Is It Just about the Numbers? An Evaluation of Emotional Intelligence and Employee Engagement in the Accounting Industry

TLDR: In this paper, a cross-sectional study utilizing two public accounting firms investigated the relationship between employees' perceptions of their own engagement and their perception of their leaders' emotional intelligence, using results from web-based surveys via two distribution lists (response rate=260).

Abstract: This cross-sectional study utilizing two public accounting firms investigated the relationship between employees’ perceptions of their own engagement and their perceptions of their leaders’ emotional intelligence. Using results from web-based surveys via two distribution lists (response rate=260), we tested two hypotheses; the relationship between employee engagement and emotional intelligence, as well as the likelihood that respondents with higher self-perceptions of engagement would also rate their leaders to be higher in emotional intelligence compared to respondents with lower self-perceptions of engagement. Bivariate correlations and independent sample t-test results, respectively, supported these hypotheses. This study increased the generalizability of both constructs as well as identified a need for further discrimination among the factors comprising employee engagement.