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Does emotional intelligence and Emotional

intelligence,
empowering leadership affect empowering
leadership
psychological empowerment and
work engagement?
Saad M. Alotaibi Received 27 July 2020
Revised 3 August 2020
Business Management, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Accepted 3 August 2020
Muslim Amin
Taylor’s Business School, Taylor’s University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia, and
Jonathan Winterton
Work and Employment Relations Division, Leeds University Business School,
Leeds, UK

Abstract
Purpose – The objective of this study is to investigate the role of emotional intelligence and empowering
leadership in enhancing psychological empowerment and work engagement in private hospitals.
Design/methodology/approach – A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed to staff nurses at five
private hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 100 questionnaires to each hospital, with an achieved response rate
of 34.8%.
Findings – The results show statistically significant positive relationships between emotional intelligence,
empowering leadership, psychological empowerment and work engagement. The relationship between
emotional intelligence and work engagement and psychological empowerment and work engagement were not
significant.
Research limitations/implications – The study found that employees who have a high level of emotional
intelligence and the positive stimulus of empowering leadership demonstrate enhanced psychological
empowerment and work engagement.
Practical implications – A better understanding of the role of EI and EL in enhancing psychological
empowerment and work engagement could help hospitals reduce turnover among nurses and improve their
relationships with patients, as well as maintaining competitive advantage.
Originality/value – The study provides evidence to support the effect of EI on empowering leadership,
psychological empowerment and work engagement in private hospitals.
Keywords Emotional intelligence, Empowering leadership, Psychological empowerment, Work engagement,
Nurse, Hospital
Paper type Research paper
For more than three decades, leadership theory has mostly been applied across industries
characterized by top-down bureaucratic systems (Amin et al., 2014; Uhl-Bien et al., 2007,
Uhl-Bien et al., 2011). Researchers have suggested that organizations should move away from
hierarchical approaches to empower employees (Fong and Snape, 2015; Zhou et al., 2018).
Leadership roles are becoming more challenging, with leaders expected to display emotional
intelligence (EI) in handling themselves and their employees (Hur et al., 2011; Li et al., 2016).
Successful leaders manage their own emotions effectively and recognize the managing
employees involves emotional processes, so EI is a prerequisite for successful leadership
(Goleman, 1998; Goleman, 2004; Miao et al., 2018). Emotionally intelligent leaders are more
committed to their work and perform better in the workplace (Castillo and Valle, 2017;
Føllesdal and Hagtvet, 2013; Gardner and Stough, 2002) compared with leaders having a
lower level of EI (Hui-Wen et al., 2010; Watkin, 2000). In the hospital sector, Wang et al. (2018) Leadership & Organization
Development Journal
emphasized the significant contribution of EI in the relationship between a nurse manager’s © Emerald Publishing Limited
0143-7739
leadership and a nurse’s intention to stay. Nurses with a high level of EI exhibit higher work DOI 10.1108/LODJ-07-2020-0313
LODJ performance (Chen et al., 2015) and occupational well-being (Yan et al., 2018). Heffernan et al.
(2010) showed nurses’ emotions play a dominant role in their relationships with patients and
families.
Previous research has demonstrated that leaders’ emotional intelligence and competencies
are significantly associated with developing empowering work environments for nurses
(Greco et al., 2006; Lucas et al., 2008), leadership success (Barling et al., 2000; Brown and
Moshavi, 2005), work engagement (Yan et al., 2018) and nurses’ turnover intentions
(D
aderman and Basinska, 2016). In this context, nurse leaders are playing a significant role in
facilitating nurses’ performance, hospital aims and patient outcomes. Empowering
leadership (EL) occurs when nurses recognize that they are empowered (Lucas et al., 2008),
and EL will provide employees with greater autonomy and a supportive working
environment (Cummings et al., 2010; Kim and Beehr, 2018; Kim et al., 2018; Li et al., 2016).
There is strong evidence of a trickle-down effect of EL leading to positive outcomes for
employees (Byun et al., 2020).
From this standpoint, we posit that EI and EL will play an important part in increasing
psychological empowerment and work engagement. Previous studies have confirmed that
work engagement is critical in the hospital context because of nurse shortages and rising
health care costs (Aboshaiqah et al., 2016; Cao et al., 2019; Faulkner and Laschinger, 2008;
Li et al., 2020). Since EI and EL play a substantial role for nurses in modern hospitals, research
on this topic in developing countries has been encouraged (Chen et al., 2015, Yan et al., 2018).
Thus far, however, relatively little attention has been paid to the roles of EI and EL in
enhancing psychological empowerment and work engagement in the hospital sector,
especially in Saudi Arabia, a lacuna which this study attempts to address. A better
understanding of the role of EI and EL in enhancing psychological empowerment and work
engagement could help hospitals reduce turnover among nurses and improve their
relationships with patients, as well as maintaining competitive advantage.

