The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on

Employees’ Creativity and Innovativeness

Benedict Arthur1, Millicent Selase Afenya2,

Priscilla Manu Larbi3 and Rebecca Aduku4

Emotional intelligence is gradually gaining recognition in many organizations today. Despite several
revelations in the literature on emotional intelligence, no study has comprehensively empirically captured
its influence on organizations in Africa. Hence, this study explores the connection between emotional
intelligence and employees’ creativity and innovativeness using the case of workers from the
telecommunication and manufacturing sectors in Ghana. A sample size of 205 workers was randomly
drawn from these two sectors. The study found no statistically significant relationship between emotional
intelligence and employees’ creativity and innovativeness. The result contradicts several existing studies
which documented a significant positive relationship between emotional intelligence and employees’ level
of creativity and innovativeness. The authors attribute the contradiction to the differences in culture, as
a majority of such studies were conducted outside Africa. As a result, it is recommended that managers
create a more enabling environment for employees to express themselves, which will boost their level of
creativity and innovativeness in the organization.

Introduction
Emotional intelligence is progressively getting recognition in most businesses today. The concept
has gained more recognition from scholars in this era, where organizations are customer-driven
with a competitive and unpredictable environment. The application of emotional intelligence
supports employees and managers to identify and understand emotions by using emotional
intelligence to manage his or her relationship with others (Singh, 2001).
According to Mayer et al. (2000), emotional intelligence “is the ability to perceive and
express emotions, assimilate emotions in that, understand and reason with emotions and

1
Ph.D., School of Finance, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, China; and is the corresponding
author. E-mail: arthurbenedict77@yahoo.com
2
Ph.D., School of Accounting, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, China.
E-mail: millicentselase@hotmail.com
3
Research Assistant, School of Accounting, University of Professional Studies, Accra, Ghana.
E-mail: bfuture410@gmail.com
4
Masters’ Student, Business Administration, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, China.
E-mail: rebeccaaduku27@gmail.com

36
© 2022 IUP. All Rights Reserved. The IUP Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 20, No. 1, 2022
regulate these emotions in the self and others.” In other words, emotional intelligence creates
awareness of one’s emotions, how their behavior affects others within the organization, and
the ability to utilize emotions and apply them to tasks and duties, be it decision making,
problem-solving, and so on within the organization.
According to Gondal and Husain (2013), organizations previously were not disposed to
develop their employees’ capabilities regarding emotional intelligence, but now organizations
must be focused on the inadequacy of their employees’ emotional intelligence in order to be
successful. As indicated, emotionally intelligent people are self-aware, understand social
rules with respect to the emotional display, and regulate their actions according to those
rules. This ability directs how their priorities are ordered, how to be discrete in their comments,
and how to fit in as an organizational member.
Employees’ creativity at the workplace is often a starting point for innovation (Zhou and
George, 2001). Creativity at the workplace can be defined as producing novel and useful
solutions and ideas (Oldham and Cummings, 1996; Amabile, 1997; and Zhou and George,
2001, 2003). To survive and prosper, organizations need to take advantage of their employees’
creative potential so that innovation, change, learning, performance, and competitiveness
can be achieved (Griffin et al., 1993; and McAdam and Keogh, 2004).
Innovation is considered a complex and interactive process involving multiple feedback
between different services and functions and manifold interactions with customers and
suppliers (Kline and Rosenberg, 1986). This core value forms part of most organizations’
mission and vision statements; however, little action has been taken to ensure that innovative
performance is fully adapted. “Emotional intelligence is the key to effective performance and
to stay ahead of the pack in times of organizational changes” (Diggins, 2004). Literature on
emotional intelligence has suggested that individuals described as having a high level of
emotional intelligence reflect characteristics that can fulfill qualities such as good
communication, cohesion, innovation, and individual member support. Easterby-Smith
et al. (2000) found that emotion plays a crucial part in employees’ readiness to create and
innovate.
Creativity and innovation are no doubt necessary in helping managers and leaders deal
with the business environment, which is fast-changing and developing. Customers’ needs
and wants are continually changing, and the desire to meet these needs and wants would call
for a creative and innovative environment within the organization. On the other hand,
emotions can enhance the organization’s activities concerning creativity and innovation
when properly expressed, understood, and applied. According to Moore (2007), increased
emotional awareness and understanding will pay off in all aspects of life. As a leader, you will
perform better, enjoy less stress, work in a more effective and creative environment, be more
successful, and so will the people around you. Hence, understanding the interactions among
these variables, emotional intelligence, creativity, and innovative performance is crucial for
the organization’s growth. However, there is little emphasis on developing emotional
intelligence within organizations (Polman, 2010).

