Emotional Intelligence in Developing Supportive Culture as Predictor of Productivity in Higher Education Institution

Abstract

The performance and productivity of the universities depend upon the supportive culture which is developed by the teachers of respective university. The supportive culture is influenced by personality traits of individuals working within universities. The Emotional intelligence is one of the personality characteristics which can contribute to develop supportive culture at workplace. This study was aimed to explore the role of emotional intelligence in developing supportive culture as predictor of productivity in higher education institutions. The study was delimited to general public universities of Punjab, Pakistan. All faculty members of all general public universities of Punjab Pakistan were the population of the study. By using stratified random sampling technique five general public universities of Punjab were selected. Then five faculties were randomly selected from each university, four departments were randomly selected from each faculty and 50% faculty members were randomly selected from each department (N=815). Four research instruments were developed i-e „Emotional intelligence scale‟ „Supportive culture scale‟, „Checklist for productivity‟ and interview protocol consisting of 17 structured questions for triangulation to measure variables of the study. Research instruments were validated through experts‟ opinions and pilot testing. Factor analysis was calculated and reliability coefficient Cronbach Alpha values for Emotional Intelligence scale, Supportive Culture questionnaire and checklist for productivity were 0.90, 0.92 and 0.95 respectively. Data collected through survey were analyzed using mean scores, standard deviations, frequencies, ANOVA, Pearson correlation, spearman rho; interview responses were analysed through thematic analysis. Major findings of the study were i) most of teachers of general public universities of Punjab were high and very high level of emotional intelligence ii) Islamia University Bahawalpur had more supportive culture among all universities iii) supportive culture of universities has strong positive correlation with emotional intelligence of the teachers and moderate correlation with productivity of the universities. Emotional intelligence is predictor of supportive culture and supportive culture is predictor of productivity of universities. Major recommendation is that heads of the departments may develop mechanism to involve and monitor research activities of each member of the department without any biasness and seniority preferences to improve their research skills.