Theory and hypotheses

Emotional intelligence (EI)
EI has been defined across industries and countries and is considered a key indicator for
successful leadership (Barreiro and Treglown, 2020; Chen et al., 2015; Goleman, 2004), helping
leaders to deal effectively with their own emotions as well as those of subordinates (Li et al.,
2016; Peterson and Luthans, 2003). Although EI has been variously defined (Meisler, 2014),
perhaps the most widely accepted is that proposed by Salovey and Mayer (1990), who defined
EI as the “ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate
among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions”. Adopting that
definition of EI, Wong and Law (2002) developed an EI scale termed WLEIS, associated with
the four dimensions of EI: OEA (others’ emotion appraisal); SEA (self-emotion appraisal);
UOE (use of emotion) and ROE (regulation of emotion). OEA refers to a person’s ability to
perceive and understand the emotions of those around them. SEA describes an individual’s
ability to understand his/her deep emotions and to express these emotions naturally. ROE
relates to a person’s ability to regulate his/her emotions, which enables faster recovery from
psychological distress. UOE identifies a person’s ability to make use of his/her emotions by
directing them toward constructive activities and personal performance (Hur et al., 2011;
Wong and Law, 2002; Yan et al., 2018). In the hospital sector, Yan et al. (2018) adopted the
WLEIS constructs developed by Wong and Law (2002) and conducted a study of clinical
nurses from two hospitals in China, defining EI as an ability to perceive accurately, appraise
and express emotion and to regulate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth.
Although there have been extensive debates over defining EI and its constructs (Cavazotte
et al., 2012; Rajah et al., 2011), most scholars have adapted the measures of Salovey and Mayer
(1990) in empirical work. The current study similarly measures EI using multidimensional Emotional
constructs based on Wong and Law (2002) referring to an individual’s ability successfully to intelligence,
perceive, express, understand and evaluate his/her own and others’ emotions (Lapalme et al.,
2016; Mayer et al., 2004; Rajah et al., 2011; Wong and Law, 2002; Yan et al., 2018).
empowering
leadership
Empowering leadership (EL)
Empowerment has been studied in the field of organization from two aspects: structural and
psychological (Jiang et al., 2016; Spreitzer, 1996; Van Assen, 2020). Structural empowerment
emphasizes the structural context of empowerment, providing employees with opportunities
to share formal authority (Conger and Kanungo, 1988; Jiang et al., 2016). In this definition,
empowering leaders will share information to enable subordinates to participate in the
decision-making process (Bester et al., 2015), providing them with power and responsibility,
whilst encouraging accountability (Arnold et al., 2000) and actively encouraging and enabling
followers to lead themselves (Albrecht and Andreetta, 2011). EL also provides greater
decision-making autonomy to employees, who as a result feel their jobs are valued, which
increases self-efficacy and self-esteem (Li et al., 2016; Zhou et al., 2018). In addition, Konczak
et al. (2000) defined EL as a multidimensional construct with six dimensions: authority;
accountability; self-directed decision-making; information sharing; skill development and
coaching for innovative performance. Delegating authority to employees (De Klerk and
Stander, 2014; Hakimi et al., 2010) means giving employees full authority for decisions
normally made at management level, with an expectation that freedom to work
autonomously implies accountability for results (Ford and Fottler, 1995). Self-directed
decision making, by contrast, empowers employees to solve problems and make decisions
independently which requires extensive information sharing (Van Dierendonck and Dijkstra,
2012), training support and coaching (De Klerk and Stander, 2014). Such autonomy plays a
key role in high involvement work (Boxall and Winterton, 2018; Boxall et al., 2019). In this
study we view EL as distinct from psychological empowerment and emphasize interpersonal
relationships between leaders and employees based on multidimensional constructs
developed by Konczak et al. (2000). These perspectives are at the structural level and focus
on organizational and managerial practices to empower employees at lower organizational
levels.