The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Employees’ Creativity 37

and Innovativeness
 Employees of any organization are said to be the first assets of the company. They are
considered assets because they are responsible for transforming other resources in the company
into either finished or semi-finished products. Employees play a major role in using these
resources, be it financial or material resources, to create output to satisfy a need or want.
Again employees are the only assets that respond to economic dynamics in the organization.
They can respond to changes by using the resources available to meet these changes. However,
how employees personally respond to these changes can also substantially affect how they
will use the resources to meet their goals. Knowledge of who your employee is, how they react
to change, how they respond under pressure, and how well they take constructive criticisms
is very important in assessing their level of creativity and innovation.
The bureaucratic nature of organizations within the Ghanaian setting has made employees
to work mechanically, giving little room for employees to express their emotions, feelings,
and opinions when necessary. Employees are not biological machines who can leave their
feelings and emotions at home when coming to work. It is, therefore, important to give more
attention to the concept of emotional intelligence, especially in this era where organizations
are customer-focused, to sharpen employees’ willingness and readiness to create and innovate.
For this reason, the study is enthralled in examining the level of emotional intelligence
within the organization and how it influences employees’ creativity and innovativeness in
Ghana.
This study makes a significant contribution to the existing literature. It bridges the
geographical gap of studies on emotional intelligence on employees’ creativity and
innovativeness by using current data from an emerging sub-Saharan country to discover
recent trends on the topic under review. Most of the studies on emotional intelligence and
its impact on employees’ performance were undertaken outside Africa (Crossan et al., 1999;
Barczak et al., 2010; Polman, 2010; Hasan and Nazife, 2012; and Gong et al., 2019). It is
evident that the economic state and the cultural makeup of these countries by far differ
from that of Africa like Ghana. Moreover, the findings of this study offer fresh insights
about the relationship between emotional intelligence and employees’ level of creativity
and innovativeness.
The next section presents the supporting theoretical outline, review of relevant literature
and hypotheses development. The subsequent section discusses the research methodology,
including the empirical model, data sources, and data sampling, followed by the analysis of
empirical outcomes, and the last section covers the conclusion.

Literature Review and Hypotheses

This section reviews literature that relates to emotional intelligence and how it influences
employees’ creativity and innovativeness. It covers the theoretical framework and empirical
review and research hypotheses.

38 The IUP Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 20, No. 1, 2022

Theoretical Framework
Given the purpose and nature of this study, it is appropriate to consider the theoretical
considerations underlying the key variables.

Theory of Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is defined as “the ability to manage one’s own and other people’s
emotions, to clearly differentiate them from one another, and to use this knowledge to guide
one’s own thinking and action” (Salovey and Mayer, 1990). Goleman described how to help
students develop emotional intelligence in his 1995 book; his survey of more than 500
organizations from the Hay Group revealed that more than 85% of top leaders owe their
outstanding performance to emotional intelligence rather than intelligence (Goleman, 1995).
“Emotional intelligence is a cycle of non-cognitive skills and competencies that influence
individuals’ ability to successfully respond to environmental demands and pressures”
(Bar-On, 1997). Goleman introduced the concept of emotional competence in 1998, defining
it as follows: “On the grounds of emotional intelligence, performers have found good
accomplishments at work and illustrated the ability to perform through acquisition”. To
differentiate emotional competence from emotional intelligence, he believes that emotional
intelligence is primarily a potential. In contrast, emotional competence is a type of acquired
proficiency based on emotional intelligence that reflects people’s capacity to learn and ace
skills and apply this intellectual prowess to particular situations (Goleman, 1998). Cooper
stated that “if intelligence quotient is the motivating factor in business in the twentieth
century, emotional intelligence will be the key driver in business in the twenty-first century”
(Cooper and Sawaf, 1998). In addition, Bar-On indicated in 2000 that emotional intelligence
is a social capability that influences a variety of emotional capabilities and impacts
environmental needs. Bar-On furthermore distinguished between emotional intelligence
and social intelligence, defining emotional intelligence as a person’s capacity to manage
one’s own acts, such as impulsive behavior, and social awareness as a relational skill (Bar-On
and Parker, 2000). Moreover, Salovey and Mayer refined and expanded the concept of
emotional intelligence as a cognitive emotion utilized to improve cognitive operations and
the ability to solve difficulties and challenges through the application of knowledge (Mayer
et al., 2000). Emotional intelligence is comprised of four components: (1) the capacity to
accurately comprehend, evaluate, and express feelings; (2) the ability to boost thinking using
emotion; (3) the ability to understand emotion and emotional knowledge; and (4) the ability
to adjust and manage emotions.

Developmental Theory of Creativity and Innovation

The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity summarizes ten theories on creativity, of which
developmental theory is the first. This theory states that creativity is developed over time.
The achievement of creativity results from an individual’s interaction with the environment,
thus, family, workplace, surrounding places, and others. Individual interactions involve
emotions, both positive and negative. Therefore, if these emotions are not properly managed,
it can affect employees’ ability to develop creative ideas.

The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Employees’ Creativity 39

and Innovativeness
 For this reason, employees must understand their emotions and those they interact with
within the working environment to interact well and develop their creativity and that of
others over time. Being conscious about your environment, workplace, and all your
surroundings helps you positively interact with them and, with time, develop and bring
about new methods of going about things and even helping others do the same. The above
theories explain that without understanding one’s emotions, that of others and taking into
consideration their surroundings, their skills and capabilities can be misplaced or not fully
utilized, hindering their abilities to develop new ideas, express their opinions on pressing
issues and come up with better ways of undertaking their operations. It is important that
leaders and employees know their emotions. In knowing their emotions, they are able to
manage and use their emotions appropriately in performing their tasks. They are able to
motivate themselves and others and build sustaining relationships that will foster sharing
and developing creative ideas among themselves.
According to Certo (2000), innovation is the “application and development of new
techniques and methods in an enabling condition to manufacture goods and services”. In
other words, the practical application of ideas that result in new goods or services or
improvements in the delivery of goods or services is referred to as innovation. Innovation is
a science that can be improved through learning and practice (Sarçay, 2012). One of the tools
of entrepreneurship is innovation. Incompatibilities, process requirements, unexpected
developmental changes in the industry and market, changes in perception, demographic
changes, and new information arising within or outside the organization have all compelled
the organization to innovate (Drucker, 1985). There are various classifications of innovation
types. However, product, process, radical, and progressive innovations are the most common
classification types found in the literature (Sarçay, 2012).

