understanding the relationship between emotional...

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Understanding the relationship between Emotional Intelligence and job

Performance at the Thebe Ya Bophelo Healthcare Administrators

A Research Report

presented to

The Graduate School of Business

University of Cape Town

In partial fulfilment

of the requirements for the

Masters of Business Administration Degree

by

Grant Jackson

8th December 2013

Supervised by: Dr. Shadrick Mazaza

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PLAGIARISM DECLARATION

I know that plagiarism is wrong. Plagiarism is to use another’s work and pretend that it is

one’s own.

I have used a recognised convention for citation and referencing. Each significant

contribution and quotation from the works of other people has been attributed, cited and

referenced.

I certify that this submission is my own work.

I have not allowed and will not allow anyone to copy this essay with the intention of passing

it off as his or her own work

Grant Jackson

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

What a journey. Never did I think it would end, never did it seem to want to and never was

the journey more excruciating than at the end but it is the end and it is bitter sweet.

Firstly I would like to thank God for giving me the never say die attitude in all adversity. I am

who I am because of him and for that I am eternally grateful.

Secondly to my mom who can not celebrate the end of this chapter and new beginnings with

me, I am forever grateful for the life you gave me up until your end. I live to make you proud

of me.

To my partner in crime and the person who stood by me throughout this with the strength of a

champion, my one and only, Cheryl Plato. You made this easier than it should have been and

never doubted me for a moment even in the moments that I did. I can not thank you enough.

To my brother for his constant encouragement and belief in me, you will always be a light in

my life and example of what our mother would be if she was with us today.

To Pieter Kitching, you made this all possible through the patience and kindness you have

shown to me. You efforts to do all that you can to make my dream a reality I will never be

able to repay, I am forever in your debt.

To my MBA class, you guys were brilliant, I could not have asked for a better class and a

better group, I loved every moment and minute of our interaction and hope to continue to

enjoy it long after this MBA is done.

To my supervisor who put up with my quest to make a mess of this and had to right the ship

on numerous occasions, I thank you for never giving up on me and always encouraging me to

be better than I thought I was.

To TYB, I could not have done this without you guys and to you I owe the greatest thanks in

constantly putting up with my pestering, my unplanned calls, visits and relentless questioning.

You guys are all heroes in your own right. I have never met a more talented, gifted group of

individuals and I hope you grow from strength to strength. You will never be forgotten.

Thank you finally to the UCT GSB for choosing my application and allowing me to do this

MBA course. You made a little boy’s dream come true…

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PLAGIARISM DECLARATION .......................................................................................... I

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................. II

TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................................... III

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 1

RESEARCH AREA AND PROBLEM ........................................................................ 1

AREA OF STUDY .................................................................................................................................................. 1

RELEVANCE OF STUDY ........................................................................................................................................ 2

CONTEXT ............................................................................................................................................................ 3

RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND SCOPE .................................................................... 4

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS ..................................................................................... 4

SCOPE OF STUDY ................................................................................................................................................. 9

RESEARCH ASSUMPTIONS ................................................................................................................................... 9

ETHICS ................................................................................................................ 9

LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................. 11

DISCUSSION ...................................................................................................... 11

CALL CENTRES ................................................................................................. 11

JOB PERFORMANCE IN A CALL CENTRE ............................................................ 12

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE .............................................................................. 12

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 12

MEASUREMENT OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE ................................................................................................ 14

GOLEMAN MIXED MODEL FOR EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE ............................................................................. 14

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND JOB PERFORMANCE ....................................... 15

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND JOB PERFORMANCE AND THE CALL CENTRE

ENVIRONMENT .................................................................................................. 16

CONCLUSION .................................................................................................... 17

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ................................................................ 20

TYPE OF RESEARCH .......................................................................................... 20

RESEARCH DESIGN ........................................................................................... 20

OVERVIEW OF PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION METHODOLOGY .......................................................................... 20

THE SAMPLE ..................................................................................................................................................... 21

RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS ................................................................................................................................. 22

THE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE QUESTIONNAIRE ............................................................................................ 23

JOB PERFORMANCE RATINGS ............................................................................................................................ 24

DATA ANALYSIS METHOD ................................................................................ 25

RESEARCH FINDINGS, ANALYSIS, AND DISCUSSION ................... 27

DESCRIPTIVE RESULTS ..................................................................................... 27

DETAILS OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE TESTING ............................................ 29

SELF-AWARENESS - KNOWING ONESELF .......................................................................................................... 31

SELF-REGULATION - MANAGING ONESELF ....................................................................................................... 33

SELF-MOTIVATION ........................................................................................................................................... 35

EMPATHY .......................................................................................................................................................... 37

SOCIAL SKILLS .................................................................................................................................................. 39

SUMMARY......................................................................................................................................................... 40

CORRELATIONS................................................................................................. 41

CORRELATION BETWEEN JOB PERFORMANCE AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE ............................................... 41

CORRELATION BETWEEN PRODUCTIVITY AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE ...................................................... 41

CORRELATION BETWEEN THE QUALITY ASSURANCE MEASUREMENT (QA) AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE . 42

CORRELATION BETWEEN PRESENCE AND ABSENCE MEASUREMENT AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE ............. 43

SUMMARY OF CORRELATIONS BETWEEN EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND JOB PERFORMANCE CATEGORIES ... 44

SUMMARY......................................................................................................................................................... 45

MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS ................................................................................ 45

SELF-AWARENESS AND OVERALL JOB PERFORMANCE ....................................................................................... 46

SELF-REGULATION AND JOB SATISFACTION ...................................................................................................... 47

SELF-MOTIVATION AND OVERALL JOB PERFORMANCE ...................................................................................... 48

EMPATHY AND OVERALL JOB PERFORMANCE .................................................................................................... 49

SOCIAL SKILLS AND OVERALL JOB PERFORMANCE ............................................................................................ 50

DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIAL FACTORS AND OVERALL JOB PERFORMANCE ........................................................ 51

SUMMARY ........................................................................................................ 52

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LIMITATIONS OF RESEARCH.............................................................................. 56

CONCLUSION .............................................................................................. 57

FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS ....................................................... 58

BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................... 59

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ABSTRACT

The South African Call Centre industry is growing annually and despite of the fact that it is

still trying to position its self for greater growth in the local and international opportunities

(Wayde & Rogerson, 2014) there is however, very little empirical evidence on this industry in

particular (Banks & Roodt, 2011).

The objective of this study is to add to this empirical data on the industry by further

scrutinising whether there is a relationship between an employee’s emotional intelligence and

their particular job performance within the call centre environment of a medical aid scheme

administrator.

The sample consisted of 30 call centre agents who worked at Thebe Ya Bophelo Healthcare

Administrators who operates in the medical aid scheme administrators industry with their

office located in Johannesburg, Gauteng.

A self-assessment test, created by ITISA, was used to obtain the emotional intelligence scores

of the call centre agents. The test is based on to Bar-On’s (1997) definition of emotional

intelligence, while using Goleman’s (1995) quadrant framework and constructs in his book,

as well as adapted constructs from Cooper & Sawaf (1998).

The results found a weak positive correlation which is not particularly significant between

emotional intelligence and job performance and its categories as well as the factors of

emotional intelligence and job performance and it’s catergories.

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 - Previous Studies Done On Emotional Intelligence And Job Performance In A Call Centre Environment

17

Table 2: Overview Of The Data Collection Process 21

Table 3: More Social & Employment Characteristics 29

Table 4: Self-Awareness – Knowing Oneself 31

Table 5: Reliability - Self Regulation 32

Table 6: Self-Regulation – Managing Oneself 33

Table 7: Reliability - Self Regulation 34

Table 8: Self-Motivation - Determining One's Future 35

Table 9: Reliability - Self Motivation 36

Table 10: Empathy – Understanding Others 37

Table 11: Reliability - Empathy 38

Table 12: Social Skills - Interacting With Others 39

Table 13: Reliability – Social Skills 40

Table 14 Job Performance And Emotional Intelligence 41

Table 15: Productivity And Emotional Intelligence 42

Table 16: Quality Assurance Measurement (Qa) And Emotional Intelligence 42

Table 17: Presence And Absence (P&A) And Total Emotional Intelligence 43

Table 18: Summary Of Correlations 44

Table 19: Qa Vs. Productivity And P&A 45

Table 20: Self-Awareness And Overall Job Performance 46

Table 21: Self-Regulation And Job Satisfaction 47

Table 22: Self-Motivation And Overall Job Performance 48

Table 23: Empathy And Overall Job Performance 49

Table 24: Social Skills And Overall Job Performance 50

Table 25: Demographics And Job Performance 51

Table 26: Top Eigenvalue Scores 53

Table 27: Questions And Answers Summary 54

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Research Questions.................................................................................................................................. 8

Figure 2: Illustration Of The Literature Review ................................................................................................... 19

Figure 3: Conceptual Model.................................................................................................................................. 26

Figure 4: Respondents By Age Group .................................................................................................................. 27

Figure 5: Gender Of The Respondents .................................................................................................................. 28

Figure 6: Ethnicity Of Respondents ...................................................................................................................... 28

Figure 7: Education Attainment ............................................................................................................................ 29

Figure 8: Mean Scores - Self-Awareness .............................................................................................................. 31

Figure 9: Mean Scores - Self-Regulation .............................................................................................................. 33

Figure 10: Mean Scores - Self-Motivation ............................................................................................................ 35

Figure 11: Mean Scores - Empathy ....................................................................................................................... 37

Figure 12: Mean Scores - Social Skills ................................................................................................................. 39

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INTRODUCTION

Research Area and Problem

Area of study

When compared to intelligence quotient (IQ), emotional intelligence is increasingly taking

prominence in recent literature as being equally if not more important than IQ as a predictor

of success in the workplace (Goleman & Sutherland, 1996; Romanelli, Cain, & Smith, 2006).

Emotional intelligence is believed to be a good predictor of success or failure in various tasks,

jobs, functions, sporting abilities and the like.

Emotional intelligence has generated significant interest from academics and practitioners

alike who deliberate whether it has a significant role to play in the success of individuals in

the work place.

Emotional intelligence however is not stagnant or fixed for the life time of the individual as

everyone has the ability to improve their emotional intelligence through self-awareness and

training (Salguero, Extremera, & Fernández-Berrocal, 2012). Because of this, a few

companies are starting to train/coach their employees in emotional intelligence to improve

employee performance in the work place (Kram & Cherniss, 2001).

It is evident that emotional intelligence is having an influence on how employers recruit staff,

how employees perform and interact (Brackett, Rivers, & Salovey, 2011; Cherniss, 1998) and

becoming more prevalent in pre-employment tests during recruitment (Rooy, Alonso, &

Viswesvaran, 2005). Employers find it increasingly more important to recruit staff with good

levels of emotional intelligence and to train existing staff (Fox, 2002) in order to improve

their emotional intelligence and provide the organisation with a competitive advantage.

In order to improve human resource management practices to such a degree that it increases

the probability or likelihood of a prospective/current employee becoming a high performance

employee, specific job criteria needed to be addressed. These criteria included minimum

levels of both IQ and emotional intelligence and hence the need to identify and gain greater

clarity on these areas in order to improve the ability of the organisation to find the best suited

candidates for the available positions.

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Emotional intelligence proved to be key to job performance (Lyons & Schneider, 2005), and

much like IQ there was research in numerous roles such as students (Ahmed, Naoreen,

Aslam, & Iqbal, 2010; Nwadinigwe & Azuka-Obieke, 2012), nurses (Augusto Landa, López-

Zafra, Berrios Martos, & Aguilar-Luzón, 2008; Bulmer, Profetto-mcgrath, & Cummings,

2009) and criminal investigators (Ono, Sachau, Deal, Englert, & Taylor, 2011) which has

determined that emotional intelligence has a role to play in the performance of these

individuals.

This study attempted to support previous studies on the topic through further analysis of the

correlation between emotional intelligence and job performance in a call centre located in

Johannesburg, South Africa. The research was unique in that it aimed to confirm a correlation

for a medical scheme administrator call centre by using a pre-existing emotional intelligence

test and the job performance criteria of the call centre being studied. The study also attempted

to understand whether a positive correlation exists between emotional intelligence and job

performance. Finally, it wanted to add to the limited knowledge of which sub-constructs of

emotional intelligence are greater predictors of job performance and further explore this

through multivariate analysis of the factors of these sub-constructs.

Relevance of study

A deeper understanding of the ideal employee requirements for any given job would allow

companies to better hire and train staff for any given position and in so doing improve job fit

and performance. This may also decrease poor work performance, reduce training expenses as

well as recruitment costs relating to incorrect job fit.