Psychological empowerment
Psychological empowerment is another aspect of EL theory (Amor et al., 2020; Thomas and
Velthouse, 1990), which Spreitzer (1995) described as an individual’s experience of the
motivation process, enhancing their self-efficacy at work. In this definition, empowerment is a
psychological state involving four dimensions: meaning, competence, self-determination and
impact (Spreitzer, 1995). Meaning refers to an employee feeling personally important and fit
for their job. Competence describes self-efficacy in being able to perform tasks successfully.
Self-determination postulates the freedom to select a task. Meanwhile, impact is specified by a
diverse range of outcomes (Kwak and Jackson, 2015; Zhang and Bartol, 2010). High levels of
competence will increase a sense of confidence in performing job tasks (De Klerk and Stander,
2014; Dewettinck and Van Ameijde, 2011). A high degree of self-determination will have a
significant influence both at the individual and organizational levels (De Klerk and Stander,
2014). In addition, MacPhee et al. (2014) argued that a psychological perspective defines
empowerment as a self-motivating factor that reflects individual beliefs on personal
relationships and in particular a set of perceptions that emphasizes a motivational aspect of
self-competence or self-efficacy, including the perception of personal control (Khuntia et al.,
2017; Meng et al., 2016; Spreitzer, 1995).
LODJ Work engagement
Schaufeli et al. (2002) describe work engagement as a positive work-related state of mind,
conceptualizing this through three constructs: vigour; dedication and absorption. Vigour
refers to a high level of energy and cognitive resilience while working, the willingness to
invest discretionary effort and persistence in the face of difficult situations. Dedication
describes experiencing a sense of significance, enthusiasm, inspiration, pride and challenge
while working. Absorption refers to being fully concentrated and intensely fascinated with
one’s work, being deeply engrossed and not easily distracted by diversions (Eldor and
Vigoda-Gadot, 2017; Schaufeli et al., 2006). From this definition, D
aderman and Basinska
(2016) argued that vigour and dedication establish the basis of engagement as a concept,
whilst absorption is related to the concept of flow and plays a different role to other
engagement dimensions. Some scholars have suggested that work-disengaged employees
will demonstrate the physical appearance of withdrawal and defensiveness, resulting in
behaviors that diminish time, effort, earnings and morale (Du Plessis and Boshoff, 2018).
Schaufeli et al. (2002) argue that engaged employees will put more effort into and have more
energetic and effective connection with their work, producing positive outcomes at both
individual and organizational levels. Engaged employees allegedly perform their work
proactively (Alessandri et al., 2018; Salanova and Schaufeli, 2008), are more dynamic while
working, responsive to new information and work harder (Bakker, 2014). In this respect,
employee personal resources (such as self-evaluated traits associated with resiliency) play an
important role in work engagement, particularly where employees have the power to make
something different in their work environment (Yoo and Arnold, 2014).

Emotional intelligence, empowering leadership and psychological empowerment

Many studies have found a significant relationship between EI and EL. For example,
G€orgens-Ekermans and Brand (2012) found higher EI is associated with an increased
tendency to make positive evaluations of one’s work with clients. Leaders who demonstrate a
high level of EI lead more effectively than do those with lower levels of EI (Katou et al., 2020;
Tang et al., 2010). In the hospital sector, Lucas et al. (2008) found nurses with access to
empowering work structures also report that their managers have emotionally intelligent
leadership styles. When nursing leaders have high EI, they positively establish good
relationships with staff nurses and enhance the capability to manage emotions in the
workplace (Cummings et al., 2010). Staff nurses who felt that their manager demonstrated
good behavior and leadership experienced significantly less emotional exhaustion, with
improved emotional health, working conditions and job satisfaction (Cummings et al., 2010;
Lucas et al., 2008). We therefore propose the following two hypotheses:
H1. Emotional intelligence has a positive relationship with empowering leadership.
H2. Emotional intelligence has a positive relationship with psychological empowerment.

