Emotional intelligence and conflict management: an execution of organisational learning, psychological empowerment and innovative work behaviour in Chinese higher education

Abstract

Dynamic environmental challenges to create and improve value continuously urge the higher education institutions (HEI) to come up with and maintaining higher standards. This study investigated organizational learning, psychological empowerment and innovative work behaviour as mediators between emotional intelligence (EI) and conflict management. Data were collected from twelve educational institutes from Xi'an and Sichuan China. The survey was addressed to faculty members ranging from lecturers to professors, 513 questionnaires were collected with a response ratio of 57 percent. Hence, confirmatory factor analysis was applied to validate prescribed theoretical conjecture. The research found that direct link between EI and conflict management is significant. Organizational learning and innovative work behaviour fully mediated the relationship while psychological empowerment is having no mediation between the two variables. To have a generalized overview of EI, a future study can be comprised of a larger sample confining diverse individuals and management echelons containing manifold responses.