This study is particularly relevant for the call centre environment where call centre agents are

the first line of interaction between the company and the client (Gryn, 2010). Poor

performance in this area could have a negative impact on customer satisfaction ratings,

customer relationships and ultimately business performance (Deery, Iverson, & Walsh, 2010;

Rod & Ashill, 2013). Not only is the aforementioned problematic but call centres also suffer

from higher attrition and absenteeism levels (Holloway, 2002; Mckendrick, 2011) possibly

due to poor employee fit and uninformed recruitment practices. Benner, Lewis and Omar

(2007) noted that staff attrition rates can be as high as 16% with costs amounting to just over

R17,000 to recruit, hire and train a new individuals excluding the loss in productivity and

subsequent financial impact to the organisation.

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The research also planned to contribute to the body of knowledge regarding call centres

within the Medical Aid Healthcare Administrators industry in South Africa, specifically in

terms of job performance and emotional intelligence while also contributing to the available

literature with regards to performance management, human capital improvements and human

resource management within the call centre environment.

Context

The research was focused on a Thebe Ya Bophelo Healthcare Administrators which operates

an inbound call centre and is an administrator for a two medical aid schemes, namely

Thebemed and Hosmed, a wellness program named Phela Wellness as well as a lifestyle

product called Thebe Lifestyle. They are also recognised as the leading fully black-owned and

managed medical aid scheme administrator in South Africa.

The Medical Aid Scheme operates a centralised call centre out of Houghton in Johannesburg

which is the first point of contact for its customers. The call centre’s main purpose is to

receive feedback and queries from customers, doctors and brokers via telephone and email.

The emails are handled by a separate team called the Correspondence team. (G. Bagus,

personal communication, 26 September, 2014)

The call centre is operated Monday to Saturday, 08h00 till 17h00 during the week and till

13h30 on a Saturday. The call centre layout is an open plan office environment with a

separate work space for each call centre agent. Work stations consist of a telephone and a

computer. There are also work stations for the team leaders and one for a workforce planner.

The types of calls handled on a day toward day are strictly on an inbound call basis and could

vary from either being benefit confirmation calls, membership calls, finance call, claims calls

as well as complaint calls. There are roughly 35 members of staff with each call centre agent

handling on average 40 calls per day. Calls vary from typically 3 minutes for a benefit

confirmation call to 45 minutes for a customer complaint call. (G. Bagus, personal

communication, 26 September, 2014).

Typical challenges facing this call centre are as follows:

Learning the product takes more than 6 months before a call centre agent is proficient

The medical aid products are particularly difficult to learn so people who struggle with

the content take longer to become productive and effective

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Knowing what to look for in a claim is critical to swift problem resolution

Complex antiquated systems and the inability to see the complete process from

customer registration to billing is also a hindrance for productivity rates

Challenges with other parts of the organisation responding to requests timeously

Levels of product knowledge of the clients

Job performance of the agents is measured constantly and is described in greater detail at a

later stage. Call volumes handled is a key metric however, over and above the number of calls

handled each day, they are measured on the quality of service delivered during the call as well

their availability to take calls and absence from the call centre. (P. Pillay, personal

communication, 20 August, 2014)

To date, no formal studies have been conducted on call centres of medical aid scheme

administrators in South Africa. Therefore the aim of this study was to add to the body of

knowledge on emotional intelligence and how it affects job performance in this particular

environment and industry. It also sought to provide assistance to the medical aid scheme

administrators industry on how improving their employees’ emotional intelligence in their

call centres could have a positive effect on not only the self-motivation of staff but also

improved customer service and relationships.

Research Questions and Scope

In this section the objectives of the study is outlined along with the research questions and the

rationale behind choosing them along with the specific scope of the study, assumptions made

prior to the research and the ethics concerned with conducting the study.

Objectives of the study and research questions

Previous studies have shown a positive correlation between job performance and emotional

intelligence in a call centre environment (Higgs, 2004; Nel & de Villiers, 2004; Shamsuddin

& Rahman, 2014).

Nel and de Villiers (2004) conducted a survey at an insurance company focusing on their

sales, client services and administration call centre departments in the Western Cape while

using a multi-rater survey called the Emotional Competency Inventory test. In this study

however, the details of the job performance criteria were not clear and how emotional

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intelligence could influence job performance in a call centre environment could not be

determined as the company did not make this information available to them.

Higgs (2004) made use of the personal factors model developed by Dulewicz & Higgs (2006)

which looked at call centres in the UK but also failed to note the different aspects of job

performance and the correlation between these aspects. The study was conducted on three call

centres however the details of the call centres were not given.

Shamsuddin & Rahman (2014) did a study on the emotional intelligence and job performance

of call centre agents in two call centres in Kuala Lumpur using the Wong and Law Emotional

Intelligence Scale (Wong & Law, 2002) and noted the criteria of job performance but failed

to do any correlations between these and the factors of emotional intelligence as described in

the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale. This study interestingly made use of gender

as a moderator for emotional intelligence and job performance.

In contrast to the aforementioned, this study focused specifically on the emotional intelligence

of individuals and its correlation with their job performance in the call centre of Thebe Ya

Bophelo Healthcare Administrators. It made particular use of their current job performance

criteria and looked at the various aspects of the criteria to ascertain firstly:

(Q1) What is the relationship between emotional intelligence and job performance in

Thebe Ya Bophelo Healthcare Administrators call centre staff in the given context?

The rationale behind this question is to confirm whether there is indeed a relationship

between emotional intelligence and job performance and what type of relationship exists in

the context of the call centre environment of a medical aid scheme administrator. This

allowed us to postulate about the ramifications of this relationship for the industry going

forward and how best to manage and improve it going forward.

Secondly, this study aimed to establish whether there is a relationship between emotional

intelligence and the various aspects of job performance by asking the following questions:

(Q2) What is the relationship between emotional intelligence and the productivity of

call centre staff in the given context?

(Q3) What is the relationship between emotional intelligence and the quality assurance

measure of the call centre staff in the given context?

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(Q4) What is the relationship between emotional intelligence and the presence and

absence of call centre staff in the given context?

The rationale behind these questions was to confirm whether there is indeed a relationship

between emotional intelligence and the sub sections of job performance and what type of

relationship exists in the context of the call centre environment of a medical aid scheme

administrator. This will allow us to postulate about the ramifications of these relationships for

the industry going forward and how best to manage it. It provided clarity on which section of

job performance, emotional intelligence has the greatest influence and hence a precursor for

further study.

Thirdly, this study wanted to establish what the relationship is between the various sub

sections of emotional intelligence and job performance of call centre agents. In essence it

attempted to answer the following questions:

(Q5) What is the relationship between self-awareness and the job performance of call

centre staff in the given context?

(Q6) What is the relationship between self-regulation and the job performance of call


(Q7) What is the relationship between self-motivation and the job performance of call


(Q8) What is the relationship between empathy and the job performance of call centre

staff in the given context?

(Q9) What is the relationship between social skills and the job performance of call


The rationale behind these questions was to confirm whether there is indeed a relationship

between the sub-constructs of emotional intelligence and job performance and what type of

relationship exists in the context of the call centre environment of a medical aid scheme

administrator. This will allow us to postulate about the ramifications of these relationships for

the industry going forward and how best to manage it. It also provided clarity on which

section of emotional intelligence has the greatest influence on job performance and hence a

precursor for further study. It would also help human resource management on focusing on

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specific areas of improvement in emotional intelligence to have the greatest return in terms of

improved job performance.

Fourthly, this study attempted to establish the relationship the various sub sections of

Emotional Intelligence have on the various sub sections of job performance of the call centre

agents. In essence it will attempt to answer the following questions:

(Q10) What is the relationship between self-awareness and the productivity of call


(Q11) What is the relationship between self-regulation and the productivity of call


(Q12) What is the relationship between self-motivation and the productivity of call


(Q13) What is the relationship between empathy and the productivity of call centre


(Q14) What is the relationship between social skills and the productivity of call centre


(Q15) What is the relationship between self-awareness and the quality assurance

measurement of call centre staff in the given context?

(Q16) What is the relationship between self-regulation and the quality assurance


(Q17) What is the relationship between self-motivation and the quality assurance


(Q18) What is the relationship between empathy and the quality assurance


(Q19) What is the relationship between social skills and the quality assurance


(Q20) What is the relationship between self-awareness and the presence and absence

of call centre staff in the given context?

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(Q21) What is the relationship between self-regulation and the presence and absence


(Q22) What is the relationship between self-motivation and the presence and absence


(Q23) What is the relationship between empathy and the presence and absence of call


(Q24) What is the relationship between social skills and the presence and absence of


Finally, this study will look at the factors of the sub-constructs using Multivariate analysis to

obtain which factors have the greatest influence on the results? (Q25).

Figure 1 is a graphical representation of the questions raised.

Figure 1: Research Questions

Primary Question (Q1)

Sub questions (Q2, Q3, Q4)

Sub questions (Q5, Q6, Q7, Q8, Q9)

Sub questions (Q10, Q11, Q12, Q13, Q14, Q15,

Q16, Q17, Q18, Q19,Q20, Q21, Q22, Q23, Q24)

Emotional intelligence (EQ) Compared with Job Performance

Productivity

QA

P&A

Self-Awareness - Knowing Oneself Compared with Job Performance

Self-Regulation - Managing Oneself Compared with Job Performance

Self-Motivation - Determining One's Future Compared with Job Performance

Empathy - Understanding Others Compared with Job Performance

Social Skills - Interacting with Others Compared with Job Performance

Productivity

QA

P&A

Productivity

QA

P&A

Productivity

QA

P&A

Productivity

QA

P&A

Productivity

QA

P&A

Self-Awareness - Knowing Oneself Compared with

Compared withEmotional intelligence (EQ)

Social Skills - Interacting with Others

Empathy - Understanding Others Compared with

Compared with

Compared withSelf-Regulation - Managing Oneself

Self-Motivation - Determining One's Future Compared with

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Scope of study

The research focused on the relationship and many facets of emotional intelligence with

regards to job performance and its varying criteria of a single call centre within the medical

aid scheme administrator’s environment.

As the research focused exclusively on one call centre which has only 35 staff, this study is

not meant to be a representative of all the Medical Aid Scheme Administrators’ call centres

but merely offer insight into the industry and the role of emotional intelligence in their

particular call centre environment noting the unique environment in which they operate.

It may however, provide direction for further research which other companies, outside of this

particular call centre environment, can make use of if they are able to notice similarities

between their call centre environment and the one being studied.

Research Assumptions

The main underlying assumptions of the research included the following:

the number of call centre agents will be significant enough to produce findings

the participants are able to read and understand the questionnaire

the participants will answer the questionnaire honestly and accurately

discussions amongst call centre agents during the collection of data will not affect the

answering of the questionnaire as they were not be separated during this time.

There are no moderating or mediating variables which could affect the strength of the

relationships between emotional intelligence and job performance.

Ethics

“Researchers have an obligation towards their respondents to make sure that they are not

harmed, deceived and have a right to confidentiality.” (Sudman & Blair, 1998, p.645).

The research was conducted on the employees of the organisation and hence an ethical

clearance was required by the University of Cape Town’s Ethics Committee for this type of

research. The employees’ names are not mentioned in this study however, their names were

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required to ascertain who was taking the Emotional Intelligence test and how their test scores

related to their individual job performance assessment. In light of this an ethical clearance

form was completed and uploaded to the Graduate School of Business’s intranet for approval

by the Ethics Committee. The form was subsequently approved.

While the research did involve interaction with the employees, the data gathering process was

strictly monitored and controlled by the researcher. The confidentiality of the participants was

maintained throughout the research process and their right to refuse to participate was

observed at all times.

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LITERATURE REVIEW

Discussion

The review of the literature focuses on the following main areas:

Defining call centres and the call centre environment.

Defining job performance in a call centre environment

Defining emotional intelligence, the measurement thereof and Goleman’s mixed

model

Highlighting the connections between job performance and emotional intelligence

Describing the relationship between emotional intelligence and job performance in a

call centre environment.

Call Centres

“Considering it can cost up to 10 times more to acquire a customer than it does to retain one,

businesses are taking their existing customers’ needs more seriously. To this end, companies

are reinvesting in their call centres and using new technologies, from customer relationship

management tools to automated service systems with friendlier voices, to gain better insight

into their customers and enhance the call centre experience.” (Schroeck, 2011)

Call centres are essentially the human communication element for receiving incoming and

sending outgoing information between the customer and the organisation or business. They

are primarily there to service the customers of the business they serve where human

interaction is still preferred or necessary. They require flexibility with regards to problem

solving as customers often have complex issues which require several and varied data inputs

and/or multiple solution steps or phases.

In terms of the environment in which they work with regards to dealing with customers, call

centres are highly stressful places with call centre agents having to manage their emotions on

a daily basis and regularly having to fake emotions of calmness and happiness as well as

understanding and empathy which is often seen as emotional labour (Wegge, Dick, &

Bernstorff, 2010). Coupled with this, call centre agents experience additional stress due to

performance related items such as time management (Wegge, Vogt, & Wecking, 2007) where

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they are constantly watching the clock whether on or off a call. This, according to Lewig and

Dollard (2003), often leads to emotional exhaustion and emotional dissonance as the call

centre is seen as one of the top 10 most stressful jobs today (Sadien, 2010). The knock-on

effects of this type of environment is higher rates of absenteeism and staff turnover and is

often portrayed as sweatshop type environment (Rose, 2002).

