Keywords
Empathy
Affective Commitment
Normative Commitment
Emotional Intelligence
Nigerian Manufacturing
Abstract
This study examines the influence of two emotional intelligence competencies, emotional self-awareness and empathy, on specific dimensions of employee commitment within a Nigerian manufacturing context.
A cross-sectional survey design was adopted. Data were collected from 125 employees of Bond Chemical Limited, Awe, Oyo State, using stratified random sampling. Pearson's correlation and multiple regression analysis were employed to test the relationships between emotional intelligence components and the affective and normative dimensions of commitment. Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranged from 0.82 to 0.89.
Both competencies exhibited strong positive correlations with commitment (self-awareness: r = 0.978, p < 0.01; empathy: r = 0.991, p < 0.01). Empathy was the strongest predictor of affective commitment (B = 1.425, p < 0.01), while both self-awareness (B = 1.251, p < 0.01) and empathy (B = 0.847, p < 0.01) significantly predicted normative commitment.
Organisations operating in collectivist cultural contexts may benefit from structured training programmes focused on empathy development and self-awareness enhancement as strategic tools for building a committed and stable workforce.
This study provides empirical evidence from the Nigerian manufacturing sector on how distinct emotional intelligence competencies differentially relate to specific forms of organisational commitment, addressing a significant gap in the extant African management literature.
References
Abeyi-Otor, J., & Jato, T. P. J. (2023). Emotional intelligence and employee performance: A study of teachers in secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria. Jurnal Akuntansi dan Bisnis: Jurnal Program Studi Akuntansi, 9(1), 1–12.
Adam, A. F., & Gabay-Mariani, L. (2021). Intended entrepreneurs' commitment: A new perspective on the mindsets, antecedents and outcomes. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 44(1), 11–29.
Adeyemo, S. A., & Ogunyemi, B. (2014). Emotional intelligence and self-efficacy as predictors of academic performance among students in Oyo State senior secondary schools. IFE PsychologIA, 22(2), 170–179.
Anthonia, A. A., & Christiana, O. O. (2020). Influence of emotional intelligence on organizational commitment of bank workers in Lagos, Nigeria. SAGE Open, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020914905
Bayu, D., Susita, D., & Parimita, W. (2023). The effect of emotional intelligence and work environment on affective commitment and job satisfaction as intervening variables in State Elementary School 1 in Kemayoran District, Central Jakarta. International Journal of Business and Social Science Research, 4(1), 6–17.
Bradberry, T., & Greaves, J. (2009). Emotional intelligence 2.0. TalentSmart.
Cherniss, C. (2010). Emotional intelligence: Toward clarification of a concept. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 3(2), 110–126. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1754-9434.2010.01231.x
Decety, J., & Jackson, P. L. (2004). The functional architecture of human empathy. Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews, 3(2), 71–100. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534582304267187
Gerdes, K. E., Segal, E. A., Jackson, K. F., & Mullins, J. L. (2011). Teaching empathy: A framework rooted in social cognitive neuroscience and social justice. Journal of Social Work Education, 47(1), 109–131. https://doi.org/10.5175/JSWE.2011.200900085
Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. Bantam Books.
Goleman, D. (1998). Working with emotional intelligence. Bantam Books.
Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. E., & McKee, A. (2013). Primal leadership: Unleashing the power of emotional intelligence. Harvard Business Review Press.
Joseph, D. L., & Newman, D. A. (2010). Emotional intelligence: An integrative meta-analysis and cascading model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(1), 54–78. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017286
Locke, E. A. (2005). Why emotional intelligence is an invalid concept. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26(4), 425–431. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.318
Lu, H., While, A. E., & Barriball, K. L. (2005). Job satisfaction among nurses: A literature review. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 42(2), 211–227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2004.09.003
Mayer, J. D., Salovey, P., & Caruso, D. R. (2004). Emotional intelligence: Theory, findings, and implications. Psychological Inquiry, 15(3), 197–215. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327965pli1503_02
Meyer, J. P., & Allen, N. J. (1991). A three-component conceptualization of organizational commitment. Human Resource Management Review, 1(1), 61–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/1053-4822(91)90011-Z
Meyer, J. P., & Allen, N. J. (1997). Commitment in the workplace: Theory, research, and application. Sage Publications.
Nnadi, G. C., Nnodum, B. I., Ify, C., Eberechukwu, C. F., & Uzoekwe, H. E. (2022). Relationship between emotional intelligence and job commitment of secondary school counsellors in Enugu State, Nigeria. European Journal of Education Studies, 9(5). https://doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v9i5.4229
Nunnally, J. C., & Bernstein, I. H. (1994). Psychometric theory (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Nwachukwu, C., Vu, H. M., Chládková, H., & Agboga, R. S. (2022). Psychological empowerment and employee engagement: Role of job satisfaction and religiosity in Nigeria. Industrial and Commercial Training, 54(4), 666–687. https://doi.org/10.1108/ICT-11-2021-0088
Obiekwe, O. P., Mobolade, G. O., & Akinade, M. E. (2021). The impact of emotional intelligence on organizational commitment. International Journal of Economics and Business Management, 7(2), 43–55.
O'Boyle, E. H., Jr., Humphrey, R. H., Pollack, J. M., Hawver, T. H., & Story, P. A. (2011). The relation between emotional intelligence and job performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 32(5), 788–818. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.714
Oyoru, R. A., & Ambali, A. (2022). Mediating effect of employee commitment on the relationship between emotional intelligence and employee performance: A study of listed food and beverages companies in Nigeria. Journal of Administrative Science, 19(2), 229–246.
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J.-Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879–903. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.879
Riess, H. (2017). The science of empathy. Journal of Patient Experience, 4(2), 74–77. https://doi.org/10.1177/2374373517699267
Roy, D. (2023). The correlation between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction among hospital nurses. In AI and Emotional Intelligence for Modern Business Management (pp. 134–145). IGI Global.
Scott, B. A., Barnes, C. M., & Wagner, D. T. (2015). Chameleonic or consistent? A multilevel investigation of emotional labor variability and self-monitoring. Academy of Management Journal, 55(4), 905–926.
Sembiring, N., Nimran, U., Astuti, E. S., & Utami, H. N. (2020). The effects of emotional intelligence and organizational justice on job satisfaction, caring climate, and criminal investigation officers' performance. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 28(5), 1113–1130. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOA-10-2019-1908
Smith, A. (2006). Cognitive empathy and emotional empathy in human behavior and evolution. The Psychological Record, 56(1), 3–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03395534
Stein, S. J., & Book, H. E. (2011). The EQ edge: Emotional intelligence and your success. John Wiley & Sons.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2026 Author