Investigating the impact of transformational leadership on employees’ quality of work life mediated by managers perceived emotional intelligence

Nowadays, human resources are considered the most valuable organizational capital. One of the best methods to maintain and promote this resource is improving its quality of work life which refers to employees' perception of work conditions and fulfillment of personal and work needs. On the other hand, transformational leadership style and managers' emotional intelligence are among the most important factors affecting employees’ quality of work life. Transformational leaders, using their emotional skills, positively impact followers and increase their commitment to organizational goals and vision. To improve followers’ quality of work life, leaders must accurately apply and develop emotional intelligence skills and competencies. Since employees' performance is influenced by managers’ attitudes and they learn emotional behaviors from their managers, leaders need to have emotional intelligence. The main purpose of this research is to determine the impact of managers’ transformational leadership on employees’ quality of work life as well as to investigate the mediating role of managers' emotional intelligence in the Water and Wastewater Company of Mashhad.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK:

  Transformational leaders have a significant influence on their followers and stimulate them toward specific objectives by determining their roles and assigned duties. Transformational leadership style consists of four components, including idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, and individualized consideration. Emotional intelligence refers to the capacity to recognize and manage the emotions       of own and others. It consists of two major dimensions, including personal and social competencies. Social competencies include social awareness     and relationship management. The concept of quality of work life is a philosophy to make employees more effective at the workplace by improving their psychological well-being and job involvement. Numerous pieces of research confirmed the relationship between employees’ quality of work life and outcomes such as satisfaction and commitment. Furthermore, previous studies indicated that transformational leadership style impacts managers’ emotional intelligence which in turn affects employees’ quality of work life.

   This research is categorized into applied and descriptive-survey studies from in terms of purpose and method. The statistical population comprised employees who work in the Water and Wastewater Company of Mashhad. The statistical sample consists of 224 employees who were selected  with simple random sampling based on Cochran's formula. Needed data     was collected using a questionnaire, items of which ranged on a 5-point Likert-type scale. Finally, 225 well-qualified questionnaires were returned. The face and content validity of the questionnaire were evaluated and approved by management experts. In addition, its construct validity was examined and confirmed via confirmatory factor analysis, and its reliability via Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient. Data analysis was performed by conducting structural equation modeling in Amos software.

Based on obtained results, the transformational leadership style significantly affected the managers' perceived emotional intelligence which in turn affected employees’ quality of work life. This shows that managers can improve their emotional intelligence competencies and their employees’ quality of work life through this leadership style. The significance of the impact of transformational leadership on employees’ quality of work life was rejected. Accordingly, it can be suggested that factors such as excessive administrative bureaucracy and bureaucratic organizational culture in governmental organizations may prevent the impact of transformational leadership on employees’ quality of work life. Overall, the role of managers perceived emotional intelligence in the relationship between transformational leadership and quality of work life was full mediation.

 CONCLUSIONS & SUGGESTIONS:

In general, it can be stated that the managers' transformational leadership and emotional intelligence help them to effectively stimulate the employees towards organizational goals and provide an appropriate environment  for improving their quality of work life. Accordingly, the managers of  the target organization are recommended to hold courses by inviting     expert consultants for training the skills and competencies of transformational leadership and emotional intelligence. Furthermore, they should provide a suitable environment to support employees’ participation and communication. Expansion of informal relationships allows the employees to express their opinions and emotions in line with enhancing trust between employees and managers. We recommend future researchers investigate the moderating role of organizational culture and compare  the results with that of the current research. Additionally, they are recommended to examine the impact of managers’ emotional intelligence on their performance in the future.