Job Performance in a Call Centre

Due to the varying types of services a call centre could offer such as sales, customer

complaints as well as an information centre, each type of call centre comes with its own

challenges, job requirements and subsequently job performance metrics such as the number of

staff, working hours, type of individuals required, call metrics, quality metrics and more.

However, they all generally have two main factors to consider which are often

counterproductive namely productivity (number of calls that can be serviced by a call centre)

and the quality of call (how the call was handled and whether the customer was satisfied with

the outcome) (G Robinson & Morley, 2006). There is always a give and take within call

centres as to what balance they would like to achieve in terms of productivity and quality i.e.

the “best fit” or “configurational approach” as noted by Delery and Doty (1996).

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence Introduction

The term emotional intelligence is described by Salovey and Mayor (1990) as being made up

of the following concepts:

the ability to recognise and appraise the emotion in oneself and others though verbal,

non-verbal appraisal of self and non-verbal perception and empathy of others

the ability to regulate your own emotion as well as others

the ability to utilise emotion through motivation, flexibility, creative thinking,

changing and elevating moods and more

Goleman (2001, p. 2) described emotional intelligence as “self-awareness, self-management,

social awareness and relationship management”. Simply put, emotional intelligence is the

ability to recognise one’s emotion or that of others, evaluate it (is it good or bad, useful or

not), regulate it (as in the ability not to cry during sad events), and to harness the power of

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emotions to act (such as being productive when motivated or creative when one has feelings

of joy and happiness).

Emotional intelligence has shown positive effects on a number of skills, tasks, actions or

abilities such as leadership (Antonakis, Ashkanasy, & Dasborough, 2009; Nordin, 2011),

moderating stress (Aghdasi, Kiamanesh, & Ebrahim, 2011; Koortzen & Oosthuizen, 2009) ,

having a role to play in our psychological wellbeing (Carmeli, Yitzhak-Halevy, & Weisberg,

2009), as well as health benefits (Schutte, Malouff, Thorsteinsson, Bhullar, & Rooke, 2007).

Therefore, improving the emotional intelligence of the work force will have an overall effect

on wellbeing, decreasing stress (Aghdasi et al., 2011) and providing a general increase in

people’s abilities to cope with challenges as awareness of their emotions grow.

“Individuals with higher emotional intelligence may have both a greater sense of power in

their work environment and perceive their work as more supportive” (Schutte & Loi, 2014, p.

134).

Schutte & Loi (2014) mention that increased levels of emotional intelligence shows positive

correlations to more social work environments where interactions with others is imperative to

work performance. Employees with higher levels of emotional intelligence tend to have more

social capital, are more supportive and have more constructive conflict management skills.

Emotional intelligence is not however necessary in all situations nor offers the same

advantages in every aspect of human endeavours. Studies have shown that in environments

where interpersonal skills are not a necessity for success or the activity requires a lower

degree of social interaction, the correlations between emotional intelligence and an increase in

performance/output is reduced or shows no correlation at all. This can be seen in an

educational environment where scholars with lower emotional intelligence scores do not

necessarily have a lower performance on scholastic tests (Mitrofan & Cioricaru, 2014; Parker,

Summerfeldt, Hogan, & Majeski, 2004).

Emotional Intelligence is not solely positive however. Even though Schutte and Loi’s (2014)

research concluded that emotional intelligence can lead to improvements in the work place,

employees who are able to hone and master their emotional skills may become better at

manipulating others (Austin, Farrelly, Black, & Moore, 2007). Another aspect for

consideration is that when employees are good at controlling their own emotions they could

disguise their true feelings. Similarly, when employees are acutely aware of the emotions of

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their colleagues they can manipulate them to act in their own interests. Examples of this are

incidents of extra marital affairs in the work place or theft through collusion (Nagler, Reiter,

Furtner, & Rauthmann, 2014).

Measurement of Emotional Intelligence

The validity of the emotional intelligence construct is often debated as there is no consensus

on the measurement tools namely: ability based or mixed model based. The ability based

measurement uses specific tasks which rates one’s emotional intelligence whereas the mixed

model is based on self-assessment questionnaire with the answers to the questions being

scored to give an overall score (Killian, 2012). Neither of these tests are considered as the

preferred standard for testing emotional intelligence (Romanelli et al., 2006).

Each of these measurements has its own set of sub constructs which make up the emotional

intelligence construct; therefore questioning its validity (Romanelli et al., 2006). Examples of

this is the Emotional Competency Inventory test which makes use of the Emotional

Competency Framework that highlights recognition of emotion and management of emotion

as the two key sub constructs of emotional intelligence (Nel & de Villiers, 2004). In contrast,

the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale notes self-emotion appraisal, other’s

emotional appraisal, the use of emotion and regulation of emotion as being the key sub-

constructs when measuring emotional intelligence (Shamsuddin & Rahman, 2014). Dulewicz

and Higgs (2000) developed a personal factor model which measures emotional intelligence

using 7 elements to make up the emotional construct.

Goleman Mixed Model for Emotional Intelligence

The method employed in this research to measure emotional intelligence is based on the

mixed model for emotional intelligence (Goleman, 1998) which measures not only one’s

emotional intelligence but also one’s self-awareness, self-regulation, social skills, empathy

and self-motivation abilities as the sub-constructs of emotional intelligence.

The model is deconstructed as follows:

Self-Awareness

Self-Awareness is defined as the ability to consciously acknowledge the presence of one’s

own feeling , emotions, desires, motives, character and more (Morin, 2011).

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Self-Regulation

Self-Regulation is defined as the ability to regulate one’s emotions and the response to them

in a manner which is socially acceptable however, one must be able to remain sufficiently

spontaneous and flexible to permit or delay reactions as needed. It is a complex process as it

contains regulation of both physiological and behavioural responses (Cole, Michel, & Teti,

1994).

Social Skills

Social Skill is defined as being the ability to conduct oneself in accordance with social rules

in facilitating communication and interaction with others in verbal and non-verbal ways

(Greene & Burleson, 2003).

Empathy

Empathy is defined as being the ability to identify and react emotionally as if one was sharing

the emotions of another (Redmond, 1985; Stotland, 1969).

Self-Motivation

Self-motivation is defined as the ability of an individual to self-determine their behaviour, to

initiate and achieve their desired needs and wants when those desires are not met

automatically (Harter, 1978).

Emotional Intelligence and Job Performance

A study conducted by Chaudhry and Usman (2011) showed a high correlation between

emotional intelligence and job performance and went so far as to suggest that emotional

intelligence be used as a selection tool by human resource managers in the future.

Further readings suggest that emotional intelligence and the positive correlation with job

performance exists primarily in jobs that require emotional labour (Güleryüz, Güney, Aydin,

& Aşan, 2008), where emotional labour is described as the act of displaying appropriate

emotion (Ashforth & Humphrey, 1993). An example of such a job is nursing, where patient

interaction is key and typically involves a very stressful environment, has shown positive

correlations between emotional intelligence and job performance (Por, Barriball, Fitzpatrick,

& Roberts, 2011; Trivellas, Gerogiannis, & Svarna, 2013). Another such example is criminal

investigators who displayed positive correlations between job performance and emotional

intelligence (Ono et al., 2011).

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Two meta-analysis studies of emotional intelligence and job performance also showed results

which support the overall validity of emotional intelligence in predicting job performance (Jr,

Humphrey, Pollack, Hawver, & Story, 2011; Zhang & Wang, 2012).

Côté & Miners (2006) on the other hand studied the link between emotional intelligence and

cognitive intelligence and their associations with job performance and how the relationship

becomes more positive between emotional intelligence and job performance as cognitive

intelligence decreases. They noted that possibly studies on emotional intelligence and the

performance increases should be measured with their use of known cognitive intelligence to

give a better representation of the performance increase gained from emotional intelligence

when measuring employees of equal cognitive intelligence. Sarpong and Rees (2014)

however found no link between emotional intelligence and academic achievement whereas

Nwadinigwe & Azuka-Obieke (2012) noted that an improvement in the emotional

intelligence of students would result in an increase in their academic achievements.

Emotional Intelligence and Job Performance and the Call Centre

environment

Zapf, Isic, Bechtoldt, and Blau (2003) describe call centre environments as stressful with

elements of emotional labour where “customer service representatives had to express less

negative emotions, but were most frequently exposed to states of emotional dissonance” (p.

311).

Therefore, it would seem that call centres would be perfect for a study on whether

correlations exist between call centre agents with high emotional intelligence and improved

customer satisfaction ratings. Coupled with this, they should perform better due to the fact

that higher scores in emotional intelligence would allow them to cope with the stress

associated with the call centre environment.

A study was done on customer satisfaction and emotional intelligence (Kernbach & Schutte,

2005) outside of the call centre environment which showed improved levels of customer

satisfaction ratings for service providers with higher emotional intelligence ratings. This was

also true for sales people with higher emotional intelligence ratings who were customer facing

(Rozell, Pettijohn, & Parker, 2004).

Studies done on call centres have shown a definite positive relationship between the

emotional intelligence of call centre employees and job performance (Higgs, 2004; Jacobs &

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Roodt, 2011; Nel & de Villiers, 2004; Shamsuddin & Rahman, 2014) however these studies

were always lacking to some degree or other. Higgs (2004) noted his studies fell short

because the tenure of the agents was not sufficiently lengthy in nature. Nel and de Villiers

(2004) never took cogniscence of the demographcal makeup of the call centre and how that

could have effected the outcome of their results and Shamsuddin & Rahman (2014), while

including gender as a demographic moderator and confirming that relationship did not show

any significant correlation, excluded all the other demographical variables.

Conclusion

Emotional intelligence is relevant for most human endeavours but it is not an exact science

due to other factors which may or may not have an influence on its prominence in a given

context. Factors such as IQ levels still play a role in predicting success however emotional

intelligence is starting to edge us towards sustainability and how long we can be successful if

we are not in tune with our emotions.

Because of the nature of emotional intelligence it is noted that context matters and that it only

shows a significant increase in performance under certain circumstances such as social

interaction (with customers and others, in this instance, in the call centre environment) and

the ability to deal with stress, hence the decision to test it, under slightly varied conditions

than the previous research to expand on what is already known.

Table 1 represents an extract from a study done by Jacobs and Roodt (2011) with regards to

previous research done on emotional intelligence and job performance in the call centre

environment. It notes the purpose of previous studies, their context, the sample size, method

of analysis, key findings and limitations. It includes an additional study done by Shamsuddin

& Rahman (2014) which was not part of Jacobs and Roodt’s initial study.

Table 1 - Previous studies done on Emotional Intelligence and Job Performance in a Call Centre

environment

Author(s) Purpose of the study Sample and setting Method and/or analysis Key Findings (and Limitations)

Higgs (2004) This research detailed a

study designed to explore

the relationship between

the emotional intelligence

of contact centre agents

and ratings of their

performance.

A sample of 289 agents

from three United

Kingdom organisations was

studied from inbound

contact centre

environments.

A quantitative cross-

sectional correlational

design was employed using

the Environmental Impact

Quotient measure.

Results included a strong relationship

between overall emotional intelligence as

well as several elements of the model

performance and individual performance.

These elements include: conscientiousness,

emotional resilience, motivation and

interpersonal sensitivity. Limitations

included that the sample was an inbound

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environment with subsequent generalisation

implications; the performance measures

were limited in objectivity and cross

organisational consistency.

Nel & de Villiers

(2004)

The study aimed to

determine whether there

was a relationship between

emotional intelligence and

job performance in a call

centre environment.

The sample comprised 135

call centre agents from

client services, sales and

administrative

environments in a life

insurance company.

Emotional intelligence was

measured by means of the

Emotional Competency

Inventory that is a multi-

rater survey instrument

based on the Self-

Assessment Questionnaire.

A statistically significant and positive

correlation between emotional intelligence

and job performance was found. The

combination of emotional competencies

namely emotional self-awareness,

trustworthiness, self-confidence and

influence explained the greatest degree of

variance in job performance in the contact

centre environment as a whole. Limitations

include that agents’ team managers (n = 31)

completed the questionnaires and that the

sample was insurance industry specific.

Shamsuddin &

Rahman (2014)

The study examined the

relationships between

emotional intelligence and

job performance of call

centre agents; and also

examined the effects of the

moderator variable, gender,

towards the relationship

between emotional

intelligence and job

performance of call centre

agents

The sample comprised of

118 call centre agents form

two call centres in Kuala

Lumpur

Emotional intelligence was

measured by means of the

Wong and Law Emotional

Intelligence scale (WLEIS)

making use of gender as a

moderator

Results of the study indicate a relationship

between emotional intelligence and job

performance however, only two of the three

dimensions of WLEIS had influences on job

performance, namely regulation appraisal

emotion and use of emotion. The results

also showed that gender did not have a

moderating effect. Limitations of the

research was that job performance was a

single construct and the details of the call

centres and there job performance criteria

were omitted.

