Emotional intelligence and its effects on biomarkers of workplace stress

Abstract

Workplace stress is an insidious, pervasive, and increasing problem that contributes to psychological, psychosocial, and physiological declines to workers’ health. This thesis focuses on the effect of emotional intelligence (EI) as a moderator of workplace stress, measured using biomarkers. EI is beneficial to workers because individuals with higher EI have stronger coping abilities, engender more trust, and perform cognitive tasks with less effort, resulting in greater life satisfaction and wellbeing. For these reasons, I argue that EI reduces workplace stress. However, research on EI and stress has long been hindered by subjective measures of both EI and stress. Physiological evidence that EI or EI training moderates the effects of work stress is lacking, and thus I investigate the relationship between EI, measured by the ability-based MSCEIT (Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2002), and physiological stress, measured using salivary cortisol, in two contexts—in a lab using university students, and in the field with Special Forces military personnel.A common source of workplace stress is incivility. In the two lab studies, I assess the moderating effect of EI on participants who experienced stress during online interactions with supportive or uncivil supervisors (Study 1: N= 328,) and supportive, neutral, or uncivil supervisors (Study 2: N= 350). A 2x2x2 sampling model was developed in which subjects completed a business-like task with support or incivility from an online supervisor. EI and stress were recorded using a Mayer-Salovey-Caruso EI ability test and salivary cortisol. Based on COR theory, I hypothesised that EI associates with reduced stress and increased trust. Participants with high EI had a lower change in cortisol (i.e., less stress) in response to cyber-mediated incivility from supervisors than participants with low EI did. Individuals treated in a supportive, civil manner demonstrated significant reductions in cortisol when supervisors supported them. These results corroborate the proposition that individuals with high EI better moderate stress responses to workplace incivility than low EI individuals do.Using field studies, I tested whether EI training reduces physiological stress and increases cognitive function and behavioural performance in a real-world, extremely physical and emotionally high-risk/high-stress work environment. I expanded investigation to the effectiveness of a tailored EI training program. Research conducted in the Australian Special Forces included two studies (Study 3a: N= 35, Study 3b: N= 43), during which I examined the efficacy of EI training in managing stress during real military training exercises using salivary cortisol and Immunoglobin A (IgA) as objective indicators of stress and burnout in a practice-based, Commando population. Cognitive performance under stress was also measured using behavioural performance activities. Soldiers were tested before, during, and after standard training protocols of rappelling, shoot-no-shoot, self-care under fire, urban precision strike, pain tolerance, and memory ability during distraction tasks. Results suggested that soldiers who received EI training were more effective at managing stress (i.e., had lower cortisol and protected immune function) and performed better, measured by the indicators of shoot-no-shoot outcomes under cognitive load, memory recall, and pain tolerance. No differences were found between treatment and control groups during the urban-precision-strike-direct-action and recovery-continuum and conduct-after-capture tasks, but results might have been limited by a small sample and insufficient testing times.In addition to biomarkers of stress, I used behavioural measures as indicators of training effectiveness, with results suggesting that EI associates with reduced stress and increased performance in most situations. This study demonstrates that work stress is inhibited by the actions of instructors and by support interventions to develop EI through training. EI has powerful capacities to build trust and improve relationships at work and home, protect physical and psychological wellness, and support leadership in organisations and society. These outcomes are encouraging and will aid expansion of EI study and development of civilian and military workplaces.