Does emotional intelligence pave way for psychological well being and enhancing work performance

Abstract

Purpose – Present study is a descriptive and analytical in nature aiming to bring out the relationship among emotional intelligence, cultural intelligence, perceived organizational supporting practices, family support on psychological wellbeing and work performance of the Indian expatriates in United States of America. Design/Methodology/Approach-This study adopts positivist deductive approach it, starts with clear variables which are derived from theory and based on these variables. The data for the study was collected through the structured questionnaire. The sample for the present study was collected from the Indian IT expatriates who are assigned to USA working in the four major IT cluster of USA i.e. California, Washington, New York, & Chicago. A total 634 questionnaires were received indicating a response rate of 52%. The questionnaire for this study consists of 87 items and the five point Likert type response format is used for all the measures ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. SPSS 21 and Microsoft excel are the statistical packages and regression is the tools used in the present study Findings- An important affiliation was observed among emotional intelligence and expatriate job performance and psychological wellbeing. As the job performance and psychological wellbeing largely dependent on the emotional intelligence of the employee, the job performance of the expatriates is also influenced by the emotional intelligence level of the expatriate. Higher levels of emotional intelligence predict higher the job performance and psychological wellbeing of the expatriate. A significant relationship was found between cultural intelligence and expatriate job performance and psychological wellbeing. When the expatriate face culturally diverse work environment, the Cultural intelligence of the expatriate allows the expatriate to adopt behaviours which potentially contributes to the success of the expatriate in the diverse work environment. A signification had been observed between perceived organizational supporting practices and expatriate performance. Inclination towards repayment towards the organization is high among the employees who are in receipt of major support from the organization. The support of the organization becomes more relevant in the instance of the expatriates because the expatriates are working away from the parent organization in culturally diverse settings. A signification relationship was found between perceived family supports and expatriate performance. When the accompanying family is well adjusted to the new culture, the employee can concentrate more on the job responsibilities. Hence, the performance will be high. It is proved in the literature that work and family must be well balanced for an employee to be more effective. No significant relationship was found between perceived organizational support and psychological wellbeing. The importance of the organizational support is essential for the employee well-being and the employees if they perceive that organization supports them in all facets of their work and family they will to be more productive and more committed to the organization. However, the study shows that the perceived organizational support does not significantly impact the psychological wellbeing. Sufficient evidence was not found for this proposition. No significant relationship was found between perceived family support and expatriate psychological wellbeing. A well-adjusted family will have an important bearing on the psychological wellbeing of the expatriate. Originality/value-This study provides insightful findings in understanding the role individual competencies like emotional intelligence and cultural intelligence play in facilitating expatriate job performance and psychological wellbeing i.e. from family and organization support in the individual level and work outcomes.. In spite of the limitations of the research, the study contributed to the international human resources management by exploring the Indian IT expatriates adaptation process in the western context.