Job Satisfaction in Banks: Relative Significance of Emotional Intelligence and Workplace Environment

In the current scenario, banking sector is considered a fundamental backbone of every economy in developed and developing countries. The importance of banking was established as it performs major role in every domain of business, as well as in the development of the countries. Banking sector in Pakistan is gradually rising, however, employees in this sector are under a lot of stress due to excessive work load, extra working hours, and in some cases employment insecurity, that may lead to unsatisfactory performance at job. This study highlights the significant positive relationship between bankers’ job satisfaction level with their emotional intelligence and workplace environment. It also focuses on the effects that emotional intelligence and workplace environment might have on the banker’s job satisfaction level while discussing the contributing demographic factors. The cross-sectional correlational research design was implemented to conduct the study. The data was collected through questionnaire and online surveys from different private and public banking sector employees of Pakistan (Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad). The purposive sampling strategy was done in two stages, in the first stage, random selection of the branches of different public and private sector banks was completed. In the second one, a sample of 200 employees were selected for data collection according to the set inclusion criteria and their specific posted locations. The conclusions of the study suggested presence of a strong relationship between emotional intelligence, core components of emotional intelligence and workplace environment with job satisfaction of employees. Furthermore, regression analysis indicated that emotional intelligence and workplace environment were the strong predictors of job satisfaction among employees, these variables accounted for 60 percent variance. Demographic variables were established to be of no effect where job satisfaction, emotional intelligence or workplace environment are concerned. Keywords: Job Satisfaction, Workplace Environment, Banking Sector, Cross-sectional Correlational, Emotional Intelligence DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-13-06 Publication date:May 31st 201