Empirical Review
The available literature provides a few studies which endeavor to establish the relationship
between the major variables investigated. Some of these studies are described below:

Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Employees’ Creativity

Barczak et al. (2010) stated that creative capital is considered the greatest asset in many
organizations. They argued that the future success of many organizations relies on their
ability to tap into the creative potential of employees. Trust developed among team members
as a result of emotional intelligence permits employees the freedom to come up with novel
ideas and introduce conflicting opinions without fear of rejection, giving room for innovation.
Their study used a population of 82 student teams at a university in the northeast United
States. The student teams had members of both genders and consisted of junior and senior
year students. The participation of students was voluntary. The responses collected were 467,
with 53% females and 47% males. Questionnaires were administered to the students during
the class period in 12 different sections during autumn. Teams’ creativity was measured using
an 8-item creativity scale from Rego et al. (2007). The collaborative culture was measured
using an 8-item scale by Lopez et al. (2004). The team emotional intelligence scale by Jordan

40 The IUP Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 20, No. 1, 2022

and Lawrence was used to measure the emotional intelligence of teams. Their hypotheses
were tested using hierarchical moderated regression analysis with the use of SPSS. All
constructs of their study were published scales that have demonstrated good psychometric
properties in earlier studies.
Barczak et al. (2010) indicated that emotionally intelligent teams create cognitive and
affective team trust. This team trust helps build a collaborative culture which leads to higher
levels of team creativity. Cognitive trust enhances creativity by diminishing the relationship
between collaborative culture and team creativity. The two characteristics of an emotionally
intelligent individual are persistence and creativity. This means that an emotionally intelligent
employee possesses the ability to be creative. Emotionally intelligent teams have contributed
to team effectiveness through team communication and cohesion, established norms and
creativity, and conflict resolution. Their study explored other antecedents of team creativity,
namely, team emotional intelligence and team trust, and examined the relationships among
these precursors to creative efforts. Results from their analysis indicate that when team
members are aware of their emotions and can manage others’ emotions, they provide the
support that provides cognitive trust. From their study, positive cognitive trust impacts team
creativity.
Their study was conducted in the US, a more developed country where employees are
exposed to better working conditions, properly defined systems, and better training. We,
therefore, seek to conduct our research in a developing country like Ghana to determine
whether or not the finding of Barczak et al. (2010) can be generalized. Again, the researchers
based their study on student teams and not employees of an organization. We, in our research,
will use employees of selected companies in carrying out our study to investigate whether or
not their findings can be supported.
Rego et al. (2007) studied the relationship between six dimensions of leaders’ emotional
intelligence developed and validated by Rego and Fernandes (2005), which are understanding
one’s emotions, self-control against criticism, self-encouragement, emotional self-control,
empathy and understanding other people’s emotion, and two dimensions of employee
creativity. Manager’s age, tenure, and gender were used as control variables. Their study
suggests that emotionally intelligent leaders promote creativity in their employees. Leaders
who understand the emotions of people can accurately perceive when employees are losing
their patience or getting frustrated with an inability to obtain necessary resources or find a
solution to a problem (Zhou and George, 2003, as cited in Rego et al., 2007). According to the
authors, leaders, as well as fellow employees, can assist each other recover from setbacks and
disappointments, pinpointing the causes of such negative emotions and helping each other
(employees as well as leaders) become aware of the problems and adopt a proactive approach
to creatively solve it. They also believe that the employees’ frustrations can be perceived
when facing obstacles in implementing their new ideas, and employees can be stimulated to
continue to believe in and improve the value of their ideas. Emotional intelligence is
fundamental to effective performance and to continue performing better than those around
you during organizational change (Rego et al., 2010). It was argued by Zhou and George (2003)

The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Employees’ Creativity 41

and Innovativeness
that “emotional intelligence plays an important part in: (a) promoting specific behavior in
leaders; (b) helping leaders to adjust their behavior to the emotions and creativity requirements
in each situation; (c) promoting a profitable relationship between leaders and employees, in
such a way that employees feel free and committed to channeling creativity towards better
performance, while leaders create the conditions to nourish and expand the ‘creative capital’
of the organization.”
The researchers used a sample of 138 respondents comprising of a top and middle manager
from 66 operating organizations in the European Union. Out of their sample size, 25% were
females, and 75% were males. The mean age was 39.1, and 10.8 was the organizational tenure.
Rego and Fernandes (2005) developed and validated an instrument (used to report on a
manager’s emotional intelligence. The instrument measured all six dimensions mentioned
above. The next instrument used was proposed by Zhou and George (2001). This instrument
reported on the creativity level of employees by leaders. Upon their analysis, it was discovered
that leaders exhibit high levels of self-control against criticism and emotional self-control
compared to the other emotional intelligence dimensions. Also, the manager’s age and tenure
did not significantly correlate with a leader’s emotional intelligence and employee creativity.
Considering gender, results showed that females exhibited a high level of empathy and
described their employees to be good at providing useful ideas. Their findings concluded that
self-control against criticism and empathy has a greater outcome than the other dimensions
of emotional intelligence. Employees feel motivated when leaders accept their ideas rather
than discourage them from coming up with useful ideas. This prevents defensive behavior
from employees and their refraining from contributing useful ideas in the future. Also, leaders
who show empathy have greater respect and consideration for employees. They also assist
them when they encounter problems and grant them opportunities that require creativity.
This encourages employees to try new and different tasks and think independently without
fear of being reprimanded. Based on the literature review, the researchers hypothesized that
H1: There is a significant positive relationship between emotional intelligence and employees’ creativity.

Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Employees’ Innovativeness

Hasan and Nazife (2012) studied the relationship between emotional intelligence and
innovative work behavior of employees within the banking sector in Turkey. The study
revealed that there is a significant relationship between emotional intelligence and innovative
work behavior of employees in a positive way. Though positive, the relationship that exists is
not so strong. The study was undertaken through two survey studies applied to 332 Turkish
employees in the banking sector. A total of 138 were women, and 194 were men. A scale by
Wong and Law (2002) was used to measure emotional intelligence. The scale measured four
factors: self-emotion appraisal, regulation of emotions, use of emotions, and others’ emotions
appraisal. The second scale, which measured innovative work behavior, was developed by
Janssen (2000). Correlation analysis was used to determine if there was a relationship between
the two variables. The data was analyzed by means of the SPSS 16 package program. It was
obtained from their results that the higher the emotional intelligence level of an employee,

42 The IUP Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 20, No. 1, 2022

the newer ideas he or she develops and applies for the benefit of the organization. They
discovered that employees who have more knowledge of their emotions and that of others
tend to be more innovative than those who do not. They attributed the low strength in the
relationship between emotional intelligence and innovative work behaviors to the difference
in an institution (research was conducted using both public and private institutions).
Consequently, in line with the literature, we hypothesized that
H2: There is a significant positive relationship between emotional intelligence and employees’
innovativeness.

Data and Methodology

Research Design
The study relied heavily on primary data which was obtained by distributing questionnaires
to the targeted respondents. The use of questionnaires provided the researchers with
immediate and comprehensive information underlying the research objectives. The study
was conducted among the workers of some telecommunication companies and manufacturing
companies in Ghana. Following random sampling without replacement techniques, a sample
of 205 respondents was drawn from these companies. The study relied primarily on
questionnaires. The questionnaire was designed in a closed-ended form (see Appendix).
Also, interviews were used as a backup in situations where questionnaires could not suffice.
The data collection covered a period of seven months (from February 2021 to August 2021).
Inferential statistical tools (STATA and SPSS statistical software) were used to analyze,
interpret, and draw conclusions from the primary data collected.

Respondents’ Demographic Characteristics

Age, gender, marital status, and educational level of the respondents were used in the analysis
of socioeconomic or demographic characteristics. Details of the demographic analysis are
offered in Table 1. Table 1 shows an uneven distribution of males and females in the selected
companies at 63.9% and 35.6%, respectively. It can be deduced from the table that these
companies employ more youth as compared to the older age group. The majority of the
respondents were within the ages of 20-39 years contributing to 86.3% of the respondents.
This can be attributed to the desire for young and fresh talents within these sectors who have
new ideas, especially in this age where technology is fast developing, and the youth are known
to be more abreast with modern technology. About 39.5% of the respondents are married,
and 60.5% are single. This could be because most of the younger employees are just coming
out of the university with a few years of experience and are yet to settle. Most employees fell
below the ten-year length of service with 79.0%, and employees above ten years with 18.5%.
Lastly, it is evident that most of the respondents have at least a bachelors’ level of degree
certificate (accounted for more than 65%). This may be attributed to the increase in the
number of university graduates who are believed to possess some substantial level of fresh
talent over the years.

The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Employees’ Creativity 43

and Innovativeness
 Table 1: Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents

Variable Type Frequency % Cumulative %

Gender Male 131 63.9 63.9

Female 74 36.1 100.0

Total 205 100.0

Age (Years) 20-39 177 86.3 86.3

40-60 28 13.7 100.0

Total 205 100.0

Marital Status Single 124 60.5 60.5

Married 81 39.5 100.0

Total 205 100.0

Education Level Bachelor’s Degree 134 65.3 65.3

Secondary Education 56 27.3 92.6

Basic Education 15 7.3 100.0

Total 205 100

Length of Service Below 10 years 162 79.0 79.0

Above 10 years 43 21.0 100.0

Total 205 100.0

Measurement of Variables
Dependent Variables
Creativity
In line with the existing literature, employee creativity is defined as generating ideas and
solutions to problems. We used the Creativity Style Questionnaires Revised (CSQ-R)
developed by Kumar et al. (1997) to measure this variable. The scale is based on the published,
widely accepted, standardized scale that has been validated by several studies (Nori et al.,
2018; Pérez-Fuentes et al., 2019; and Vidaci et al., 2021). The scale utilized in this study
consisted of 7 items. The scale was used to measure the extent to which the employee perceives
himself or herself as creative. As such, the respondents were asked to state their views on
creativity using a five-point Likert scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.”
The Cronbach’s alpha reliability for the seven items ranged from 0.56 to 0.84, with a median
of 0.76. The results confirmed that the data is in accordance with the model and reliable.

44 The IUP Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 20, No. 1, 2022

Following the previous studies as a guide, we used the total average score of the CSQ-R scale
as the final measurement for employees’ creativity.
Innovativeness
In this study, employees’ innovativeness is defined as the extent to which people can develop
new products or ways of doing things and improve on existing products or processes to solve
problems. It also talks about implementing those creative ideas. The innovativeness of
employees was measured using the questionnaire developed by Janssen and Van Yperen (2004)
and used in several related works (Yuan and Woodman, 2010; Stoffers et al., 2015; and Zhang
et al., 2018).
The eight items deployed were measured on a five-point Likert scale, ranging from strongly
disagree to strongly agree. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability for the eight items ranged from
0.58 to 0.93, with a median of 0.83. The results show that the data is in accordance with the
model and reliable. The total average score was used as the final measure of the innovative
variable performance of employees.