Table 1 is adapted from “A human capital predictive model for agent performance in contact

centres” by Jacobs & Roodt (2011, p.10)

This study will try to reduce the limitations of the studies which went before it by fully

describing the call centre it wishes to study and only include call centre agents and not

management in the sample. It will show how sub constructs and their factors regarding

emotional intelligence correlate with the various aspects of job performance according to the

chosen emotional test which has not been done before.

It will make use of a readily available, easy to administer, self-assessment questionnaire for

emotional intelligence making use of Golman’s (1998) mixed model. It will also show any

correlations between the sub constructs of emotional intelligence using Goleman’s model and

the sub sections of the job performance ratings of the call centre agents which has not been

done before.

It also aims to deconstruct the sub-constructs of emotional intelligence to interrogate whether

there are any significant correlations within them to point to possible future research items.

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Figure 2: Illustration of the Literature Review

Literature Review



Emotional Intelligence and Job Performance in a Call Centre Environment

Call Centres and Job Performance

Overview of



Emotional Intelligence and Job Performance in Call Centres

Emotional Intelligence and Job Performance Measurements in Call Centres

Moderation of the Emotional Intelligence and Job Performance using the measurements

Literature Review

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Type of Research

The research conducted will be deductive, noting the top-down approach, and quantitative in

its strategy because it will be a study “in which the investigatory primarily uses postpositive

claims for developing knowledge (i.e., cause and effect thinking, reduction to specific

variables and hypotheses and questions, use of measurement and observation, and the test of

theories), employs strategies of inquiry such as experiments and surveys, and collect data on

predetermined instruments that yield statistics data” (Creswell, 1994, p. 21).

Studies which aim to quantify emotional intelligence have mainly made use of quantitative

techniques such the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence scale (WLEIS) (Shamsuddin &

Rahman, 2014), the MSCEIT test (Brackett, M. A., & Salovey, 2004), Bar-On model of

Emotional intelligence (EIS) (Reuven Bar-On, 2006) as well as the Emotional quotient

Inventory (EQ-i) (Reuven Bar-On, 2004) test to name a few.

The researcher has chosen quantitative measurement by using a test based on the Goleman

mixed model theory.

Research Design

The research design type is experimental and not cross sectional or longitudinal due to the

fact that there are time constraints which will not facilitate more than one test of the sample

group.

Overview of Primary Data Collection Methodology

The data collection strategy for this study is as per Table 2. The data collection approach will

incorporate a literature review, self-assessed paper based questionnaire as well as

unstructured explorative questioning of Thebe Ya Bophelo Healthcare Administrators

management as well as call centre management regarding their views on the possible outcome

of the findings, difficulties the call centre is experiencing and job performance metrics and

their makeup.

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Table 2: Overview of the data collection process

Background Research Primary Data Collection

QUANTITATIVE

Primary Data Collection

QUALITATIVE

Literature Review

To identify and elaborate the key

variables and research as well as

establish a theoretical framework for

the topic.

Obtain Permission to administer

survey to the sample population

Details of approval to obtained through

the administration of the demographical

questionnaire

Demographic Data Collection

Administer demographic questionnaire

Administer the Survey

Paper based survey administered

Job Performance details

Collected from Call Centre

Management

Unstructured, Informal interviews

with management and call centre

management

Interviews with business management

and call centre management

The Sample

Sampling is defined as the selection of a subset of individuals from within a population to

estimate characteristics of the whole population. For the purpose of this study, purposeful

sampling was employed, where 35 respondents were selected. For a sample to be sufficient

for statistical purposes, a response rate of 30 would be required. This would be sufficient for

analytical purposes of this kind which is a statistical rule of thumb (Norušis, 2012). Struwig,

Struwig, & Stead (2001) agree with this approach due to the fact that this type of sample

provides a sample where the participants are information rich. For the purpose of this study,

the researcher will make use of purposive or judgemental sampling as per Mouton and

Babbie (2001). This was based on the researchers knowledge of population and the purpose of

the study.

The sample comprises of all the call centre employees who work at the Thebe Ya Bophelo

Healthcare Administrators who do not hold a supervisory or management position. They must

have been in the employ of Thebe Ya Bophelo Healthcare Administrators for longer than one

month and must have a job performance rating for the month of September 2014.

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The survey was administered to a call centre, the Medical Aid Administration industry, TYB,

which administers Thebe and Hosmead medical aid schemes. The respondents were chosen

purposefully from this institution as it was convenient. A total of 35 question surveys which

had 5 sub divisions namely self-awareness, self-regulation, self-motivation, empathy and

social skills were administered and completed successfully by 30 call centre agents,

representing an 86% completion rate. The remaining 5 agents were unavailable on the days

that the questionnaires were administered due either to sickness or were on vacation during

this period.

Research Instruments

Unstructured, Informal interviews with management and call centre management

The research includes informal interviews with the management and call centre management

to ascertain what the day to day activities and duties of the call centre agents were, their likely

stresses and difficulties, the job performance criteria and rating specifications, details of their

quality assessment questionnaire and what they believe would be the likely outcomes of the

research.

Not only did this establish a relationship with the Thebe Ya Bophelo Healthcare

Administrators management and call centre management, it also allowed a high level view of

the difficulties of call centre life and the challenges that would be faced when conducting the

interviews as they are generally short staffed to maximise the utilisation of call centre agents

times and hence availability to answer questionnaires would be difficult.

The Demographic Questionnaire

As per Appendix B (p.72), the demographic questionnaire was designed to ascertain the

demographical details of the call centre. This provided clarity regarding the makeup of the

call centre during the time of study and gave a clearer representation of the sample taken. It

also showed whether the sample replicated the known population of call centres within the

industry and the population at large which it did not.

The demographics questionnaire incorporated age, gender, ethnicity, education, marital status,

tenure, type of contract and whether or not the call centre agent had dependants. These are

typical attributes which can be found in the makeup of any call centre environment.

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The Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire

The questionnaire design

The questionnaire was developed by Sean Germond (personal communication, November 19,

2014) in 2000 with reference to Bar-On’s (1997) definition of emotional intelligence, but

using Goleman’s (1995) quadrant framework and constructs, as well as adapted constructs

from Cooper & Sawaf (1998) which is currently being administered by ITISA as part of the

self-assessment emotional intelligence measurements they use in their assessments with their

clients.

The questionnaire comprised of 35 questions and worked on a Likert scale of 1 – 5 with 1

representing “strongly disagree” and 5 representing “strongly agree”. Certain questions

related to the different sub-constructs of emotional intelligence mixed model theory proposed

by Goleman (1998) and therefore a score could be assigned to each of the five different sub-

constructs which could then be used to confirm correlations between the sub-construct and

job performance and the degree thereof.

Administering the questionnaire

The questionnaire was a paper based survey which was administered to the sample at the

offices of Thebe Ya Bophelo Healthcare Administrators in either a separate office or

boardroom so that the incumbents were not distracted by the day to day activities of the

environment surrounding them.

The call centre agents who completed the questionnaire did so in groups of three due to the

operational constraints of the call centre in that they could not allow more than 3 as it would

disrupt the performance of the call centre nor could they allow call centre agents to conduct

the interviews one at a time as they had other training constraints which necessitated that the

study be conducted as swiftly as possible.

When administering the survey, it was key to note to the call centre agents that, during this

time they had to relate the questions being asked to their current call centre environment and

not to external experiences. The questionnaire was administered to 3 individuals on a test

basis before finalising the details of the questionnaire to insure the questions were clear,

concise and well understood.

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Job Performance Ratings

The job performance of a call centre agent has several measurements which affect it. Thebe

Ya Bophelo Healthcare Administrators is noted as having 3 distinct catergories, as can be

seen in Appendix A (p.70) within their monthly rating of the call centre agents. These are

productivity, a quality assurance measurement (QA) and presence and absence (P&A).

Productivity is purely an objective measure which is monitered by the call centre’s call

monitoring systems which each agent has to log on to prior to the start of their shift. This

particular measure relates to the call centre agents performance with regards to their daily

scores against targets set in regards to their performance on measures such as agent idle time,

agent active time, hold time, wrap time and agent occupancy. The weight assigned to this

section of the measurement of the overall job performance rating is 40%.

The quality assurance measurement is mainly objective but has a subective aspect to it. It is

measured by the quality assurance team who objectively check whether a call centre agent has

completed the various sections of any call completely and correctly and then subjectively

addresess areas such as the listening skills and call control adequacy of the call centre agent,

amongst others. The quality assurance measurement is divided into the following sections: the

opening of the call, recording of the information, content of the call, soft skills and call

ending. The weight assigned to this section of the measurement of the overall job

performance is 40%.

The final catergory in the job performance measurment at the call centre of Thebe Ya

Bophelo Healthcare Administrators is that of Presence and Absence. This job performance

measurement checks whether the agent came to work as well as the length of time they were

on the system and available to take a call. The weighting assigned to this section is 20%

however, should an agent be late more than three times, they would automatically be

excluded from the job performance bonuses.

The job performance ratings were obtained from call centre management after the list of

participants were submitted to them regarding who participated with the answering of the

emotional intelligence questionairre part of the study. The results of the questionaire were not

shared with management at any point during this study

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Data Analysis Method

The study was quantitative in nature with a closed structured questionnaire with pre-coded

responses. The questions were in a Likert scale with responses 1=strongly disagree;

2=disagree; 3=undecided; 4=agree; 5=strongly agree. In the analysis certain questions were

grouped into the following categories: self-awareness, self-regulatory, self-motivation,

empathy, and social skills. “When using Likert-type scales it is imperative to calculate and

report Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for internal consistency reliability for any scales or

subscales one may be using” (Gliem & Gliem, 2003, p. 88).

Data was analysed in the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) version 22, with

tables provided. The justification for the use of SPSS is that it is self-weighting and easy to

use through its drop down menu. As per normal practice in any social sciences, data was

analysed at 95% Confidence Interval (Norušis, 2012) where descriptive statistics and

multivariate analysis were run. Various pre-coded responses were thematically grouped into

five sub-constructs where reliability was also tested.

To test for reliability, Cronbach's alpha (Gliem & Gliem, 2003) is a measure of internal

consistency, with regards to how closely related a set of items are as a group. Cronbach’s

alpha reliability coefficient can range from between 0 and 1. There is, however, no actual

lower limit to the coefficient. The internal consistency of the items in the scale is greater if the

Cronbach’s alpha coefficient is close to 1.0 (Gliem & Gliem, 2003).

Analysis was in three parts, namely univariate (descriptive), bivariate (correlations) and

multivariate (factor analysis). Descriptive statistics provides trends of the demographics as

well as all the Likert scale questions. Mean scores are used to determine the factors with

greater influence in job satisfaction. Following descriptive statistics is bivariate statistics,

where two or more factors are correlated in order to establish if they are associated, and in

what direction they are associated. Thirdly, multivariate analysis is conducted to establish

which factors have the greatest influence on job performance in the call centre.

Significant levels denoted by p-values (0.05) and (0.1) are used in correlations and

multivariate analysis. Tobias (2000) noted that in statistics, the p-value is the probability of

obtaining the observed sample results (or a more extreme result) when the null hypothesis is

actually true. It should be noted that the results of this study may not be inferred to the general

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population due to the fact that it was done internally within the call centre and also that the

sample size is one cluster (n=30).

Figure 3: Conceptual Model

Self Awareness Productivity

Self-regulation Quality Assessment

Social skills Present and Absence

Empathy

Motivation

Emotional Intelligence Job Performance

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Research Findings, Analysis, and Discussion

This research aim is to understand whether there is a correlation between the job performance

of a call centre agent and their self-assessed level of emotional intelligence. The results of this

study are very reliable as reflected by the overall high Cronbach alpha (0.8), and that of the

individual groups which ranges from 0.5 to 0.8. This means that the results are valid (Gliem

& Gliem, 2003) hence these results will allow explaining of whether there is a correlation

between the job performance of a call centre agent and their self-assessed level of emotional

intelligence.

The following sections provide the results of the demographical questionnaire, followed by a

summary of descriptive results indicating mean scores and standard deviations.

Multivariate analysis in form of Principal Component analysis was conducted to assess

information as this method allows for detailed investigation for Likert scale questions.

Descriptive Results

Figure 4: Respondents by Age group

Figure 4 indicates that more (56%) respondents were aged between 25-30 years as compared

to those who were aged 20-25 years (44%) and less than 20% who were aged above 30 years.

The mean age was 28 years, with a maximum of 46 years and a minimum of 21 years.

The following figure indicates their gender distribution.

20-25 years36%

25-30 years47%

>30 years17%

Age group

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Figure 5: Gender of the respondents

Figure 5 shows an uneven distribution of respondents, with more females (73%) interviewed

and fewer males (27%).

The following figure indicates the ethnicity of the respondents.

