The benefits that altruistic behaviours, emotional intelligence (EQ) and intrinsic motivation have on organisations are increasingly becoming observable and enticing greater insights into these constructs, especially from the perspective of leaders. Moreover, the increase in the effectiveness of leaders across all of these constructs enables greater employee performance, from both the perspective of leaders and their followers, which results in increased organisational profitability. The primary objective of this research study was to investigate the relationship between the three constructs of altruistic behaviour, EQ and intrinsic motivation amongst leaders in South African organisations. This study also attempted to determine whether intrinsic motivation has a mediating effect on EQ and altruistic behaviours. Moreover, this study wishes to identify demographic differences in terms of the responses to the items related to each of the constructs. The questionnaires employed by this study was administered to leaders (n=136) who currently work in South Africa. Positive and statistically significant relationships were found amongst these constructs, implying that, an increase in one of these constructs will result in an increase in another. However, there was no sufficient evidence in support of mediating effect of intrinsic motivation on EQ and altruistic behaviours. The confirmatory factor analysis was able to validate all three measuring instruments used to assess the constructs from a South African perspective. The present study was unable to identify any demographic differences for the Adapted Self-Report Altruism Scale and Intrinsic Work Motivation Scale and was only able to identify demographic differences by the Schutte Self-report Emotional Intelligence Test as a whole and the perception of emotion scale. The study encountered some limitations. Firstly, the researcher encountered a difficulty in finding appropriate literature on the constructs. Secondly, the study obtained a small sample size (n=136). The reason for this is that the target sample chosen by the researcher, namely leaders in organisations, proved to be a challenging sample because many leaders were not able or willing to complete the questionnaire due to their heavy workload and strict deadlines. Thirdly, given that three measuring instruments were used to gain the data needed for this study, the total number of items came to 136. This could mean that the questionnaire may have been burdensome to complete and it would take approximately 15 minutes to complete. In addition, factors such as biased responses, as well as personal and environmental factors on the part of the respondents all posed limitations to this study in that it may have influenced the responses given by the sample. The results obtained by this study suggests that the higher the level of EQ of leaders, the higher the likelihood that they will be intrinsically motivated and exhibit altruistic behaviour. As explained by exchange theory, if one is conditioned to be “good”, the likelihood of partaking in altruistic behaviour is enhanced (Bar-Tal, 1986). If an organisation creates a culture of altruistically helping others in the workplace and the community, the possibility of creating a “habit” of exhibiting altruistic behaviour could result. The benefits of creating this altruistic culture could be far-reaching. The researcher encourages organisations to measure and identify the level of EQ of their leaders and provide development opportunities should this be lacking. This is because, as identified by Barbuto and Burbach (2006), in order for leaders to achieve support from their followers, it is crucial that they develop a high reliance on their empathy to identify with the feelings and emotions of their followers. It is important to note that the results of this study was analysed in June 2016 and is based only on 136 leaders across some industries of South Africa. It is suggested that the results of this study to be validated in the South African context by additional empirical research that tests the hypothesis identified in this study to ascertain whether the results of the current study can be replicated and applied broadly. It is advised that the study is tested over a longer period, in different industries and across various countries. This is so that increasing value can be added to this field of research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:28299 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Hooper, Danushka |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, MA |
| Format | xvi, 133 leaves, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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