A Study on Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Employee Performance in Indian IT Sector

Emotional intelligence is a relatively recent behavioral model gaining prominence with Daniel Goleman's 1995 book called 'Emotional Intelligence'. It is the ability to acquire and apply the knowledge from emotions of self and others. Indian IT industry is one of the highest contributors to Indian economy and is on its path of continued growth momentum. This study has investigated the relationship between emotional intelligence and the employee performance in Indian IT sector and demographic factors influencing emotional intelligence of IT employees. Data for the study were collected from 400 IT employees of select IT companies in Hyderabad using three questionnaires namely Emotional Intelligence with its four domains i.e. Self Emotion Appraisal (SEA), Others' Emotion Appraisal (OEA), Use of Emotion (UOE) and Regulation of Emotion (ROE) were set as independent variables while task performance is defined as dependent variable. Gender, age level, education and experience were selected as demographic variables of the study. Through careful analysis of data, a positive correlation was found between emotional intelligence domains (SEA, OEA, UOE and ROE) and the employee performance and it was concluded that emotional intelligence and performance of Indian IT employees are positively correlated. Significant relationships were established between all demographic factors of the study and emotional intelligence of employees. The conclusion was that the demographic factors of IT employees have significant contribution to emotional intelligence of employees.