Figure 6: Ethnicity of respondents

The respondents were asked to identify their ethnic group, and Figure 6 indicated that the

majority of respondents were classified Black (84%), 13% Coloured and one person was

Indian (3%). There were no other races types recorded.

Male27%

Female73%

Gender of respondents

Black83%

Coloured14%

Indian3%

Ethnicity

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Figure 7: Education Attainment

Education is important human capital, and the survey sought to determine the levels of

education of the respondents. Figure 7 indicates that half of the respondents had attained a

Matric level only (50%), followed by those who had attained some College or equivalent

certificate (30%). 10% had attained university degree or equivalent, and less than 10% was

accredited to those who had attained a technikon diploma, equivalent or other.

Table 3: More social & employment characteristics

Table 3 indicates that the majority of respondents at the call centre were on contract (73.3%),

followed by those who were permanently employed (23.3%) and one which had a standby

contract (3.3%). In terms of the period of time they had worked at the call centre for, at least

half had been employed for up to 12 months (53%), followed by those who had worked for 1-

50.0

30.0

6.710.0

3.3

0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

Matric Certificate CollegeCertificate or

equivalent

TechnikonDiploma orequivalent

UniversityDegree orequivalent

Other

Education attainment

Variable Category Frequency Percent

Contract 22 73.3

Permanent 7 23.3

Stand by 1 3.3

up to 12 months 16 53.3

13-24 months 7 23.3

25 and above 7 23.3

0 7 23.3

1 17 56.7

2 4 13.3

3 2 6.7

Employment

Months of work

Dependants

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2 years (23.3%) and those who had worked for more than two years (23.3%). It also noted

that more than half the call centre agents had dependants (53.3%).

Details of Emotional Intelligence Testing

The Emotional Intelligence test had five distinct sub-constructs, constructed by grouping

questions thematically namely: self-awareness, self-regulation, self-motivation, empathy,

social skills as well as the overall score. The scores were graded according to a Likert scale

ranging from 1, “strongly disagree” to 5, “strongly agree” with the high number indicating a

greater level of emotional intelligence. The higher the percentage of those who agreed with

particular questions in the survey, the greater their emotional intelligence score was. The

following section presents the results of the five sub-constructs respectively as well as an

indication of the reliability of the results.

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Self-Awareness - Knowing Oneself

Table 4 provides the results on aspects of self-awareness and Figure 8 is a summary of mean

scores for the various items (attributes) within the self-awareness sub-construct.

Table 4: Self-Awareness – Knowing Oneself

Figure 8: Mean scores - Self-Awareness

The results indicated that the majority of respondents generally agreed that they found change

easy and were able to both adapt and initiate change without discomfort (93.3%), had a clear

understanding of their thinking style and regularly balanced intuition with analytical thinking

(86.7%) and were able to work with disagreement and conflict in a positive manner (86.7%).

Some respondents demonstrated clear recognition of their emotional feelings (76.7%) while

Strongly

disagreeDisagree Undecided Agree

Strongly

Agree

I have a sound conscious knowledge of my values and

limitation and demonstrate them in my day to day actions13.3 16.7 43.3 26.7

I have an accurate self-assessment of my strengths and

weaknesses3.3 20 23.3 36.7 16.7

I demonstrate clear recognition of my emotional feeling 13.3 10 66.7 10

I am able to and am comfortable to express my feelings

appropriately in all situations20 10 40 30

I have a clear understanding of my thinking style and regularly

balance intuition with analytical thinking13.3 60 26.7

I am able to work with disagreement and conflict in a positive

manner6.7 6.7 53.3 33.3

I find change easy and am able to both adapt and initiate

change without discomfort6.7 53.3 40

Self Awareness - Kowing Oneself

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others had a sound conscious knowledge of their values and limitation and demonstrated them

in their day to day actions (70%) and were able to express their feelings appropriately in all

situations. Only 53.3% of respondents had an accurate self-assessment of their strengths and

weaknesses.

The high levels of agreement on most of the attributes that pertain to self-awareness meant

that Emotional Intelligence was high. The implication of the result to the call centre is that we

would see a positive correlation between this aspect and their job performance because of the

call centre agents’ requirement and ability to adapt and change without discomfort. Their

strong ability to handle disagreements in a positive manner should also lead to a positive

correlation with job performance due to the fact that have to resolve calls in a positive manner

when dealing with a customer. This should increase the quality assurance measures results.

The fact that the respondents reported less agreement on issues of their accuracy in self-

assessment could imply that agents will not readily accept training in the work environment

as they are unable to accurately assess strengths and weakness and hence the need for

improvement in certain areas.

Table 5 shows the internal consistency of the seven questions that comprise this sub-construct

is 0.578, indicating reliability of the results.

Table 5: Reliability - Self regulation

Cronbach's AlphaCronbach's Alpha Based on

Standardized ItemsN of Items

0.535 0.578 7

Reliability Statistics

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Self-Regulation - Managing Oneself

Table 6 provides the results on aspects of self-regulation and Figure 9 is a summary of mean

scores for the various items (attributes) within the self-regulation sub-construct.

Table 6: Self-regulation – Managing Oneself

Figure 9: Mean scores - Self-Regulation

The vast majority of respondents felt positive that they managed and recovered from

emotional lows in a reasonable time (96.7%) and many were very aware of their ‘hot’ buttons

and understood what drives their emotions (93.3%). Call Centre agents were equally able and

Strongly


Strongly

Agree

I manage and recover from emotional lows in a reasonable time 3.3 13.3 3.3 60 20

I am able to be patient and delay immediate results/success in

order to achieve longer term goals10 10 63.3 16.7

I manage my own life style and ensure balance between the

demands of work and personal commitments3.3 56.7 40

I am flexible in my behaviour and go with the flow comfortably 10 50 40

I am very aware of my 'hot' buttons and know what drives my

emotions3.3 3.3 43.3 50

I am able and comfortable to take responsibility and be

accountable for all my actions6.7 40 53.3

I recognise and comfortably deal with 'power relations' 3.3 20 10 53.3 13.3

I listen well without judgement and am able to express myself

with clarity10 46.7 43.3

I recognise and value different points of view without pushing

my own point3.3 13.3 6.7 43.3 33.3


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comfortable to take responsibility and be accountable for all their actions (93.3%), were

flexible in their behaviours and able to go with the flow comfortably (90%) and listened well

without judgement and were able to express themselves with clarity (90%). A large number of

respondents felt that they were able to be patient and delay immediate results/success in order

to achieve longer term goals (80%) and were able to manage and recover from emotional

lows in a reasonable time (80%). The majority generally agreed that they recognised and

valued different points of view without pushing their own point (76.7%) and recognised and

comfortably dealt with 'power relations' (66.7%). These results indicate that the majority of

the respondents generally were positive about their self-regulation. The negligible proportions

of those who disagree indicate few would have low Emotional Intelligence scores in this sub-

construct (self-regulatory).

These results imply that the call centre staff at Thebe Ya Bophelo Healthcare Administrators

should be able to regulate their emotions in a socially acceptable manner as well as balance

the demands of a stressful call centre environment. This should show a positive correlation

with job performance and all its sub sections as due to reduced levels of emotional

dissonance.

Table 7 shows the internal consistency of the nine questions that comprise this subscale is

0.654, indicating the reliability of the results.

Table 7: Reliability - Self regulation



0.611 0.654 9


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Self-Motivation

The following table provides the results on aspects of self-motivation and the figure is a

summary of mean scores for the various items (attributes) within the self-motivation sub-

construct.

Table 8: Self-motivation - Determining One's Future

Figure 10: Mean scores - Self-Motivation

Surprisingly all respondents (100%) felt that they had set personal standards of excellence and

were able to motivate themselves to achieve their goals. Being optimistic in everything that

they do and seeing life as a journey with a destination was rated second highest (83.3%)

alongside having clear purpose to pursue like goals (83.3%). This is directly related to the

ability to control/manage all emotions in all situations, which was also rated second (83.3%).

Having a clear plan with development outcomes identified in order to meet my life goals

Strongly


Strongly

Agree

I have set personal standards of excellence and am able to

motivate myself to achieve56.7 43.3

I am optimistic in everything that I do and see life as a journey

with a destination6.7 10 43.3 40

I have a clear plan with development outcomes identified in

order to meet my life goals3.3 20 56.7 20

I have a clear purpose to pursue life goals 3.3 13.3 60 23.3

I am able to control/manage all my emotions in all situations 3.3 3.3 10 36.7 46.7

I have a strong sense of my own self-worth and am confident

demonstrating my capabilities3.3 20 40 36.7

Self-Motivation - Determining One's Future

4.43

4.17

3.93

4.03

4.20

4.10

3.60 3.70 3.80 3.90 4.00 4.10 4.20 4.30 4.40 4.50

I have set personal standards of…

I am optimistic in everything that I do…

I have a clear plan with development…

I have a clear purpose to pursue life…

I am able to control/manage all my…

I have a strong sense of my own self-…

Mean scores - Self Motivation

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(76.7%) and having a strong sense of own self-worth and confidently demonstrating

capabilities (76.7%) were rated third respectively.

The figure above indicates that all 6 attributes of self-motivation within the respondents

scored highly (mean score=0.4), with the highest score for personal standards of excellence.

The higher percentage of optimism and self-motivation by the respondents could imply higher

levels of emotional intelligence when linked to this sub-construct. In terms of the level of job

performance, this should improve it as call centre agents are more driven and goal orientated

which means they will strive to meet performance targets. This is apparent in their

productivity scores where only three call centre agents scored less than 38% out of a total of

40% for the objective productivity scores.

The aforementioned results are reliable as shown by the internal consistency (0.678) of the six

attributes (items) of self-motivation.

Table 9: Reliability - Self Motivation



0.654 0.678 6


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Empathy

Table 10 provides the results on aspects of empathy and Figure 11 is a summary of mean

scores for the various items (attributes) within the empathy sub-construct.

Table 10: Empathy – Understanding Others

Figure 11: Mean scores - Empathy

The vast majority of respondents felt that they were comfortable to maintain standards of

honesty and integrity in their behaviour (90%), believed everyone can develop and regularly

coach and encourage others (83.3%), and could sense and recognise others' feelings, emotions

and perceptions (80%). Two thirds (66.7%) of respondents believed reading and recognising

group dynamics was important and similarly (66.7%) believed that they were continuously

Strongly


Strongly

Agree

I accurately read and recognise group dynamics 6.7 26.7 60 6.7

I believe everyone can develop and regularly coach and

encourage others6.7 10 40 43.3

I sense and recognise others feelings, emotions and perceptions 6.7 13.3 50 30

I recognise and comfortably deal with 'power relations' 10 30 50 10

I continuously work on developing my limitations 13.3 20 40 26.7

I am comfortable to maintain standards of honesty and integrity

in my behaviour3.3 6.7 63.3 26.7

Empathy - Understanding Others

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working on developing their limitations. The least rated factor was recognition and

comfortably dealing with 'power relations' (60%).

The results showed that most respondents had positive feelings about being empathetic at a

call centre. This could be considered a counterproductive factor in the productivity aspect of

job performance due to call durations being extended as call centre agents empathise with the

client. However, the quality assurance measurement relies on a certain level of empathy to

ensure the customer is dealt with according to their mood at the time of the call as well as a

level of empathy being required to interact with other employees within the call centre who

are required for call resolution in order to engage with them appropriately.

The above results are reliable as shown by the internal consistency (0.673) of the six

attributes (items) of empathy.

Table 11: Reliability - Empathy



0.67 0.673 6


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Social skills

Table 12 provides the results on aspects of social skills and Figure 13 is a summary of mean

scores for the various items (attributes) within the social skill sub-construct.

Table 12: Social skills - Interacting with Others

Figure 12: Mean scores - Social Skills

The attributes pertaining to social skills that were rated highly were: (i) being able to

collaborate and work with all other people in the pursuit of common goals (96.7%), and (ii)

leading through respect, inspiration and guidance (90%). The second highest rated attribute

was being comfortable in delegating and empowering others with authority and responsibility

(83.35) and regularly recognising and responding to opportunities (80.0%). Third, were the

factors of believing in others to achieve unity in diversity whilst dealing with stereotype

Strongly


Strongly

Agree

I am able to collaborate and work with all other people in the

pursuit of common goals3.3 36.7 60

I lead through: respect, inspiration and guidance 6.7 3.3 53.3 36.7

I am comfortable delegating and empowering others with

authority and responsibility3.3 13.3 50 33.3

I regularly recognise and respond to opportunities 3.3 3.3 13.3 50 30

My belief in others is to achieve unity in diversity whilst dealing

with stereotype behaviours3.3 13.3 6.7 26.7 50

I am comfortable in handling emotions in relationships without

being drawn in13.3 13.3 46.7 26.7

I am able to persuade and influence others with conviction that

they follow my direction23.3 13.3 46.7 16.7

Social skills - Interacting with Others

- 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0

I am comfortable delegating and…

I am able to collaborate and work with all…

I am able to persuade and influence others…

I lead through: respect, inspiration and…

I am comfortable in handling emotions in…

I regularly recognise and respond to…

My belief in others is to achieve unity in…

Mean scores - Social Skills

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behaviours (76.7%) and being comfortable in handling emotions in relationships without

being drawn in (73.3%). Least rated was the factor of being able to persuade and influence

others with conviction that they follow your direction (63.3%). These results have far

reaching implications in terms of social skills, especially that the respondents valued

collaboration and working for a common goal most, which is a catalyst for better job

performance.

