In the world of work, psychological instruments are often used for the purposes of selection and development (Van de Vijver & Rothmann, 2004). According to Van der Merwe (1999), psychological tests are commonly used to determine whether employees have the necessary skills for a specific job. However, much controversy still exists about the use of such instruments, particularly in the multicultural South African context, as not all psychometric tests accommodate individuals from different cultures and different socio-economic and educational backgrounds. The objective of this study was to assess the structural validity of the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQi) developed by Bar-On. The EQi measurement consist of 133 items and was completed by a total of 1 104 participants in the South African insurance sector drawn by means of convenient sampling. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed, from which only nine factor loadings resulted out of an anticipated fifteen. Overall, the factor loadings did not provide a good representation of the Bar-On theoretical model. In addition, a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test if the data fitted the Bar-On EQI theoretical model. The results suggest a poor fit and therefore the structural validity of the EQI can be questioned for the respondents from an insurance company. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Human Resource Management / MCom / Unrestricted

Information technology professionals effectively manage complex, tactical processes and procedures for internal and external customers. At the time of this study there was a gap in the literature regarding the effects of emotional intelligence on information technology professionals. An organization's internal and external customers may become dissatisfied with the information technology professionals because of their communication style lacking an increased level of emotional intelligence. The purpose of this quantitative study was to research the effects of increased emotional intelligence by surveying 315 information technology professionals. Data were collected using 3 electronic surveys including a general questionnaire to collect demographic data, the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, and the EQ-i. 2.0 questionnaire to capture the relationships between leadership styles (transformational, transactional and Laissez-Faire) of information technology professionals and gender, race, or levels of emotional intelligence. Using descriptive, multiple regression, and independent-samples t tests, the results indicated there were no statistically significant difference in levels of emotional intelligence with transformational (.615) and transactional (.068) leadership where p < .005. There was a statistically significant difference with Laissez-Faire leadership results of .004 (p < .005). The study findings indicated that the variables investigated provided only predictive value with the Laissez-Faire leadership style of information technology professionals. This study contributes towards positive social change within the information technology community by supporting the value of emotional intelligence, regardless of leadership styles.

ABSTRACT Individuals subconsciously convey emotions through language. The present study investigates the relationship between emotional intelligence (EQ) and language style matching (LSM). Emotional intelligence involves the ability to regulate, maintain, and express one’s emotions and to perceive the emotion of others. LSM involves the phenomenon that when individuals talk they tend to mimic each other’s word usage (Neiderhoffer & Pennebaker, 2002). The hypothesis of the present study is that individuals who are emotionally intelligent subconsciously match their language to their communication partner. Ten participants from the University of Central Florida’s Psychology Department were given an emotional intelligence test. The participants were then asked to submit three text conversations stored in their phones, one in which they interpret as a positive encounter, another which they interpret as a negative encounter, and one interpreted as a neutral encounter. Bivariate correlations were used to analyze the data. The results did not support the hypothesis. Keywords: Emotional Intelligence, Language Style Matching, Empathy

No description available.