The Relationship between Emotional Intelligence of a Leader and Employee Motivation to Job Performance

Abstract

This quantitative study investigated the bond between a leader's emotional intelligence to employee motivation. The research was conducted at a federal government agency resided north bound of the United States of America. Participants consisted of 350 full time employees from various units of the organization. The leader's emotional intelligence was tested with Emotional Social Competence Inventory (ESCI) tool, whereas employees' motivation was verified with the Four Drive (4-D) instrument. The study depicted a link between a leader's emotions and employee interest to excel. Emotional aptitude scored high, which indicates that the leader's emotion affected employees' behavior. Employees likely to stay with the organization displayed strong organizational awareness with high sense of belonging. The different groups observed, revealed results with both positive and negative significant correlations (p < .05). The final outcome depicted that a leader's emotional intelligence influenced employees' motivation to excel. As the sample size was large some of the results were generalized.