The mean scores indicate that most of the attributes of social skills are regarded highly (a sign

of high emotional intelligence? - mean score 4.0) and the lowest score (3.60 which is the

lowest rated. Being able to collaborate and work with other people in pursuit of common

goals is rated highest (mean score=4.5). The ability to persuade and influence others to follow

one’s direction is the lowest rated and should not be surprising in an environment that seems

to rate job performance highly. The implication of the results on social skills of the

respondents in relation to job performance is that being influential in a social setting will

improve job performance as people will be more collaborative and helpful in the work setting.

The Cronbach's Alpha coefficient indicates that the above results are reliable and that the

seven questions (items) have internal consistency (were asked in a consistent way).

Table 13: Reliability – Social Skills

Summary

In summary, the results are reliable and all point to positive attitude of respondents in all the

five sub-constructs. They seem (coincidentally) tend to generally agree on all issues of

Emotional Intelligence, results which cannot be disputed since they are reliable. Different sub

dimensions have one aspect that the respondents valued highly, being able and comfortable to

take responsibility and be accountable for all actions (self-regulation), finding changes easy

and being able to both adapt and initiate change without discomfort (self-awareness), having

set personal standards of excellence and being able to motivate oneself to achieve common

goals (self-motivation), the value and belief that everyone can develop and regularly coach

and encourage others (empathy) and being able to collaborate and work with all other people

in pursuit of common goals is rated highest (social skills).



.724 .729 7


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Correlations

Correlations are conducted to establish if there are associations or relationships between

certain variables. The following section seeks to examine if there is any correlation between

emotional intelligence and its sub constructs with job performance and the three categories of

job performance namely, productivity, quality assurance measurement and presence and

absence.

Correlation between Job Performance and Emotional Intelligence

The Table 14 shows the correlations between job performance and emotional intelligence and

its five sub-constructs.

Table 14 Job performance and Emotional Intelligence

Table 14 indicates that there are positive weak correlations between job performance and

Emotional Intelligence, and the five sub-constructs. Social skills have the most association

(0.226) however, the associations are not significant (p<0.1) at 5% and 10% levels; this

means the relationship is not reliable and cannot be used to make predictions. The results are

useful in informing the direction of the relationship, and to determine which factors correlate

highly and which are important in terms of improving on weak areas pertaining to Emotional

Intelligence and job performance. The Pearson correlation coefficient for the job performance

and Emotional Intelligence is also weak, implying weak association. These results however,

imply that as emotional intelligence and the 5 sub constructs increases in the workplace, the

job performance as measured by its three categories also improves.

Correlation between Productivity and Emotional Intelligence

The following table shows relationships between Productivity in the call centre and

Emotional Intelligence.

Self-

Awareness

(Q5)

Self-

Regulation

(Q6)

Self-

Motivation

(Q7)

Empathy

(Q8)

Social Skills

(Q9)

Emotional

Intelligence

(Q1)

Pearson

Correlation0.206 0.109 0.165 0.216 0.226 0.235

Sig. (2-tailed) 0.276 0.565 0.384 0.251 0.23 0.211

Job Performance

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Table 15: Productivity and Emotional Intelligence

Table 15 indicates that overall Emotional Intelligence has very weak association with

Productivity at the call centre, results which are not statistically significant at either 10%

(p<0.1) and 5% (p<0.05) levels. The results are useful in providing the direction of

association: social skills have the most positive association (0.15) with Productivity, implying

that social skills have the potential to increase Productivity. Empathy has a negative

association with Productivity (-0.14), results which can be expected since empathy may lead

to longer call durations, and hence affect productivity negatively as it is predominantly a time

based measure.

Correlation between the Quality Assurance Measurement (QA) and Emotional

Intelligence

The following table shows relationships between the quality assurance measurement and in

the call centre and Emotional Intelligence and its five sub-constructs.

Table 16: Quality Assurance Measurement (QA) and Emotional Intelligence

Table 16 indicates that all factors of Emotional Intelligence are positively correlated with the

quality assurance measurement, but with no significant association at 10% (p<0.1) and 5%

(p<0.05) respectively. This means that the results are not reliable and may not be interpreted,

and hence it can be concluded that Emotional Intelligence dimensions has little to do with the

quality assurance measurement however, the results give a direction of the possible

associations which are important in interventions. While Emotional Intelligence is the weakly

associated with the quality assurance measurement; the data supports the correlation that as

emotional intelligence scores increase, so does the quality assurance measurement, with

Self-

Awareness

(Q10)

Self-

Regulation

(Q11)

Self-

Motivation

(Q12)

Empathy

(Q13)

Social Skills

(Q14)

Emotional

Intelligence

(Q2)

Pearson

Correlation0.045 0.019 0.012 -0.138 0.157 0.029

Sig. (2-tailed) 0.812 0.92 0.948 0.466 0.407 0.88

Productivity

Self-

Awareness

(Q15)

Self-

Regulation

(Q16)

Self-

Motivation

(Q17)

Empathy

(Q18)

Social Skills

(Q19)

Emotional

Intelligence

(Q3)

Pearson

Correlation0.054 0.072 0.069 0.297 0.054 0.14

Sig. (2-tailed) 0.775 0.706 0.717 0.111 0.776 0.462

QA

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empathy having the highest correlation coefficient meaning that as empathy increases among

the call centre agents, quality assurance measurement also increases, a result that can be

explained by how the call centre agents are scored subjectively with regards to how they

make use of the appropriate probing questions and display active listening skills which are all

akin to those who demonstrate good empathy skills.

Correlation between Presence and Absence measurement and Emotional Intelligence

The following table shows relationships between the presence and absence measurement in

the call centre and Emotional Intelligence and its five sub-constructs.

Table 17: Presence and Absence (P&A) and total Emotional Intelligence

Table 17 indicates that there is a positive correlation with P&A throughout all the five

dimensions of Emotional Intelligence. The highest positive correlation, though weak is

between average P&A and empathy (0.335), meaning that as empathy increases P&A

attributes also increase. A similar trend is visible for self-awareness (0.206) and self-

motivation (0.267).

These results could be explained by the fact that presence and absence relates to people being

available for a call which then spreads the work load and the ability to make required target of

the team which is a responsibility of all the call centre staff as no bonus payments will be paid

without this initial target being reached. Because this requires a group effort, call centre

agents empathise with each other as being part of the struggle and the self-awareness required

to know that you are part of this team and are required to do your part forms part of the self-

motivation aspect.

Self-regulation and social skills have the weakest associations with average P&A meaning

that a slight positive change in self-regulation aspects of the respondents will likely result in a

in any significant positive change in P&A.

It is worth mentioning that only empathy aspect is statistically significant at 10% level in

associating with P&A (p<0.1), and the rest are not. The implication of these results is that as

empathy skills increase we will see a greater improvement in the presence and absence

measurement of the call centre.

Self-

Awareness

(Q20)

Self-

Regulation

(Q21)

Self-

Motivation

(Q22)

Empathy

(Q23)

Social Skills

(Q24)

Emotional

Intelligence

(Q4)

Pearson

Correlation0.206 0.005 0.267 0.335 0.109 0.222

Sig. (2-tailed) 0.274 0.979 0.153 0.071 0.566 0.239

P&A

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The overall Emotional Intelligence is positively associated with average P&A, indicating that

as total Emotional Intelligence increases, P&A also does the same, implying that increase the

emotional intelligence of staff in the call centre will result in lower levels of absenteeism and

late coming.

Summary of Correlations between Emotional Intelligence and job performance

categories

The following table provides a summary of the associations of various categories of job

performance and Emotional Intelligence

Table 18: Summary of correlations

The summary of results in Table 18, indicate that there are generally positive associations

between Emotional Intelligence and QA, P&A, Productivity and job performance. The

positive associations, though weak and not statistically significant at both 10% (p<0.1) and

5% (p<0.05), inform that as Emotional Intelligence increases, there is also an improvement in

job performance (0.235), and Productivity, P&A as well as QA which supports earlier studies

done on this subject matter.

For information purposes, further inter item correlations below indicate that there is a

negative correlation between QA and Productivity (-0.269), however, the results are not

statistically significant at 10% (p<0.01) and 5% (p<0.05) levels respectively. The negative

association means that Productivity in the call centre may be negatively affected by a positive

change in QA.

This result could be explained by the study done by a study done by Robinson & Morley

(2006) which noted this trade-off and how, depending on the requirements of the company

and the subsequent remuneration structure, employees will forgo the one performance

measure for the other. It is very seldom that companies are able to achieve both levels of

performance for sustained periods.

QA P&A ProductivityJob

Performance

Pearson

Correlation0.14 0.222 0.029 0.235

Sig. (2-tailed) 0.462 0.239 0.88 0.211

N 30 30 30 30

Emotional

Intelligence

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Further results indicate that there is a positive correlation between QA and P&A (0.341),

meaning that a positive change QA may lead to some positive change in P&A, facts that can

be explained by possibly by how the performance remuneration is structured however it is not

clear at this point why there is a positive correlation.

Table 19: QA vs. Productivity and P&A

Summary

Most of the results in this section are not statistically significant at both 10% (p<0.1) and 5%

(p<0.05). However, they do tell a story with regards to the direction of association, which is

important in terms of workplace improvement.

The insignificance may be due to the small sample size (n=30). Furthermore, insignificance

could be due to the fact that Emotional Intelligence dimensions are computations of several

aspects (attributes) which could individually associate with QA, P&A, Productivity, and job

performance. To further test these relationships and to establish if a relationship exists

between the sub-sections of Emotional Intelligence (self-awareness, self-regulation etc.) with

other aspects tested in correlations, the following section employs more robust inferential

(multivariate) tests.

Multivariate analysis

This dissertations aim is to understand to understanding whether there is a correlation

between the job performance of a call centre agent and their self-assessed level of emotional

intelligence. Confirmatory factor analysis was applied in order to determine the relationship

between the sub sections of the respondents’ Emotional Intelligence (self-awareness, self-

regulation etc.) with their job performance overall to discover if there are particular factors

within the five sub-constructs which have a stronger influence on job performance than

others. This method is justified for this purpose since it reduces the many variables to a more

manageable number, in this case the analysis revealed the presence of components with

eigenvalues exceeding 1. All the tables in this section show factor loadings, percentage of

Production P&A

Pearson

Correlation-0.269 0.341

Sig. (2-tailed) 0.15 0.065

Correlations

QA

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variance, and valid eigenvalues (those with eigenvalues which were less than 1 were

discarded).

Self-awareness and overall job performance

Table 20 is a representation of the association between the factors of self-awareness and job

performance which have the highest eigenvalues along with their percentage variance,

cumulative percentage and factor loadings.

Table 20: Self-awareness and overall job performance

These results indicate that that there are 3 out of 7 factors of self-awareness that influence job

performance (eigenvalues greater than 1). They explain 68.6% of the variation in job

performance. Finding change easy and being able to both adapt and initiate change without

discomfort accounts for most of the variation (35.3%) in job performance. This is followed by

the ability to work with disagreement and conflict in a positive manner (18.55) and lastly

having an accurate self-assessment of my strengths and weaknesses (14.75). The two highest

acknowledge the findings of the literature review in that the call centre agents take a varying

degree of calls from irate to happy customers and therefore their ability to switch and adapt to

the different calls should see an improvement in their job performance as well as the ability to

deal with conflict from the irate callers.

The implication of these results is that we should improve self-awareness training by

concentrating on these aspects to have the greatest impact on job performance in the call

centre environment in this specific context. This is another avenue for future research.

Total% of

Variance

Cumulative

%

I find change easy and am able to both

adapt and initiate change without

discomfort

2.474 35.338 35.338 0.858

I am able to work with disagreement

and conflict in a positive manner1.294 18.485 53.822 0.849

I have an accurate self-assessment of

my strengths and weaknesses1.032 14.74 68.562 0.704

Factor

loadings

Total Variance Explained

Initial EigenvaluesSelf-awareness and overall

job performance

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Self-regulation and job satisfaction

Table 21 is a representation of the association between the factors of self-regulation and job



Table 21: Self-regulation and job satisfaction

These results indicate that that there are 3 out of 9 factors of self-regulation that influence job

performance (eigenvalues greater than 1). They explain 62.1% of the total variation in job

performance. Managing one’s own lifestyle and ensuring balance between the demands of

work and personal commitments has the highest factor loadings (0.751), meaning it is the

most crucial factor of job performance in this dimension of self-regulation. This is followed

by awareness of one’s 'hot' buttons and knowing what drives their emotions (0.7), and being

able to manage and recover from emotional lows in a reasonable time (0.66).

