Thomas Rhys Evans ab6443@coventry.ac.uk @ThomasRhysEvans Trait Emotional Intelligence and the Antecedents, Communication and Impact of Workplace Frustration Sophie Ward ab6179@coventry.ac.uk @SophieMBPsS Thomas Rhys Evans ab6443@coventry.ac.uk @ThomasRhysEvans Dr Gail Steptoe-Warren hsx566@coventry.ac.uk @GailMSC

Workplace Frustration Counterproductive work behaviours… account for ten-percent of productivity (Belot and Schröder 2013) explain nearly twenty-percent of failed businesses (Coffin 2003) may be committed by nearly 90% of employees (Boye and Wasserman 1996)

Dollard’s Frustration-Aggression Hypotheses/ Spector’s Model of Frustration Goal

Dollard’s Frustration-Aggression Hypotheses/ Spector’s Model of Frustration Goal

Dollard’s Frustration-Aggression Hypotheses/ Spector’s Model of Frustration Goal Frustration

Dollard’s Frustration-Aggression Hypotheses/ Spector’s Model of Frustration Goal Frustration Aggression

Dollard’s Frustration-Aggression Hypotheses/ Spector’s Model of Frustration Performance Inhibition or Deviance Change Goal Achievement Method Goal Frustration Aggression Physical or Psychological Withdrawal Organisational/Interpersonal Aggression

Individual Differences and Frustration State anger related to organisation-directed counterproductive work behaviours Trait anger related to interpersonal-directed counterproductive work behaviour (Fox and Spector 1999)

Individual Differences and Frustration Reio (2011) found emotional-stability and thrill-seeking significantly predictive of frustration frequency

Emotional Intelligence Ability Competency Trait

EI and Workplace Frustration Yoo and Salovey (2009) found individuals higher in emotional intelligence ability reported greater levels of frustration after reading about, and experiencing, a frustrating event

Trait EI and Workplace Frustration Trait emotional intelligence is a collection of ‘emotion-related traits and self-perceived abilities’ (Petrides and Furnham 2006:553) Kahn-Greene et al. (2006) found trait emotional intelligence to mediate the relationship between sleep deprivation and response to frustration

The Current Study Aim: Explore the relationship between trait emotional intelligence and the experience of frustration at work

Participants and Method 75 P’s, all 18 years+ and currently employed Predominantly female (59), single (60), educated to undergraduate level (34) with part-time work (40) Participants completed the TEIQue (Petrides & Furnham, 2003) before questions about their general reaction to frustration, and a specific recent or memorable frustrating event at work

TEIQue Structure and Qualities Total Trait EI (.92) Wellbeing (.92) (Self-esteem, Trait Optimism & Trait Happiness) Self-Control (.71) (Emotion Regulation, Stress Management & Low Impulsivity) Emotionality (.68) (Emotion Perception, Emotion Expression, Trait Empathy & Relationships) Sociability (.73) (Assertiveness, Social Awareness & Emotion Management)

Results Generally Specific Event Frequency & Intensity Causes of Frustration Communication Method Communication Recipient Specific Event Physical/Emotional/Psychological Impact Impact of Response Break… away/down/through Same response next time?

Frequency and Intensity

Predicting Frustration Frequency Demographics: Months Education Level Sex Work Type (PT/FT) Marital Status Age Trait EI Facets: Self-Control Emotionality Trait EI Total Well-Being Sociability Total TEI score (B = -.45) the only significant contribution, predicting 20% of variance

Predicting Frustration Intensity Demographics: Months Education Level Sex Work Type (PT/FT) Marital Status Age Trait EI Facets: Self-Control Emotionality Trait EI Total Well-Being Sociability Self-control (comprised of emotion regulation, impulsivity and stress-management) (B = -.39), predicting 15% of variance

Cause of Frustration

Relationship between EI facets and causes of frustration Controlling for the degree of contact with the group in question No significant relationships between EI facets and rating: Senior or/other managers Co-workers as the cause of frustration

Relationship between EI facets and physical things as a cause of frustration Significant relationships between physical item or product causing frustration and… Total EI (r = -.27, p = .02) Sociability (r = -.29, p = .01) A relationship between Wellbeing and equipment as a source of frustration (r = -.31, p < .01)