Emotional intelligence and work engagement

Most scholars support the view that emotional intelligence will enhance work engagement.
Chen et al. (2015) confirmed that EI contributes to a positive work psychology and has a
positive impact on work performance, while Wong and Law (2002) argued that EI is the most
important factor influencing work engagement. In the hospital sector, Yan et al. (2018)
suggest staff nurses with high EI in turn improve the occupational well-being of employees,
which is consistent with the argument that people with higher levels of mindfulness have
higher EI and will experience higher subjective well-being (Cleary et al., 2018; Eldor and
Vigoda-Gadot, 2017; Schutte and Loi, 2014). Similarly, Sarikaya and Yegen (2017) showed
that EI coefficients align with staff nurse competencies and the integration of both influences
how nurses interact with others and their environment. This leads us to propose a third Emotional
hypothesis: intelligence,
H3. Emotional intelligence has a positive relationship with work engagement. empowering
leadership
Empowering leadership, psychological empowerment and work engagement
Previous studies have demonstrated that EL is associated with psychological empowerment.
Laschinger et al. (2009) argued changes in structural empowerment lead to changes in
psychological empowerment and increased nurses’ job satisfaction. Park et al. (2017)
suggested that a leader with a positive leadership perspective can directly enhance
employees’ psychological resources. Employees who perceive higher support from their
supervisors are more likely to experience greater empowerment (Amor et al., 2020; Kwon and
Kim, 2020; Spreitzer, 1996). In hospitals, the relationship between staff nurses and leaders,
accessibility to other resources and a work atmosphere conducive to nurse autonomy will
significantly support and improve staff nurse job satisfaction and performance, as well as
retention (Andrews et al., 2012; Cowden et al., 2011; Orgambıdez and Almeida, 2020). We
therefore propose the following hypotheses:
H4. Empowering leadership has a positive relationship with psychological
empowerment.
H5. Empowering leadership has a positive relationship with work engagement.

Psychological empowerment and work engagement

Many studies have found a significant relationship between psychological empowerment and
work engagement. May et al. (2004) claimed that when an organization provides a
harmonized workplace atmosphere with the psychological circumstances of meaningfulness
(job enrichment, work–role fit), safety (supportive manager and co-workers) and availability
(in terms of resources available), it is more likely to have engaged employees. Employees who
are psychologically empowered are more committed to their work and organizations
(Albrecht and Andreetta, 2011; Jose and Mampilly, 2015), more engaged in their organizations
and exhibit lower rates of intention to quit (Bhatnagar, 2012). It has been suggested that
psychological empowerment helps employees make positive changes in their roles, work
units and organizations (Jose and Mampilly, 2015; Seibert et al., 2011). We therefore propose
the following hypothesis:
H6. Psychological empowerment has a positive relationship with work engagement.

Methods
Data collection process
The study involved 500 questionnaires distributed to staff nurses between January and April
2018 at five private hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Once the hospitals concerned granted
ethical approval, managers at each hospital were asked to distribute 100 questionnaires to
staff nurses who had worked full time at the hospital for at least one year. The survey yielded
174 completed questionnaires (34.8% response rate) through employing purposive sampling
to distribute questionnaires.

Measurement scales
Four dimensions of EI developed by Wong and Law (2002), also known as WLEIS, were used
to measure EI among staff nurses. These four dimensions are: OEA (others’ emotion
appraisal); SEA (self-emotion appraisal): UOE (use of emotion) and ROE (regulation of
LODJ emotion) (Yan et al., 2018). Each item was rated using seven-point scale ranging from “1
(strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree)”. A multidimensional construct of EL developed by
Konczak et al. (2000) was used to measure EL among staff nurses. This construct comprises
six dimensions: authority; accountability; self-directed decision-making; information sharing;
skill development and coaching for innovative performance. Each item was rated using a five-
point scale ranging from “1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree)”. The psychological
empowerment construct was measured using four dimensions: meaning; competence; self-
determination and impact, comprising 12 items adapted from Spreitzer (1995). Each item was
rated using a five-point scale ranging from “1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree)”. Most
scholars have adopted this scale to measure psychological empowerment among staff nurses
working in hospitals (Eo et al., 2014; Meng et al., 2016). For work engagement, we used the
construct developed by Schaufeli et al. (2002, 2006), involving three dimensions: vigour;
dedication and absorption, which is consistent with other studies conducted among staff
nurses (Eo et al., 2014; Yan et al., 2018). Work engagement was measured by a six-point scale
rating ranging from “6 (always) to 0 (never)”.

