| Organizational trust is in decline. This study addressed the potential that organizational emotional intelligence influences an organization's trustworthiness. Organizational emotional intelligence is an organization's ability to successfully and efficiently cope with change and accomplish its goals while being responsible and sensitive to individuals and human systems. The purposes of this research were to explore the relationship between overall organizational emotional intelligence and organizational trust and if and in what ways specific organizational emotional intelligence factors influence organizational trust as assessed by the Benchmark of Organizational Emotional Intelligence and Organizational Trust Inventory. A quantitative nonexperimental approach that surveyed a static group of 177 participants across a wide range of private and public sector organizations was employed. Pearson correlation and simultaneous multiple regression were used to test the hypotheses. Results indicate a strong positive relationship between organizational emotional intelligence and organizational trust. Two of the organizational emotional intelligence factors, Organizational Responsiveness and Job Happiness, were found to uniquely contribute to the prediction of variance in organizational trust. This research can contribute to positive social change by encouraging leaders to value the importance of trust-based organizations and contributing factors. Organizations that are more trustworthy are less likely to commit socially destructive practices such as massive layoffs for short-term gains, autonomy reduction to unilaterally control employees, and other trust-destroyers. Social change implications of this study may include building and sustaining trust which can be a powerful leadership tool for protecting against unethical and toxic work environments, and creating an emotionally healthy culture that inspires employee loyalty, productivity, and commitment to positive social change. |
