A Study of the Relationship Between a Nurse Leader's Emotional Intelligence and Follower Organizational Commitment

Since the introduction of emotional intelligence (EI) in the 1990s, there has been growing interest from researchers to assess the influence of EI on the development of effective leaders in terms of organizational success. There is limited research on how a nursing leader's EI influences his or her followers, and even less research that expands on the nursing leader's EI and how this affects the organizational commitment (OC) of the follower. This quantitative, correlational study examined the relationship between the nursing leaders' EI and the followers' OC. The study also examined the correlation between the nurse leaders' EI and the length of time (LOT) in healthcare, and the OC of the followers and their LOT in healthcare. The quantitative data for this study were collected by utilizing the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) self-report measure to ascertain the nursing leaders' EI. The followers' OC data were obtained by utilizing the Three-Component Model (TCM) Employee Commitment Survey. The MSCEIT surveys were distributed to 53 purposively sampled nurse leaders, and the TCM Employee Commitment Surveys were distributed to 728 of their followers at a level-one trauma center in the southwestern portion of the United States. One hundred and thirty surveys were returned (36 nurse managers and 94 followers), representing a 17% return rate. Using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, findings noted that there was not a significant correlation between a nurse leader's EI and the follower's OC along with LOT in healthcare related to the nurse leader's EI and the follower's OC. With limited research on leader EI as it relates to follower OC in the healthcare environment further research would be recommended.;Key Words: Emotional Intelligence, Leadership, Nursing, Organizational Commitment..