Data analysis and results

Measurement model
Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is a commonly used method in
management research and provides a robust way of analyzing survey data (Hair et al., 2017a).
To assure construct validity, we assessed both sub-categories of convergent validity (the
degree to which multiple items used to measure the same concept are related) and
discriminant validity (the degree to which items differ between constructs or measure distinct
concepts). We assessed convergent validity using factor loadings, composite reliability (CR)
and average variance extracted (AVE) (Hair et al., 2017a). Table 1 shows the factor loadings
for each construct ranged from 0.675 to 0.979, composite reliability (CR) range from 0.897 to
0.976 and average variance extracted (AVE) range from 0.680 to 0.930, exceeding the
recommended level of 0.50 (Chin, 1998a) and confirming convergent validity for each
construct (Hair et al., 2017a). Table 2 shows the discriminant validity of each construct using
the approach developed by Fornell and Larcker (1981). Discriminant validity is assessed by
comparing the AVE with the squared correlations or comparing the square root of the AVE
with the correlations. Because the square root of the AVE between each pair of factors is
higher than the correlation estimated between factors, this indicates that the measures used
in this study are distinct and demonstrate adequate discriminant validity (Bagozzi and
Yi, 1988).

Structural equation modelling

To test the structural model and hypotheses, we used SmartPLS 3.0 (Ringle et al., 2014),
calculating the path coefficient (β) and coefficient of determination (R2), effect size (f2) and
predictive relevance (Q2) to evaluate the predictive power of the structural model. The path
coefficient indicates the estimated change in the endogenous construct from a unit change in
the exogenous construct (Hair et al., 2017a, 2017b). R2 indicates the amount of variance
explained by the exogenous variables, where the closer the coefficient value is to 1, the higher
the level of predictive accuracy (Chin, 1998b; Chin et al., 2008; Henseler and Chin, 2010). Effect
size (f2) is calculated to assess how much a predicting (exogenous) construct contributes to an
endogenous latent construct, where effect size values are interpreted as small (0.02), medium
(0.15) or large (0.35) (Cohen, 1988). Predictive relevance (Q2) measures the extent to which a
specific exogenous construct can be accurately predicted by an endogenous construct. Q2
will show how well the data collected empirically can be reconstructed with the PLS
 Second-Order
Emotional
First-Order construct construct Items Loadings α CR AVE intelligence,
empowering
SEA (self-emotion SEA1 0.880 0.882 0.919 0.739
appraisal) leadership
SEA2 0.870
SEA3 0.882
SEA4 0.804
OEA (other’s emotion OEA1 0.860 0.926 0.947 0.818
appraisal)
OEA2 0.912
OEA3 0.913
OEA4 0.932
UOE (use of emotion) UOE1 0.914 0.928 0.949 0.822
UOE2 0.890
UOE3 0.921
UOE4 0.901
ROE (regulation of ROE1 0.879 0.873 0.916 0.735
emotion)
ROE2 0.944
ROE3 0.905
ROE4 0.675
Emotional SEA 0.920 0.968 0.971 0.680
intelligence
OEA 0.926
UOE 0.941
ROE 0.955
Authority DA1 0.950 0.963 0.976 0.930
DA2 0.979
DA3 0.965
Accountability ACC 1 0.953 0.920 0.949 0.862
ACC 2 0.962
ACC 3 0.867
Self-directed decision SDM1 0.872 0.829 0.899 0.749
making
SDM2 0.945
SDM3 0.770
Information sharing IS1 0.965 0.925 0.964 0.930
IS2 0.964
Skill development SD1 0.790 0.855 0.908 0.767
SD2 0.937
SD3 0.894
Coaching CIP1 0.927 0.891 0.932 0.821
CIP2 0.956
CIP3 0.830
Empowering Authority 0.676 0.954 0.960 0.596
leadership
Accountability 0.910
Self-directed decision- 0.940
making
Information sharing 0.924
Skill development 0.776
Coaching 0.872
Meaning ME1 0.859 0.895 0.935 0.827
ME2 0.946 Table 1.
ME3 0.920 Result of measurement
model, reliability and
(continued ) validity
LODJ Second-Order
First-Order construct construct Items Loadings α CR AVE