Independent Variable
Emotional Intelligence
In accordance with the existing literature, the operational definition of emotional intelligence
in this study is having knowledge and understanding of one’s emotions and that of others
and the ability to manage these emotions. This variable was measured using the Trait
Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue-SF) developed by Petrides (2009). The
TEIQue-SF scale is a widely accepted and standardized scale which several studies have used
(Law et al., 2004; Zampetakis, 2011; Sanchez-Ruiz et al., 2013; and Feher et al., 2019). Twenty-
three items out of the 30 items of TEIQue-SF encompassing all the dimensions of the operation
definition of the variable were utilized. The dimensions include appraising and expressing
one’s own emotions, evaluating and identifying the emotions of others, and monitoring
one’s own emotions. As well as using emotional self-motivation. The scale was scored on a
five-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The Cronbach’s alpha
reliability for the 23 items ranged from 0.57 to 0.88, with a median of 0.76. The results show that
the data is in accordance with the model and reliable. The total average score was used as the
final measurement for emotional intelligence.
Control Variables
To control the likelihood of other variables influencing the relationships between the
independent variable and dependent variables, gender, age, education, and the experience
were captured in the regression analysis as a covariate to control for the socio-demographic
differences (Janssen, 2003; Sijbom et al., 2016; Fakhreldin, 2017; and Huang et al., 2019).
With the exception of gender, which is treated as an indicator variable (one for males and
zero for females) in this study, the other three variables are continuous. Also, following the
study of Benedict et al. (2021), firm age and size were also introduced as covariates to control
for firms’ heterogeneity in the predictor. Firm age was calculated by subtracting the number

The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Employees’ Creativity 45

and Innovativeness
of years the firm has been operating from the year 2021 in the survey. The number of permanent
employees hired by the company also serves as a measure of firm size.

Model Specification
Yi   0  1X i   2D i   i ...(1)

where 0 is the intercept, 1 and 2 are the coefficients of explanatory variable and control
variables, respectively, Di is the control variable (firm and demography idiosyncratic
characteristics), Y is the dependent variable, X is the independent variable and i is the error
term (assumed to have zero mean and independent across period).
A detailed breakdown of the study model is provided below:

Creativity   0  1EI i   2 Age i   3Genderi   4 Educ i   5Expi   6 Firmagei

 7Firmsizei   i ...(2)

Innovativeness   0  1EI i   2 Age i   3Genderi   4 Educi   5Expi   6 Firmagei

 7Firmsizei   i ...(3)

where in Equations (2) and (3), 0 is the constant term, 1 is the parameter of the independent
variable, EIi is the emotional intelligence of the respondent i, Expi is the length of service of
the respondent, Educi is the educational level of the respondent i, 2 to 7 are the coefficients
of control variables and i is the error term (assumed to have zero mean and independent
across period). A multivariate linear regression following the model above was used to test
the hypotheses.

Results and Discussion

This section provides a summary of statistics and reliability outcomes on the key variables, the
regression analysis of the data collected, and the discussion and inferences drawn from the results.

Descriptive Statistics and Reliability Analysis

To test the reliability of all study scales, the Cronbach alpha reliability test was undertaken.
The total reliability analysis, which includes all the key variables, produced an alpha
coefficient of 0.938 for 38 variables. This figure is significantly greater than the threshold
of 0.700. This result demonstrates that employees evidently understood the questionnaire
questions and that there is internal consistency (Nakip, 2013). Nonetheless, each variable
was included in the subsequent analysis separately to comprehensively understand the
exploratory factor analysis. The summary statistics of the key variable shows that emotional
intelligence has a mean of 67.00 with a standard deviation of 7.83, which indicates a
greater variability among the key variables. The variable creativity also has a mean of
16.00, with a standard deviation of 4.12 being the least of variability among the key variables.
Lastly, innovativeness has an average of 29.52, with a standard deviation of 6.75 from its
mean (Table 2).

46 The IUP Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 20, No. 1, 2022

 Table 2: Descriptive Statistics and Reliability Analysis of Variables (N = 205)

Variable Mean SD Cronbach Alpha

Emotional Intelligence 67.00 7.83 0.96

Creativity 16.00 4.12 0.89

Innovativeness 29.52 6.75 0.93

Regression Analysis
In line with the objectives of the study, separate regression models with creativity and
innovativeness as the two dependent variables were created. Model 1 shows the univariate
regression between the independent and dependent variables for creativity and innovativeness.
Model 2, on the other hand, shows the multivariate regression for both creativity and
innovativeness.

Emotional Intelligence on Employees’ Creativity

From Table 3, it is evident from the univariate regression (model 1) that a positively
significant relationship exists between emotional intelligence and employees’ creativity.
By implication, all things being equal, a unit increase in emotional intelligence will lead to
a more than 39% increase in employees’ creativity. However, the univariate results should
be interpreted with caution because other variables may influence the relationship between
the outcome and predictor variables leading to bias or spurious regression (Janssen, 2003;
and Sijbom et al., 2016). Therefore, we control for respondents’ and firms’ heterogeneous
characteristics that might affect the relationship using a multivariate regression setting
(model 2) to avoid the potential bias and ensure a robust result. The results from the
multivariate regression framework show that the impact of emotional intelligence on
employees’ creativity was statistically insignificant. The insignificant value for emotional
intelligence in the robust estimated regression suggests that employees’ creativity in
Ghana’s manufacturing and telecommunication companies is not influenced by emotional

Table 3: The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Creativity and Innovativeness

Creativity Innovativeness
Variable
Model 1 Model 2 Model 1 Model 2

Emotional 0.396** 0.138 0.547** 0.163

Intelligence (0.198) (0.246) (0.273) (0.191)

Education 0.131*** 0.297***

(0.018) (0.101)

Experience 0.125** 0.172***

(0.061) (0.046)

The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Employees’ Creativity 47

and Innovativeness
 Table 3 (Cont.)

