Emotional intelligence (EI) in organisations has grown immensely over the past two decades.
Considerable research regarding this concept and the advantages it poses for the individual as
well as the organisation has been conducted; however, one aspect that has not been explored
sufficiently is the extent to which EI can be viewed as a culturally relevant concept. The
presumption that emotions can be explained in the same way across different culture cannot be
made; therefore measuring EI across cultures becomes important and challenging. Language can
be viewed as a vehicle of culture, and emotions are shaped by the language spoken in the specific
culture.
A quantitative research design was used in this study. The sample consisted of mid-level miners
from the Gauteng and North West Province (N = 357). Stratified sampling was used to include
the West-Germanic (English and Afrikaans; n = 158) and Sotho group (North Sotho, South
Sotho, and Setswana; n = 199). Questionnaires were distributed amongst the participants from
the different mines, were completed within a set time, and collected immediately afterwards.
The first objective of the study was to determine whether the Greek Emotional Intelligence Scale
(GEIS) is a reliable test when measuring West-Germanic (English and Afrikaans) and Sotho
(Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, and Setswana) languages. A four-factor model on the
combined sample as well as the two language groups was tested. The four factor model of the
West-Germanic group showed poor alphas. (Expression and Recognition of Emotions = 0.66;
Caring and Empathy = 0.63; Control of Emotions = 0.80 and Use of Emotions to Facilitate
Thinking = 0.62.) Several items from the expression and recognition scale cross-loaded on the
other three factors, and it was decided to test a three-factor model. The three factor model
indicated the best goodness-of-fit indices and showed acceptable alpha coefficients (Use of
Emotion to Facilitate Thinking = 0.83; Caring and Empathy = 0.83 and Control of Emotions =
0.77).
The second objective was to determine if the Greek Emotional Intelligence Scale is an equivalent
measuring instrument when measuring the West-Germanic (English and Afrikaans) and Sotho
(Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, and Setswana) languages. Goodness-of-fit was tested on the
total population as well as the two language family groups. The four factors are Expression and
Recognition of Emotions, Caring and Empathy, Control of Emotions and Use of Emotions. The
model indices (GFI, CFI and RMSEA) were satisfactory on the total population as well as the
Sotho groups, but there were problems noted when testing the goodness-of-fit for the West-
Germanic language group. It was therefore decided to test a three factor model (Use of
Emotions, Caring and Empathy and Control of Emotions). These problems could possibly be
explained by the cultural differences between the two language groups.
The final research objective was to investigate whether the items of the Greek Emotional
Intelligence Scale are unbiased when measuring West-Germanic (English and Afrikaans) and
Sotho (Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, and Setswana) languages. Firstly, ANOVAS were
produced to determine the mean differences between the groups. There weren’t many
differences, indicating none or little biasness between the groups. Then, the uniform and non-uniform
biasness was tested by means of Ordinal Logistic Regression to asses Differential Item
Functioning. The majority of the items did not have both uniform and non-uniform biasness. The
few that did however, (41, 37, 36, 14 and 18) can be explained by the different ways in which
cultures interpret emotions as proven in the literature.
Recommendations were made for future research. / Thesis (MCom (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/8676 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | De Wet, Francois |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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