Competence CO1 0.971 0.940 0.962 0.893

CO2 0.949
CO3 0.914
Self-determination SDL1 0.937 0.929 0.955 0.875
SDL2 0.922
SDL3 0.947 0.827 0.897 0.744
Impact IM1 0.922
IM2 0.861
IM3 0.801
Psychological Meaning 0.906 0.940 0.949 0.614
empowerment
Competence 0.880
Self-determination 0.892
Impact 0.734
Vigor V12 0.904 0.923 0.940 0.730
V15 0.530
V17 0.828
V4 0.868
V8 0.953
VI1 0.967
Dedication DE10 0.945 0.943 0.957 0.819
DE13 0.970
DE2 0.922
DE5 0.939
DE7 0.729
Absorption AB11 0.731 0.936 0.950 0.760
AB14 0.897
AB16 0.865
AB3 0.856
AB6 0.917
AB9 0.948
Work engagement Vigor 0.915 0.965 0.970 0.666
Dedication 0.949
Table 1. Absorption 0.944

parameters. Based on blindfolding procedures, Q2 evaluates the predictive validity of a large

complex model using PLS. If Q2 values are greater than zero, this indicates that the
endogenous constructs have satisfactory predictive relevance (Chin et al., 2008; Hair et al.,
2017b). A bootstrapping technique was applied with a re-sampling of 5,000, and path
estimates and t-statistics were calculated to examine the hypothesized relationships.
Table 3 and Figure 1 show the structural model analysis. The results show that the
relationships between EI, EL, psychological empowerment and work engagement were
significant (β 5 0.772, t-value 5 17.149; β 5 0.398, t-value 5 3.872; β 5 0.548, t-value 5 5.467),
supporting hypotheses H1, H2, H4 and H5. The relationship between EI and work
engagement and psychological empowerment and work engagement were not significant
(β 5 0.183, t-value 5 1.733; β 5 0.140, t-value 5 1.464), so we reject hypotheses H3 and H6.
The corrected R2 values reported in Figure 1 refer to the explanatory power of the predictor
variable(s) on the respective constructs. EL explains 59.6% of EI (R 5 0.596), psychological
empowerment explains 54% of EL (R 5 0.541) and work engagement explains 65% of EL
(R 5 0.650). The effect size (f2) value indicates that EI has a large effect on EL (1.475), a
medium effect on psychological empowerment (0.140) and a small effect on work engagement
Constructs ABS ACC AUT COA COM DED IMP INS MEA OEA ROE SEA SED SDM SKD UOE VIG

Absorption 0.872
(ABS)
Accountability 0.668 0.929
(ACC)
Authority 0.436 0.500 0.965
(AUT)
Coaching (COA) 0.665 0.706 0.587 0.906
Competency 0.539 0.454 0.418 0.586 0.945
(COM)
Dedication 0.874 0.677 0.475 0.621 0.425 0.905
(DED)
Impact (IMP) 0.487 0.531 0.423 0.431 0.520 0.521 0.863
Information 0.701 0.863 0.503 0.738 0.498 0.643 0.481 0.964
sharing (INS)
Meaning (MEA) 0.607 0.594 0.548 0.697 0.713 0.490 0.599 0.585 0.909
OEA 0.691 0.791 0.592 0.779 0.597 0.692 0.571 0.766 0.616 0.905
ROE 0.683 0.708 0.571 0.789 0.593 0.647 0.516 0.670 0.633 0.869 0.857
SEA 0.508 0.623 0.434 0.621 0.489 0.470 0.466 0.534 0.543 0.764 0.847 0.859
Self- 0.530 0.485 0.538 0.718 0.733 0.471 0.506 0.475 0.765 0.605 0.651 0.514 0.935
determination
(SED)
Self-directed 0.686 0.864 0.538 0.776 0.469 0.620 0.471 0.891 0.664 0.763 0.702 0.576 0.503 0.865
(SDM)
Skill 0.503 0.673 0.314 0.607 0.286 0.377 0.342 0.732 0.423 0.546 0.432 0.387 0.276 0.717 0.876
development
(SKD)
UOE 0.552 0.571 0.461 0.638 0.541 0.496 0.468 0.544 0.511 0.811 0.861 0.853 0.541 0.576 0.394 0.907
Vigor (VIG) 0.772 0.811 0.503 0.692 0.514 0.798 0.555 0.798 0.614 0.787 0.683 0.576 0.474 0.771 0.486 0.541 0.855
leadership
intelligence,
empowering
Emotional

Discriminant validity
Table 2.
LODJ T- P-
Hypotheses Beta statistics values Decision