Creativity Innovativeness
Variable
Model 1 Model 2 Model 1 Model 2

Age 0.024** 0.048**

(0.012) (0.023)

Gender 0.025 0.038

(0.017) (0.025)

Firm Age –0.028** –0.014**

(0.014) (0.006)

Firm Size –0.028* –0.031*

(0.015) (0.019)

Constant 4.256*** 3.841*** 5.143*** 4.616***

(0.812) (0.812) (0.718) (0.623)

R2 0.0844 0.8876 0.0912 0.9341

Adj. R2 0.0787 0.8707 0.0896 0.9153

F-Statistics 14.93 138.06 23.13 223.11

Prob. > F 0.0002 0.0000 0.0001 0.0000

Note: Standard errors are reported in parentheses; and ***, **, and * indicate significance at 1%, 5% and
10% levels, respectively.

intelligence. This outcome is inconsistent with studies that found a significant positive
impact of emotional intelligence on employees’ level of creativity (Barczak et al., 2010; and
Rego et al., 2010).
The difference between the univariate and multivariate analyses affirms that it is
necessary to control for firm-level and individual heterogeneous characteristics when
examining the empirical relation between employees’ creativity and emotional intelligence.
Therefore, using model 2 as the focus of estimation, a positive relationship was found
between employees’ creativity and emotional intelligence at 1% level of significance. This
suggests that their level of education influences employees’ creativity level. Thus, a unit
increase in their level of education will result in a corresponding unit increase in their
creativity. Also, the effect of employees’ experience which was estimated by their length of
service was established to be significant on employees’ creativity. The positive coefficient
of experience on creativity indicates that if all variables are kept constant, a unit increase
in the level of employees’ experience will increase employee creativity by roughly 13%.
The outcome of education and experience are in line with the previous studies (Polman,
2010; Nori et al., 2018; and Huang et al., 2019).

48 The IUP Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 20, No. 1, 2022

 In addition, age and gender were found to have a positive relationship with employees’
level of creativity. However, the coefficient of gender was found to be statistically insignificant,
indicating that employees’ level of creativity in the manufacturing and telecommunication
companies of Ghana is not affected by gender differences. Furthermore, firm age and firm size
were found to have a statistically significant negative relationship with employees’ level of
creativity. This outcome is in agreement with studies that opined that aged and bigger firms
tend to focus more on managing their resources efficiently rather than exploring new growth
opportunities, which, in turn, reduces resource innovation (Frambach and Schillewaert,
2002; Balasubramanian and Lee, 2008; Coad et al., 2016; and Loderer et al., 2017).
Moreover, it is evident from the multivariate regression results (Table 3) that the value of
R increased noticeably compared to that of the univariate regression. The value of multivariate
2

regression R2 on employees’ creativity was found to be 0.887 with an adjusted R2 of 0.870. This
value implies that 87% variation in the dependent variable is explained by the explanatory
variables proving that the model is well fitted and there is very little chance of misspecification.
The value of the F-statistic of the multivariate regression also indicates that the fitted
independent variables were jointly statistically significant at 1% level of significance based
on the p-value.

Emotional Intelligence on Employees’ Innovativeness

Similar to the univariate creativity results, a positive and significant relationship was
also established in the univariate regression result between employees’ emotional
intelligence and innovativeness. By implication, all things being equal, a unit increase
in emotional intelligence will lead to more than a 54% increase in employees’
innovativeness. While the univariate results in Table 3 seem to support H2, various firm
and individual (demography) level characteristics may potentially affect the empirical
relation between employees’ emotional intelligence and innovativeness. Therefore, a
multivariate regression setting was conducted to control for the possible heterogeneity
in the individual traits and firm characteristics that may affect the relationship under
review. From the multivariate regression results (model 2), it was found that a positive
relationship still exists between emotional intelligence and the innovativeness of
employees. However, the relationship between these two variables of interest was found
to be statistically insignificant. The insignificant effect of emotional intelligence on
employees’ innovativeness implies that their level of emotional intelligence does not
influence employees’ innovativeness in Ghana’s manufacturing and telecommunication
companies. This outcome is contrary to the findings of Wong and Law (2002) and Hasan
and Nazife (2012), who found a significantly positive relationship between emotional
intelligence and employees’ innovativeness.
The difference between the univariate and multivariate analyses affirms that it is essential
to control for firm-level and individual heterogeneous characteristics when examining the
empirical relationship between employees’ innovativeness and emotional intelligence. The
multivariate results further revealed that all the control variables with the exception of
gender have a significant empirical impact on employees’ innovativeness. Similar to the

The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Employees’ Creativity 49

and Innovativeness
covariates results on employees’ creativity, education, experience, age, and gender were found
to positively impact employees’ level of innovativeness. In line with these results, a respective
increase in the unit of education, experience, age, and gender will have a corresponding
respective increase in employee’s innovativeness, ceteris paribus. However, the insignificant
value of gender implies that employees’ level of innovativeness in the manufacturing and
telecommunication companies of Ghana does not depend on gender differences.
Furthermore, the multivariate results show that firm age and firm size have an empirically
negative impact on employees’ level of creativity, implying that a unit increase in these
respective firm-level variables will result in a corresponding decrease in employees’
innovativeness. This outcome confirms previous studies which argue that aged and bigger
firms are less innovative since they tend to focus more on managing their resources efficiently
rather than exploring new growth opportunities (Frambach and Schillewaert, 2002;
Balasubramanian and Lee, 2008; Coad et al., 2016; and Loderer et al., 2017).
Moreover, it is evident from the multivariate regression results of Table 3 that the value of
R is markedly bigger than that of the univariate regression. The value of R2 in the multivariate
2

regression on employees’ innovativeness was found to be 0.9341 with an adjusted R2 of 0.9153.

