysis revealed that individual components of the emotional intelligence, namely, self-awareness, self-regulation, self-motivation, empathy and social skills, have a significant positive impact on employees‟ job performance. The study has clearly explained the theoretical and practical implications.