H1: Emotional intelligence - > empowering leadership 0.772 17.149 0.000 Supported
H2: Emotional intelligence - > psychological empowerment 0.398 3.872 0.000 Supported
H3: Emotional intelligence - > work engagement 0.183 1.733 0.084 Not supported
H4: Empowering leadership - > psychological 0.383 3.668 0.000 Supported
empowerment
H5: Empowering leadership - > work engagement 0.548 5.067 0.000 Supported
Table 3. H6: Psychological empowerment - > work engagement 0.140 1.464 0.144 Not supported
Structural model Note(s): Significant at p < 0.05

Figure 1.
Structural model

(0.034). EL has a medium effect on psychological empowerment (0.129) and a large effect on
work engagement (0.307), while psychological empowerment has a small effect on work
engagement (0.026). The Q2 values indicate that endogenous constructs (EL 5 0.328 > 0;
PE 5 0.307 > 0; WE 5 0.400 > 0) have acceptable predictive relevance, which is indicative of a
highly predictive model.

Discussion and implications

Theoretical implications
This study has two principal theoretical implications. First, it suggests that EI is an important
predictor of EL and psychological empowerment, while EL supports work engagement.
Second, the study finds employees with high EI and stimulated by the EL experience
enhanced psychological empowerment and work engagement. More importantly, employees
with higher levels of EI will more successfully build interpersonal relationships with other
staff and gain more support from those with whom they build a relationship (Hur et al., 2011;
Yan et al., 2018). As Erkutlu and Chafra (2012) argued, leaders who possess high levels of EI
are better equipped to fulfill the needs of staff nurses and patients, take an active interest in
them and respond to changes in their emotional states. Similarly, Zhu et al. (2015) found
nurses with high levels of EI have a better perception of EL and provide high levels of work
engagement. For this reason, hospitals should ensure that staff nurses develop high EI to
balance the rational and emotional effectively.
Managerial implications Emotional
The results of this study provide useful insights for managerial and business practice in the intelligence,
hospital sector. EI and EL play an important role in enhancing psychological empowerment
and EL in fostering work engagement. For this reason, hospital managers should provide
empowering
training and development to build staff nurses’ EI and EL, empowering them to support leadership
their nursing teams. For a nurse with underdeveloped interpersonal and empathy skills,
workplace training to develop EI is crucial. The successful EI training develops nurses’
positive attitudes and adaptability, leading to improved relationships among nurses and
with patients (Zhu et al., 2015). Most importantly, nurses felt empowered, and nurse leaders
demonstrated their management skills in building relationships. This research adds to the
evidence that empowering work conditions provide a personal sense of empowerment
through autonomy, confidence and meaningfulness, which have positive organizational
impacts (Lucas et al., 2008). As Faulkner and Laschinger (2008) argued, staff nurses who
have more access to empowering structures also have positive attitudes toward their work,
feeling personal empowerment and respect. Similarly, Zhang et al. (2018) suggested that
employees who perceive higher levels of empowerment are more likely to build robust
credential motivation to achieve better engagement in their workplace. Nurse managers
have a major influence on workplace cultures (Newman et al., 2015), so they need access to
development programmes focusing on their EI and EL skills (Crowne et al., 2017). A strong
leadership support and a training programme will improve emotional identification and
emotion management abilities among staff nurses trained in EI and EL (Crowne et al., 2017;
Davies et al., 2010).
Systematic training programmes and strategies for enhancing nursing management
and leadership competencies are important in helping nurses understand their own and
others’ emotions, increasing social competencies and reducing turnover intentions
(Aboshaiqah et al., 2016). Training to develop EI presents a number of challenges
(Clarke, 2006a), although team-based learning has produced promising results (Clarke,
2010). EI training has been effectively developed in nursing through reflection on practice
(Akerjodet and Severinsson, 2004) and workplace learning initiatives (Clarke, 2006b). There
is evidence that EI training can contribute to developing meaningfulness at work (Thory,
2016), and on balance most studies show a positive influence on reducing stress at work
(Mattingly and Kraiger, 2019).

