Volume 29, Issue 3
DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.760
COVID-19 and Work Engagement: Understanding the Nexus of Leaders Emotional Intelligence, Self-efficacy and Resilience in the Banking Sector of Bahrain
Abstract
The current study attempted to examine the association between leaders` emotional intelligence and work engagement, followed by the mediation of self-efficacy and resilience. Structural equation modeling using Smart PLS 3.0 was employed to examine these relationships amongst the employees of five major banks in Bahrain. The bootstrap results indicated the significance of leaders` emotional intelligence towards enhancing employees` work engagement. Accordingly, the study also found support for the mediation hypotheses as self-efficacy and resilience significantly mediated the association between leaders` emotional intelligence and work engagement. The results have asserted that critical times such as the COVID-19 Pandemic, can be responsively managed through leaders` emotional intelligence to enhance employee immersion, passion, vigor at work. The results have also asserted that leaders` emotional intelligence has a significant contribution towards boosting employees` psychological resourcefulness, thus making them high in efficacy and resilience, which further induces higher engagement levels.
Keywords
Emotional intelligence, leadership, work engagement, self-efficacy, resilience