This value implies that barely 92% variation in the dependent variable is explained by the
explanatory variables evidencing that the model is well fitted and there is very little chance
of misspecification. The value of the F-statistic of the multivariate regression also reveals
that the fitted independent variables were jointly statistically significant at 1% level of
significance based on the p-value.

Summary of the Findings

The first hypothesis (H1) was to ascertain the relationship between emotional intelligence
and employees’ creativity in selected manufacturing and telecommunication companies of
Ghana. The result from the analysis indicated that there is no significant relationship between
emotional intelligence and the creativity of employees. This means that the creativity of
Ghanaian employees within the manufacturing and telecommunication companies is not
influenced by emotional intelligence. The result of this study refutes several findings of
research like Parke et al. (2005), Barczak et al. (2010), Rego et al. (2010), and the likes who
discovered that emotional intelligence did have a significant positive influence on an
employee’s level of creativity.
The second hypothesis (H2) was aimed at ascertaining the relationship between emotional
intelligence and innovativeness. Our findings also revealed that there is no significant
relationship between emotional intelligence and innovativeness. This means that emotional
intelligence has no influence on an employee’s ability to perform innovatively. The findings
contradict that of Wong and Law (2002) and Hasan and Nazife (2012), and many other
researchers.
We assume that the reason for this contradiction may be due to the difference in culture,
as most of such related studies were conducted outside Africa and particularly in the western
part of the world. The cultural setting in those parts of the world allows employees to express

50 The IUP Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 20, No. 1, 2022

themselves emotionally at the workplace, whether young or old. However, in the Ghanaian
culture or setting, individuals who often at times express their emotions are seen as weak or
insubordinate, and for that reason, they hide their emotions so that they can be considered
as strong or obedient. This assumption has been extended to the working environment
where both superiors and employees do not act based on their emotions for fear of being
considered weak or insubordinate.
Also, in the Ghanaian culture, leaders are perceived to be awe-inspiring, unapproachable,
and less emotional. The image Ghanaian workers have of their leaders makes it difficult for
them to approach the leaders, freely express their emotions and contribute ideas that can be
useful to the organization’s performance. In the view of Kant (1998), emotions lead individuals
to commit immoral acts such as favoring those they care about and thus violating the rational
demand of justice that one is impartial. This is the situation in Ghana and maybe a reason
why employees are not allowed to freely express their emotions. Moreover, most organizations
in the Ghanaian setting are bureaucratic in nature, with so many formalities and structures
to be followed in carrying out one’s task without considering individual emotions. This gives
little room for employees to find new ways of going about their work. In other words, most
Ghanaian employers pay little attention to the need to understand the feelings of their
employees and how their emotions have a role to play in the development of the organization.
Thus, leaders often assume an impersonal relationship with employees where feelings and
moods are not taken into consideration, which hinders or prevents a creative environment
within the organization.

Conclusion
The study sought to examine the impact of emotional intelligence on employees’ creativity
and innovativeness using selected manufacturing and telecommunication companies in
Ghana as a case. A sample of 205 respondents was drawn and applied in this study. Descriptive
statistics and ordinary least squares regression estimates were applied to the dataset to achieve
the set objectives. Most of the respondents in this study were in the age group of 20-39 years,
and a majority of the respondents had a bachelor’s degree in education. A majority of the
respondents were unmarried and had varying working experiences. Most of the respondents
who took part in the study were males, suggesting that the manufacturing and
telecommunication companies in Ghana are male-dominated.
Moreover, the regression analysis of the study established that a positive relationship
exists between emotional intelligence and employees’ level of creativity, and emotional
intelligence and employees’ level of innovativeness. However, these respective relationships
were found to be empirically insignificant, implying that employees’ levels of creativity and
innovativeness are not dependent on their emotional intelligence. In contrast to previous
studies, these results have been attributed to the differences in cultural and organizational
settings.
Accordingly, the researchers advise managers, first and foremost, to strive to make the
working environment more flexible to allow employees to express themselves and challenge