Limitations and future research

There are limitations to the extent that one might generalize the findings beyond the study
context of private hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Expanding the research to public
hospitals, other sectors and other countries would make it possible to explore whether
relationships found between EI, EL and psychological empowerment and work engagement
are context-specific or more generic in nature.
Future research could also explore which elements of EI and EL affect psychological
empowerment and work engagement, and which have most effect. There is also value in
incorporating other variables, such as employee commitment as an independent variable
and turnover intentions or other employee outcomes as dependent variables. The positive
impact of EI on EL and of each on psychological empowerment appears to be
unambiguously beneficial for employees, but the findings are less clear with respect to
work engagement. It would therefore be of value in exploring the extent to which work
engagement is perceived to be beneficial by employees given its association with work
intensification (Truss et al., 2013) and its potential to undermine collective representation
(Townsend et al., 2014).
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Appendix Emotional
Measurement items
intelligence,
empowering
leadership

Construct Sources

Emotional intelligence Wang and Law (2002), Yan et al. (2018)

SEA (self-emotion appraisal)
I have a good sense of why I have certain feelings most of the
time
I have good understanding of my own emotions
I really understand what I feel
I always know whether or not I am happy
OEA (Other’s emotion appraisal)
I always know my friends’ emotions from their behavior
I am a good observer of others’ emotions. I am sensitive to the
feelings and emotions of others
I have good understanding of the emotions of people around me
UOE (use of emotion)
I always set goals for myself and then try my best to achieve
them
I always tell myself I am a competent person
I am a self-motivated person
I would always encourage myself to try my best
ROE (regulation of emotion)
I am able to control my temper and handle difficulties rationally
I am quite capable of controlling my own emotions
I can always calm down quickly when I am very angry
I have good control of my own emotions
Empowering Leadership Konczak et al. (2000)
Delegation of authority
My manager gives me the authority I need to make decisions
that improve work processes and procedures
My manager gives me the authority to make changes necessary
to improve things
My manager delegates authority to me that is equal to the level
of responsibility that I am assigned
Accountability
My manager holds me accountable for the work I am assigned
I am held accountable for performance and results
My manager holds people in the department accountable for
customer satisfaction
Self-directed decision-making
My manager tries to help me arrive at my own solutions when
problems arise, rather than telling me what he/she would do
My manager relies on me to make my own decisions about
issues that affect how work gets done
My manager encourages me to develop my own solutions to
problems I encounter in my work
Information sharing
My manager shares information that I need to ensure high
quality results
My manager provides me with the information I need to meet
customers’ needs

(continued )
LODJ
Construct Sources

Skill development
My manager encourages me to use systematic problem-solving
methods (e.g., the seven-step problem-solving model)
My manager provides me with frequent opportunities to
develop new skills
My manager ensures that continuous learning and skill
development are priorities in our department
Coaching for innovative performance
My manager is willing to risk mistakes on my part if, over the
long term, I will learn and develop as a result of the experience
I am encouraged to try out new ideas even if there is a chance
they may not succeed
My manager focuses on corrective action rather than placing
blame when I make a mistake
Psychological Empowerment Spreitzer (1995), Eo et al. (2014), Meng et al.
(2016)
Meaning
The work I do is very important to me
My job activities are personally meaningful to me
The work I do is meaningful to me
Competence
I am confident about my ability to do my job
I am self-assured about my capabilities to perform my work
activities
I have mastered the skills necessary for my job
Self-determination
I have significant autonomy in determining how I do my job
I can decide on my own how to go about doing my work
I have considerable opportunity for independence and freedom
in how I do my job
Impact
My impact on what happens in my department is large
I have a great deal of control over what happens in my
department
I have significant influence over what happens in my
department
Work Engagement Schaufeli et al. (2006), Schaufele et al. (2002),
Eo et al. (2014), Yan et al. (2018)
Vigor
At my work, I feel bursting with energy
At my job, I feel strong and vigorous
When I get up in the morning, I feel like going to work
I am immersed in my work
I can continue working for very long periods at a time
At my job, I am very resilient, mentally
At my work, I always persevere, even when things do not go
well
Dedication
I find the work that I do full of meaning and purpose
I am enthusiastic about my job
My job inspires me
I am proud of the work that I do

(continued )
Construct Sources
Emotional
intelligence,
To me, my job is challenging empowering
Absorption
Time flies when I am working leadership
When I am working, I forget everything else around me
I feel happy when I am working intensely
I am immersed in my work
I get carried away when I am working
It is difficult to detach myself from my job

Corresponding author
Jonathan Winterton can be contacted at: j.c.winterton@leeds.ac.uk

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