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

2. 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)

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

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

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

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

7. 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

8. 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)

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

10. Emotional Intelligence
Ability
Competency
Trait

11. 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

12. 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

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

14. 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

15. 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)

16. 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?

17. Frequency and Intensity

18. 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

19. 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

20. Cause of Frustration

21. 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

22. 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)

23. 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)

24. 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)

25. Method and Recipient of Frustration Communication

26. 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 , face-to-face or social media

27. 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)

28. 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

29. Specific Event

30. 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

31. Physical, Emotional & Psychological Reactions

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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

35. Impact of Reactions

36. 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

37. Reaction to Event

41. 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

42. 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

43. 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

44. Same Response Next Time?

45. 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

46. 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

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