Title: Emotional intelligence and conflict management: an execution of organisational learning, psychological empowerment and innovative work behaviour in Chinese higher education

Authors: Zahid Shafait; Zhu Yuming; Umar Farooq Sahibzada

Addresses: School of Management Sciences and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an Shaanxi, 710072, China ' School of Management Sciences and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an Shaanxi, 710072, China ' School of Management Sciences and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an Shaanxi, 710072, China

Abstract: Dynamic environmental challenges to create and improve value continuously urge the higher education institutions (HEI) to come up with and maintaining higher standards. This study investigated organizational learning, psychological empowerment and innovative work behaviour as mediators between emotional intelligence (EI) and conflict management. Data were collected from twelve educational institutes from Xi'an and Sichuan China. The survey was addressed to faculty members ranging from lecturers to professors, 513 questionnaires were collected with a response ratio of 57 percent. Hence, confirmatory factor analysis was applied to validate prescribed theoretical conjecture. The research found that direct link between EI and conflict management is significant. Organizational learning and innovative work behaviour fully mediated the relationship while psychological empowerment is having no mediation between the two variables. To have a generalized overview of EI, a future study can be comprised of a larger sample confining diverse individuals and management echelons containing manifold responses.

Keywords: emotional intelligence; organisational learning; psychological empowerment; innovative work behaviour; conflict management; Chinese higher education.

DOI: 10.1504/MEJM.2021.111988

Middle East Journal of Management, 2021 Vol.8 No.1, pp.1 - 22

Received: 25 Dec 2019
Accepted: 01 Feb 2020
Published online: 22 Dec 2020 *

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