With regards to overall job performance, these results imply that that managing one’s life

style is key to improved performance as it is with any job. Being aware of one’s “ hot”

buttons is also key with regards to regulating yourself while on a phone call with a customer

as it helps you to maintain a level of calm despite the customer being irate and upset.

Recovering from emotional lows is also crucial to call centre work where call centre agents

need to recover quickly from difficult calls to take the next waiting call.

Total% of

Variance

Cumulative

%

I manage my own life style and ensure

balance between the demands of work

and personal commitments

2.639 29.323 29.323 0.751

I am very aware of my 'hot' buttons

and know what drives my emotions1.541 17.119 46.442 0.7

I manage and recover from emotional

lows in a reasonable time1.408 15.646 62.088 0.656

Self-regulation and job

performacne


Initial Eigenvalues Factor

loadings

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Self-motivation and overall job performance

Table 22 is a representation of the association between the factors of self-motivation and job



Table 22: Self-motivation and overall job performance

These results indicate that that there are 3 out of 7 factors of motivation that influence job

performance (eigenvalues greater than 1). They explain 69.9% of the total variation in overall

job performance. Having a clear plan with development outcomes identified in order to meet

own life goals has twice the impact on job performance (37.9% of total variance explained),

as the other two factors. Having a clear purpose to pursue life goals (16.8%) and having a

strong sense of own self-worth and confidence in demonstrating capabilities (15.2%) have

almost similar influence in respondents overall in job performance.

These results imply that for call centre agents to remain motivated they need to have clear and

distinct career paths for them to strive towards as this will give them a sense of purpose.

Possible guidelines regarding the testing of abilities should be developed for them to prove

their abilities and grow in confidence. This will help improve their sense of self-worth as they

able demonstrate their capabilities and proficiencies to their peers.

Total% of

Variance

Cumulative

%

I have a clear plan with development

outcomes identified in order to meet my

life goals

2.654 37.917 37.917 0.799

I have a clear purpose to pursue life

goals1.18 16.857 54.774 0.796

I have a strong sense of my own self-

worth and am confident demonstrating

my capabilities

1.064 15.201 69.975 0.63



loadings

Self motivation and overall

job performance

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Empathy and overall job performance

Table 23 is a representation of the association between the factors of empathy and job



Table 23: Empathy and overall job performance

These results indicate that that there are 2 out of 6 factors of empathy that influence job


job performance. Continuously work on developing their own limitations has the higher

loading (0,790) and explains 38.7% of the variation in job performance. Accurately reading

and recognising group dynamics explains 21.3% of the total variation and has a lower factor

loading (0.736).

This implies that in terms of job performance, being able to constantly develop your

limitations would improve job performance which does indeed seem logical. The ability to

read and recognise group dynamics can be closely linked to the interaction between other

departments and the call centre and how recognising group dynamics and hence address the

situation appropriately would see an increase in job performance as the other departments

begin to improve their working relationships with their call centre colleagues.

Total% of

Variance

Cumulative

%

I continuously work on developing my

limitations2.323 38.722 38.722 0.79

I accurately read and recognise group

dynamics1.28 21.335 60.057 0.736



loadings

Empathy and overall job

performance

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Social skills and overall job performance

Table 24 is a representation of the association between the factors of social skills and job



Table 24: Social skills and overall job performance

These results indicate that that there are 3 out of 7 factors of social skills that influence job


job performance. Being comfortable in delegating and empowering others with authority and

responsibility has the highest influence on job performance in the social skills dimension.

This personal attribute explains most (40.6%) of the variation and has the highest factor

loadings (0.812). Regularly recognising and responding to opportunities and being able to

collaborate and work with all other people in the pursuit of common goals both account for

31% of the variation in overall job performance.

These results imply that improving team work and team work skills will improve the job

performance of the call centre employees as it will help with those who feel comfortable with

delegating and empowering others as well as foster an environment of collaboration.

Total% of

Variance

Cumulative

%

I am comfortable delegating and

empowering others with authority and

responsibility

2.847 40.677 40.677 0.812

I regularly recognise and respond to

opportunities1.169 16.693 57.37 0.789

I am able to collaborate and work with

all other people in the pursuit of

common goals

1.01 14.432 71.802 0.717


loadings

Social skills and overall job

performance


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Demographic and Social factors and overall job performance

Demographic and social factors may play a crucial role in influencing overall job

performance. Table 25 indicates these results.

Table 25: Demographics and Job Performance

These results indicate that that there are 3 out of 6 demographic factors that influence job

performance (eigenvalues greater than 1). They explain 65.9 % of the total variation in overall

job performance. The age of the respondents has the greatest influence on job performance

(29% of total variation explained) than education (22%) and ethnicity (15%).

Having more matured personnel at the call centre (64% are greater than 25 years old) could

imply that they are able to relate better with the clientele of this particular medical aid scheme

administrator.

The influence of ethnicity could also have a bearing on performance as it helps make the

interaction between the call centre agent and the customer easier because of common cultural

aspects and similar dialects.

Having some education up to matric has a positive impact on job performance, a fact possibly

explained by the presence of matric among all employees, and that this type of work at the

call centre in a health care system requires a minimum of matric. The presence of a Matric is

also evidence of a predisposition to learning which is required as the knowledge content of

work is quite difficult.

Total% of

Variance

Cumulative

%

Age 2.293 28.665 28.665 0.819

Education 1.748 21.85 50.515 0.795

Ethnicity 1.233 15.417 65.932 0.79


Initial EigenvaluesComponent

Factor

loadings

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Summary

Descriptive results are reliable and all point to positive attitude of respondents in all the five

sub-constructs of emotional intelligence. They seem (coincidentally) to generally agree on all

issues of Emotional Intelligence, results which cannot be disputed since they are reliable.

Different sub-constructs have one aspect that the respondents valued highly, being able and

comfortable to take responsibility and be accountable for all actions (self-regulation), finding

changes easy and being able to both adapt and initiate change without discomfort (self-

awareness), having set personal standards of excellence and being able to motivate oneself

to achieve common goals (self-motivation), the value and belief that everyone can develop

and regularly coach and encourage others (empathy) and being able to collaborate and work

with all other people in pursuit of common goals is rated highest (social skills).

Multivariate analyses through the Principal Component Analysis results indicate the relative

importance of the different factors of Emotional Intelligence in relation to overall job

performance, P&A, Productivity as well as QA. The Cronbach's Alpha coefficient indicates

that the above results are reliable and that the questions (items) have internal consistency

(were asked in a consistent way). The following are the results from the multivariate analysis.

Social skills seem to be the most important aspect of job performance, followed by self-

awareness followed by self-regulation, followed by self-motivation and lastly empathy. This

order of importance means that social skills play the biggest role/contribute most to what

happens at the call centre in terms of job performance. In terms of policy, these results imply

that more resources should be allocated to develop more social skills at the call centre in order

to enhance productivity.

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When we do the factor analysis we find that the following table represent the questions in the

questionnaire with the highest eigenvalues:

Table 26: Top Eigenvalue scores

Two of these factors speak to planning and how development and is key to job performance

while the others speak to self-leadership and mastery which speaks to self-motivation and

self-regulation. This somewhat contradicts the findings that Social Skills could have the

biggest influence on job performance. Additional research is required as to why this is the

case and will be added to the further research section.

Lastly, empathy seems to have the least impact on job performance, and the only dimension

which is negative with regards to productivity which brings to the fore the literature review

and the difficulty manages faces when chasing targets which are opposing measures.

Additional research is required as to how to develop a job performance metric which

mitigates this opposing ideals and will be added to the further research section.

Total% of

Variance

Cumulative

%

I manage my own life style and ensure

balance between the demands of work

and personal commitments

2.639 29.323 29.323 0.751

I find change easy and am able to both

adapt and initiate change without

discomfort

2.474 35.338 35.338 0.858



life goals

2.654 37.917 37.917 0.799

I continuously work on developing my

limitations2.323 38.722 38.722 0.79

I am comfortable delegating and

empowering others with authority and

responsibility

2.847 40.677 40.677 0.812



life goals

2.431 40.516 40.516 0.865

Emotional Intelligence and

Job Performance



loadings

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In line with the objectives of this study, these results mean that the questions were answered

as per the table below:

Table 27: Questions and Answers summary

No.

Q1

A1

Q2

A2

Q3

A3

Q4

A4

Q5

A5

Q6

A6

Q7

A7

Q8

A8

Q9

A9

Q10

A10

Research Questions and Answers

Statistically the relationship is positive but weak and not significant








What is the relationship between emotional intelligence and job performance in Thebe Ya

Bophelo Healthcare Administrators call centre staff in the given context?

What is the relationship between emotional intelligence and the productivity of call centre


What is the relationship between emotional intelligence and the presence and absence of call


What is the relationship between emotional intelligence and the quality assurance

measure of the call centre staff in the given context?

What is the relationship between self-awareness and the productivity of call centre staff in the

given context?

What is the relationship between social skills and the job performance of call centre staff in

the given context?

What is the relationship between empathy and the job performance of call centre staff in the

given context?

What is the relationship between self-motivation and the job performance of call centre staff

in the given context?

What is the relationship between self-regulation and the job performance of call centre staff


What is the relationship between self-awareness and the job performance of call centre staff


Statistically the relationship is positive but wek and not significant

Statistically the relationship is positive but very weak and not significant

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No.

Q11

A11

Q12

A12

Q13

A13

Q14

A14

Q15

A15

Q16

A16

Q17

A17

Q18

A18

Q19

A19

Q20

A20


Statistically the relationship is negative but weak and not significant


Strongest positive association however






What is the relationship between self-regulation and the quality assurance measurement of


What is the relationship between self-awareness and the quality assurance measurement of


Statistically the relationship is positive but weak and more significant



What is the relationship between self-awareness and the presence and absence of call centre


What is the relationship between social skills and the quality assurance measurement of call


What is the relationship between empathy and the quality assurance measurement of call


What is the relationship between self-motivation and the quality assurance measurement of


What is the relationship between social skills and the productivity of call centre staff in the

given context?

What is the relationship between empathy and the productivity of call centre staff in the given

context?

What is the relationship between self-motivation and the productivity of call centre staff in the

given context?

What is the relationship between self-regulation and the productivity of call centre staff in the

given context?

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Limitations of Research

Due to the time limits and constraints, the researcher will be unable to apply the findings of

the research to more than one call centre. The group being tested may not be a good

representative sample of all the call centres in the medical aid scheme administration industry

in South Africa and hence the outcome of the study may not be true for all call centres in this

industry.

Other limitations arose due to the fact that the test is a self-assessment test of the call centre

agent’s own thoughts and opinion of themselves, therefore being subjective and not objective,

they could possibly, incorrectly, analyse their own competencies.

Another short coming is that the job performance appraisal of the call centre agent has a

subjective element to it which lowers the reliability of the measure. The metrics of job

performance is also specific to the company in question and therefore replication of this

research in other call centres could be difficult as their metrics could be either different or the

weights applied to the various elements could be different, possibly changing the outcome of

the performance ratings.

No.

Q21

A21

Q22

A22

Q23

A23

Q24

A24

Q25

A25


See text for further detail.

Which factors of the sub-constructs using Multivariate analysis to obtain which factors have

the greatest influence on the results?

What is the relationship between social skills and the presence and absence of call centre


What is the relationship between empathy and the presence and absence of call centre staff


What is the relationship between self-motivation and the presence and absence of call centre


What is the relationship between self-regulation and the presence and absence of call centre




Statistically the relationship is positive but weak and significant

Strongest positive association however


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Conclusion

With the call centre industry experiencing continued growth (Wayde & Rogerson, 2014) there

has been continued pressure on existing call centres to stay relevant by improving

performance, reducing costs while still maintaining exceptional levels of customer service.

In line with this, the greatest expense and asset of any call centre is its people. The

performance of a call centre is reliant on the performance of the people who operate the

phones. Significant improvement of all three factors, cost, performance and customer service

can be achieved if the call centre agent is the focal point.

The research arose with the call centre agent in mind and how their performance could be

improved. Emotional intelligence was chosen as the starting point which in turn led to the

question of whether emotional intelligence has an influence on job performance. This was the

basis of this study and following the literature review it was noted that there were sufficient

areas which had not been addressed by previous research to make this research viable while

adding to the current body of knowledge regarding emotional intelligence, call centre

management and human resource management and human capital improvements.

Previous studies had proven a positive correlation between emotional intelligence and job

performance however none had addressed them in this particular detail before or in the

particular context of a medical aid scheme administrator in South Africa.

The study was quantitative and made use of a self-assessment ITISA questionnaire which was

based on the Goleman (1998) to measure the emotional intelligence of the call centre agents.

The job performance information was supplied by the company in question and these were

used in the statistical analysis.