The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Employees’ Creativity 51

and Innovativeness
them with better ways of performing their tasks. Also, the management should incorporate
emotional intelligence training into the companies’ strategies to assist the employees in
applying, regulating, and using their emotions to improve performance. Moreover, an equal
composition of males and females should be employed to develop the company’s innovative
potential, since gender differences do not play a significant role in employees’ creativity and
innovativeness.
The study makes a significant contribution to existing literature. It bridges the
geographical gap with regard to employees’ creativity and innovativeness by using current
data from an emerging sub-Saharan country to discover recent trends on the topic under
review. Most of the studies undertaken on emotional intelligence and their impact on
employees’ performance were undertaken outside Africa (Crossan et al., 1999; Barczak et al.,
2010; Polman, 2010; Hasan and Nazife, 2012; and Gong et al., 2019). It is evident that these
countries’ economic state and cultural makeup are far different from that of an African
country like Ghana. Therefore, this study is tailored to address this geographical gap on the
subject matter. Moreover, the findings from this study offer fresh insight into the
relationship between emotional intelligence and employees’ level of creativity and
innovativeness.
Limitations and Future Research: Despite these contributions, the current study’s
generalizability may be constrained by some limitations, thus opening the door to new lines
of research in the future. First of all, this study followed a quantitative research design, and
therefore, future studies should undertake qualitative research on this topic. Secondly, despite
the study’s relatively large sample size, it did not capture more subgroups. Hence, future studies
should also increase their sample size and the number of companies. Lastly, the present study
looked at employees in manufacturing and telecommunication companies. Future studies can
check the generalizability of the findings to other industries and neighboring African countries.n

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56 The IUP Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 20, No. 1, 2022

 Appendix

Questionnaire

Section A: Demographic Characteristics

Instruction: Please tick the appropriate response that applies to you. Please respond to all
questions.

1. Gender:

Male Female

2. Age:

20 -29 30-39 40-49 50- 60

3. Marital status:

Single Married

4. Educational Level

Basic Education Bachelor’s Degree Secondary Education

5. Please state your rank or position: _____________

6. Years of working experience: __________________

Section B: Instrument for Emotional Intelligence

Instructions: Please answer each statement below by putting a circle around the
number that best reflects your degree of agreement or disagreement with that
statement. Do not think too long about the exact meaning of the statements. Work
quickly and try to answer as accurately as possible. There is no right or wrong answer.
There are five possible responses to each statement ranging from Completely Disagree
(CD) (1) to Completely Agree (CA) (5)

1........2..........3..........4..........5

CD CA

The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Employees’ Creativity 57

and Innovativeness
 Appendix (Cont.)

S. Statement CD CA
No.
1. Expressing my emotions with words is not a problem for me. 1 2 3 4 5
2. I often find it difficult to see things from another person’s 1 2 3 4 5
viewpoint.
3. On the whole, I am a highly motivated person. 1 2 3 4 5
4. I usually find it difficult to regulate my emotions. 1 2 3 4 5
5. I can deal effectively with people. 1 2 3 4 5
6. I tend to change my mind frequently. 1 2 3 4 5
7. Many times, I cannot figure out what emotion I am feeling. 1 2 3 4 5
8. I feel that I have a number of good qualities. 1 2 3 4 5
9. I often find it difficult to stand up for my rights. 1 2 3 4 5
10. I am usually able to influence the way other people feel. 1 2 3 4 5
11. Those close to me often complain that I do not treat 1 2 3 4 5
them right.
12. I often find it difficult to adjust my life according 1 2 3 4 5
to the circumstances.
13. On the whole, I am able to deal with stress. 1 2 3 4 5
14. I often find it difficult to show my affection to those 1 2 3 4 5
close to me.
15. I am normally able to “get into someone’s shoes” and 1 2 3 4 5
experience their emotions.
16. I normally find it difficult to keep myself motivated. 1 2 3 4 5
17. I am usually able to find ways to control my emotions 1 2 3 4 5
when I want to.
18. I often pause and think about my feelings. 1 2 3 4 5
19. I don’t seem to have any power at all over other 1 2 3 4 5
people’s feelings.
20. I find it difficult to bond well even with those close to me. 1 2 3 4 5
21. Generally, I am able to adapt to new environments. 1 2 3 4 5
22. Others admire me for being relaxed. 1 2 3 4 5
23. I find it difficult to stand for my rights. 1 2 3 4 5

58 The IUP Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 20, No. 1, 2022

 Appendix (Cont.)

Section C: Instrument for Creativity

You will respond to these statements using the following five-point scale:

SA: Strongly Agree, AG: Agree, UN: Unsure, DA: Disagree, SD: Strongly Disagree

Instruction: Tick the appropriate response that applies to you.

Please respond to all statements.

S. Statement SA AG UN DA SD
No.

1. I consider myself a very creative person.

2. I have to be in the right mood or feeling to do creative work.

3. I must be emotionally moved in order to be creative.

4. When I examine existing products, I usually critically

evaluate them to see how I can improve them.

5. I am at my creative best when I work alone.

6. I am at my creative best when I work in a group.

7. I enjoy the process of creating new ideas whether they

lead to a final product or not.

Section D: Instrument for Innovativeness

This section is designed to seek your views on factors contributing to employee

innovativeness.

Instruction: Please put a circle around each number that reflects your agreement or
disagreement about the statement. Please respond to all statements.

Strongly Disagree (1); Disagree (2); Not Sure (3); Agree (4); Strongly Agree (5)

The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Employees’ Creativity 59

and Innovativeness
 Appendix (Cont.)

S.
Statement SD D NS A SA
No.

1. This employee often creates new ideas for improvements. 1 2 3 4 5

2. This employee often mobilizes support for innovative ideas. 1 2 3 4 5

3. This employee seeks approval for innovative ideas. 1 2 3 4 5

4. This employee transforms innovative ideas into useful 1 2 3 4 5

application.

5. This employee generates original solutions to problems. 1 2 3 4 5

6. This employee introduces innovative ideas in a systematic way. 1 2 3 4 5

7. This employee makes important organizational members 1 2 3 4 5

enthusiastic for innovative ideas.

8. This employee often thoroughly evaluates the application 1 2 3 4 5

of innovative ideas.

Reference # 29J-2022-01-02-01

60 The IUP Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 20, No. 1, 2022

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