Relationship between EI facets and Line Managers as a cause of frustration Significant relationships between line managers causing frustration and… Well-being (r = -.28, p = .02) Self-control (r = -.30, p < .01) Total TEI (r = -.27, p = .02)

Relationship between EI facets and customers as a cause of frustration Significant relationships between customers causing frustration and… EI total score (r = -.28, p = .02) Well-being (r = -.28, p = .02) Emotionality (r = -.26, p = .03)

Method and Recipient of Frustration Communication

EI and Frustration Communication Total EI and texting (r = -.29, p = .01) Well-being and texting (r = -.26, p = .03) Self-control and texting (r = -.30, p = .01) Emotionality and texting (r = -.27, p = 02) Sociability and phoning (r = .25, p = .03) No significant relationships with email, face-to-face or social media

EI and Communicating Frustration Sociability and communicating frustrations with co-workers (r = .32, p = .01) line managers (r = .26, p = .03) other/senior managers (r = .27, p = .02)

EI and Communicating Frustration Communicating frustrations with strangers and… Total TEI (r = -.31, p < .01) Wellbeing (r = -.31, p < .01) Self-control (r = -.41, p < .01) Emotionality (r = -.28, p = .02) No relationships between EI facets and communication with customers or lower-ranked employees

Specific Event

Cause of the Event Customers – 22 Co-workers - 15 Equipment – 14 Line manager – 13 Other management – 10 Lower-ranked employees – 1 Physical items/products - 0

Physical, Emotional & Psychological Reactions

Physical Reaction Demographics: Months Education Level Sex Work Type (PT/FT) Marital Status Age Trait EI Facets: Self-Control Emotionality Trait EI Total Well-Being Sociability Self-control (B = -.31) and months (B = .19) were the only significant contributions, predicting 12% of variance

Emotional Reaction Demographics: Months Education Level Sex Work Type (PT/FT) Age Trait EI Facets: Self-Control Emotionality Trait EI Total Well-Being Sociability Wellbeing (B = -.36) and sex (B = -.30) were the only significant contributions, predicting 16% of variance

Psychological Reaction Demographics: Months Education Level Sex Work Type (PT/FT) Age Trait EI Facets: Self-Control Emotionality Trait EI Total Well-Being Sociability Wellbeing (B = -.44), sociability (B = .26), and sex (B = -.22) provided significant contributions, predicting 15% of variance

Impact of Reactions

How much did your decision to show this frustration affect the situation? Demographics: Months Education Level Sex Work Type (PT/FT) Age Trait EI Facets: Self-Control Emotionality Trait EI Total Well-Being Sociability Age (B = .25) and Wellbeing (B = .27) were the only significant contributions, predicting 12% of variance

Reaction to Event

Predicting the Future… Breaking Away Demographics: Months Education Level Sex Work Type (PT/FT) Age Trait EI Facets: Self-Control Emotionality Trait EI Total Well-Being Sociability Self control (B = -.40) was the only significant contribution, predicting 16% of variance

Predicting the Future… Breaking Down Demographics: Months Education Level Sex Work Type (PT/FT) Age Trait EI Facets: Self-Control Emotionality Trait EI Total Well-Being Sociability Total EI (B = -.29) and age (B = -.24) provided significant contributions, predicting 14% of variance

Predicting the Future… Breaking Through Demographics: Months Education Level Sex Work Type (PT/FT) Age Trait EI Facets: Self-Control Emotionality Trait EI Total Well-Being Sociability Education (B = .36) provided the only significant contribution, predicting 13% of variance

Same Response Next Time?

How likely would you be to react in the same manner? Did not correlate with any TEI facets, and had no significant predictors within a regression

Discussion EI appears important for many aspects of frustration and could be a valuable field for training/development or recruitment should further results corroborate findings Small sample – work is on-going to gain a large diverse sample for more detailed and contextualised analyses

Thomas Rhys Evans ab6443@coventry.ac.uk @ThomasRhysEvans Trait Emotional Intelligence and the Antecedents, Communication and Impact of Workplace Frustration Sophie Ward ab6179@coventry.ac.uk @SophieMBPsS Thomas Rhys Evans ab6443@coventry.ac.uk @ThomasRhysEvans Dr Gail Steptoe-Warren hsx566@coventry.ac.uk @GailMSC