The statistical analysis made use of correlations analysis and multivariate analysis to draw

correlations between the factors of the study. The significant relationships were then analysed

and discussed and made use of to answer the research questions and give insight into further

research directions.

The main findings highlighted relationships between emotional intelligence, the 5 sub-

constructs as well as their factors with job performance and its three categories. The

relationship between emotional intelligence and job performance was found to be positive

however, not statistically significant.

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Future Research Directions

The research was conducted at a particular call centre in the medical aid scheme industry

sector which is not a prominent industry in South Africa. The sample size was small and

hence findings were not generalizable. Further research is needed in the industry of more than

one call centre with a larger population size to make results generalizable.

This particular call centre used specific job performance requirements which are unique to it

so hence the categories and their weighting are unique as well which means the results are not

generalizable. Further research needs to be conducted on the job performance criteria of a call

centre in this particular industry so that a questionnaire can be created to allow job

performance levels of the call centre agents to be measured. These can then be used in a study

to measure the emotional intelligence and job performance of call centre agents for the

industry. This logic can then be applied to other industries which have call centres as well.

In addition to the above, the standard must look at reducing the inherent opposition between

the quality assurance measurement and the productivity measurement within the call centre

environment by possibly rating and scoring specific call different depending on whether

certain calls require additional time to calm and irate customer for instance. These calls

should possibly be factored differently and exclude the productivity element from them.

This research used a Goleman derived test for measuring the emotional intelligence of call

centre agents which other studies did not. All other studies noted in this study made use

different tests and factor analysis would yield different results in terms of the factors which

are relevant to improved job performance. Further research (meta-analysis) must be done on

all the findings of previous research to model which factors were found to be the largest

predictor of job performance improvement and make recommendations based on those

findings if at all possible.

Finally further studies can be done on the factors in this report with the highest eigenvalues in

terms of the effect they will have on the emotional intelligence and subsequent job

performance in a call centre environment is required as possibly the biggest gains are to be

had by improving them.

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Appendix A: Job Performance

Agent’s names are hidden for privacy reasons

Copyright UCT

69

PR

OD

QA

P&

A

NA

ME

SFi

na

lFi

na

lFi

na

l

Ph

ind

ile

44%

35%

19.4

%7%

2.3%

96%

TL40

%35

%19

.3%

10%

3.3%

91%

Mo

se

le42

%37

%19

.0%

12%

4.0%

94%

WK

1W

K 2

WK

3W

K 4

WK

5Fi

na

lW

K 1

WK

2W

K 3

WK

4W

K 5

Fin

al

Hid

de

n11

4%97

%12

5%13

4%11

9%47

%93

%82

%93

%94

%91

%36

%90

%18

%2%

99%

Hid

de

n

Hid

de

n93

%98

%81

%10

0%10

6%38

%97

%84

%96

%10

0%96

%38

%95

%19

%1%

94%

Hid

de

n

Hid

de

n90

%10

4%99

%10

1%98

%39

%92

%89

%90

%89

%99

%37

%10

0%20

%96

%H

idd

en

Hid

de

nA

L11

4%68

%84

%11

0%38

%91

%89

%95

%97

%99

%38

%10

0%20

%95

%H

idd

en

Hid

de

nFF

100%

96%

98%

100%

39%

80%

76%

94%

94%

82%

34%

98%

20%

1%92

%H

idd

en

Hid

de

n12

0%12

9%93

%13

4%12

9%48

%85

%98

%92

%80

%80

%35

%95

%19

%1%

101%

Hid

de

n

Hid

de

n10

0%91

%11

2%12

8%11

7%44

%87

%94

%90

%96

%92

%37

%98

%20

%1%

99%

Hid

de

n

Hid

de

n95

%10

5%10

4%11

3%11

1%42

%91

%79

%93

%94

%94

%36

%98

%20

%98

%H

idd

en

Hid

de

n96

%11

4%94

%78

%97

%38

%89

%81

%91

%78

%98

%35

%10

0%20

%93

%H

idd

en

Hid

de

nM

LM

LM

LM

LM

LM

LM

LM

LM

LM

LM

LM

LM

LM

LM

LM

LH

idd

en

Hid

de

n10

6%A

L10

6%95

%-

41%

98%

AL

90%

100%

93%

38%

100%

20%

99%

Hid

de

n

Hid

de

n99

%98

%10

2%12

0%12

1%43

%88

%97

%91

%91

%95

%37

%95

%19

%99

%H

idd

en

Hid

de

n13

1%11

9%12

3%14

1%80

%48

%86

%95

%93

%83

%88

%36

%97

%19

%1%

101%

Hid

de

n

Hid

de

n91

%10

3%10

9%11

5%11

4%43

%94

%97

%87

%99

%94

%38

%98

%20

%1%

99%

Hid

de

n

Hid

de

n10

2%10

5%11

7%14

0%14

5%49

%92

%86

%97

%95

%90

%37

%10

0%20

%10

5%H

idd

en

Hid

de

n94

%87

%79

%95

%83

%35

%89

%90

%97

%98

%92

%37

%10

0%20

%92

%H

idd

en

Hid

de

nS

117%

97%

118%

116%

45%

96%

92%

88%

97%

88%

37%

80%

16%

5%93

%H

idd

en

Hid

de

n10

4%98

%11

6%10

0%11

2%42

%80

%84

%90

%89

%93

%35

%10

0%20

%97

%H

idd

en

Hid

de

n10

1%10

9%89

%95

%95

%39

%87

%93

%89

%83

%89

%35

%94

%19

%1%

92%

Hid

de

n

Hid

de

n10

5%12

4%10

4%95

%97

%42

%92

%93

%98

%99

%98

%38

%10

0%20

%10

0%H

idd

en

Hid

de

n10

9%10

3%11

4%-

-43

%79

%57

%75

%A

L88

%30

%10

0%20

%93

%H

idd

en

Hid

de

n10

8%11

2%10

6%90

%93

%41

%96

%99

%98

%98

%93

%39

%95

%19

%1%

97%

Hid

de

n

Hid

de

n11

7%99

%84

%10

1%-

40%

69%

94%

90%

87%

90%

34%

88%

18%

1%91

%H

idd

en

Hid

de

n10

5%12

4%94

%92

%83

%40

%79

%92

%94

%93

%92

%36

%95

%19

%95

%H

idd

en

Hid

de

n11

3%90

%10

8%98

%98

%41

%10

0%95

%99

%97

%10

0%39

%98

%20

%1%

98%

Hid

de

n

Hid

de

n88

%80

%46

%11

8%87

%34

%85

%88

%97

%98

%93

%37

%10

0%20

%90

%H

idd

en

Hid

de

n11

4%10

3%99

%14

1%11

9%46

%96

%98

%87

%99

%95

%38

%10

0%20

%10

4%H

idd

en

Hid

de

n88

%12

1%12

3%16

8%12

7%50

%72

%56

%81

%93

%93

%32

%93

%19

%2%

98%

Hid

de

n

Hid

de

n86

%10

2%93

%10

3%10

5%39

%78

%87

%77

%95

%97

%35

%91

%18

%3%

89%

Hid

de

n

Hid

de

n11

1%10

7%-

--

44%

72%

79%

--

-30

%83

%17

%2%

88%

Hid

de

n

Hid

de

n10

4%11

3%10

8%11

3%11

7%44

%10

0%69

%86

%92

%86

%35

%10

0%20

%99

%H

idd

en

Hid

de

n98

%82

%87

%10

3%88

%37

%79

%93

%83

%85

%90

%34

%98

%20

%1%

90%

Hid

de

n

Hid

de

n12

6%10

3%11

2%11

7%11

7%46

%82

%65

%90

%91

%94

%34

%97

%19

%1%

98%

Hid

de

n

Hid

de

n10

3%99

%-

--

40%

84%

81%

61%

--

30%

94%

19%

1%88

%H

idd

en

Hid

de

n89

%12

1%11

8%12

0%12

2%46

%70

%75

%83

%86

%70

%31

%93

%19

%2%

93%

Hid

de

n

Hid

de

n82

%90

%98

%96

%10

5%38

%92

%87

%97

%93

%98

%37

%10

0%20

%95

%H

dd

en

YR

FIN

AL

SCO

RE

Ho

sme

d S

LAT

he

be

Me

d S

LA

81

%9

5%

SL M

ET

ON

BO

TH

QU

EU

ES

TE

AM

LEA

DE

RN

AM

ES

FIN

AL

PR

OD

UC

TIV

ITY

SC

OR

EP

& A

SCO

RE

YFI

NA

L

SCO

RE

QA

SC

OR

E

96

%

91

%

94

%

88

%8

9%

90

%9

1%

92

%9

3%

94

%9

5%

96

%9

7%

Ph

ind

ileTL

Mo

sele

TOP

TE

AM

LE

AD

ER

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70

Appendix B: Demographic Questionnaire

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71

Demographic Questionnaire

Thank you for completing the survey below. This questionnaire is for the sole purpose of research and

is in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Business Administration at the

University of Cape Town, Graduate School of Business.

You were specifically chosen for the research is regarding the emotional intelligence and job

performance of call centre staff, in particular the Thebe Ya Bophelo Healthcare Administrators

Inbound Call Centre.

This research has been approved by the University of Cape Town Commerce Faculty Ethics in

Research Committee. Your participation in this research is voluntary. You can choose to withdraw

from the research at any time.

The questionnaire will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. Your time to complete the survey

has been preapproved by your management team.

Due to the nature of the study you will need to provide the researchers with some form of identifiable

information however, all responses will be confidential and used for the purposes of this research only.

By completing the survey you give your consent that the information contained herein and in the

Emotional Intelligence questionnaire may be used for research purposes.

Should you have any questions regarding the research please feel free to contact the researcher:

Grant Jackson

[email protected]

0769 244 211

The questionnaire is outlined on the following page.

mailto:[email protected]

Copyright UCT

72

Please answer all questions and place an X in the appropriate box where applicable

Your Name:_________________________________

Age: What is your age?

Sex: Are you Male or Female

Male Female

Ethnicity: What racial group would you describe yourself as?

White Black Coloured Indian Other Prefer not to

Answer

Education: What level of education have you achieved?

*Choose only if you have completed that particular level of study.

Did not finish

School

Matric

Certificate

College

Certificate or

equivalent

Technikon

Diploma or

equivalent

University

Degree or

equivalent

Other

Marital Status: What is your marital status?

Single Married Widowed Divorced Separated

Number of dependants: How many children are you responsible for?

0 1 2 3 4 5>

Employment Type: Are you permanent or contract?

Permanent Contract

How long have you worked at the call centre?

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73

Appendix C: Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire

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74

Strongly


Strongly

Agree

I have a sound conscious knowledge of my values and

limitation and demonstrate them in my day to day actions

I have an accurate self-assessment of my strengths and

weaknesses

I demonstrate clear recognition of my emotional feeling

I am able to and am comfortable to express my feelings

appropriately in all situations

I have a clear understanding of my thinking style and regularly

balance intuition with analytical thinking

I am able to work with disagreement and conflict in a positive

manner

I find change easy and am able to both adapt and initiate

change without discomfort

Strongly


Strongly

Agree

I manage and recover from emotional lows in a reasonable time

I am able to be patient and delay immediate results/success in

order to achieve longer term goals

I manage my own life style and ensure balance between the

demands of work and personal commitments

I am flexible in my behaviour and go with the flow comfortably

I am very aware of my 'hot' buttons and know what drives my

emotions

I am able and comfortable to take responsibility and be

accountable for all my actions

I recognise and comfortably deal with 'power relations'

I listen well without judgement and am able to express myself

with clarity

I recognise and value different points of view without pushing

my own point

Strongly


Strongly

Agree

I have set personal standards of excellence and am able to

motivate myself to achieve

I am optimistic in everything that I do and see life as a journey

with a destination

I have a clear plan with development outcomes identified in

order to meet my life goals

I have a clear purpose to pursue life goals

I am able to control/manage all my emotions in all situations

I have a strong sense of my own self-worth and am confident

demonstrating my capabilities

Self Awareness - Kowing Oneself


Self-Motivation - Determining One's Future

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75

Strongly


Strongly

Agree

I accurately read and recognise group dynamics

I believe everyone can develop and regularly coach and

encourage others

I sense and recognise others feelings, emotions and perceptions

I recognise and comfortably deal with 'power relations'

I continuously work on developing my limitations

I am comfortable to maintain standards of honesty and integrity

in my behaviour

Strongly


Strongly

Agree

I am able to collaborate and work with all other people in the

pursuit of common goals

I lead through: respect, inspiration and guidance

I am comfortable delegating and empowering others with

authority and responsibility

I regularly recognise and respond to opportunities

My belief in others is to achieve unity in diversity whilst dealing

with stereotype behaviours

I am comfortable in handling emotions in relationships without

being drawn in

I am able to persuade and influence others with conviction that

they follow my direction

Empathy - Understanding Others

Social skills - Interacting with Others

understanding the relationship between emotional...

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