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

11. 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

12. Participants and Method
60 P’s, all 18 years+ and currently employed
Predominantly female (46), single (45), educated to undergraduate level (39) with full-time work (34)
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

13. 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
Well-being (comprised of self-esteem, trait happiness and trait optimism scales) (B = -.49) the only significant contribution, predicting 24% of variance

14. 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
Total EI score (B = .93), well-being (B = -.76) and self-control (comprised of emotion regulation, impulsivity and stress-management) (B = -.66), predicting 28% of variance

15. 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:
equipment
other/senior management
co-workers
lower-ranked employees
products/physical items
as the cause of frustration

16. Relationship between EI facets and Line Managers as a cause of frustration
Significant relationships between line managers causing frustration and…
Well-being (r = -.31, p = .02)
Self-control (r = -.26, p = .04)

17. Relationship between EI facets and customers as a cause of frustration
Significant relationships between customers causing frustration and…
EI total score (r = -.27, p = .04)
Well-being (r = -.26, p = .05)
Emotionality (comprised of emo appraisal, emo expression, relationship skills and trait empathy) (r = -.27, p = .04)

18. EI and Frustration Communication
Total EI and texting (r = -.26, p = .04)
Well-being and texting (r = -.28, p = .03)
Sociability and Social media (r = -.33, p = .01)
No significant relationships with calling, ing or talking

19. EI and Communicating Frustration
Sociability and communicating frustrations with co-workers (r = .35, p = .01)
Sociability and communicating frustrations with line managers (r = .35, p = .01)
Sociability and communicating frustrations with other/senior managers (r = .36, p = .01)

20. EI and Communicating Frustration
Self-control and communicating frustrations with strangers (r = -.34, p = .01)
No relationships between EI facets and communication with customers or lower-ranked employees

24. Predicting the Future… Breaking Away
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 = -.39) was the only significant contribution, predicting 16% of variance

25. Predicting the Future… Breaking Down
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 EI (B = -.36) and age (B = -.23) provided significant contributions, predicting 19% of variance

26. Predicting the Future… Breaking Through
Demographics:
Months
Education Level
Sex
Work Type (PT/FT)
Marital Status
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

27. 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

28. 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