The Relationship Between a Supervisor’s Emotional Intelligence, Employee Engagement, and Turnover Intention

Employee turnover costs employers billions of dollars annually, negatively impacting an organization’s bottom line. Business leaders must align employee engagement and supervisor emotional intelligence to reduce turnover and improve profitability. Grounded in employee engagement theory, the purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationships between employee engagement, supervisor emotional intelligence, and turnover intention. Data were collected from 74 hourly employees and seven supervisors in a manufacturing company in Georgia using two paper surveys for hourly employees and one online survey for supervisors. Multiple regression analysis was performed on the data, assumptions were evaluated, and no violations were found. The multiple regression analysis results indicated the full model was statistically significant F(2,70) = 5.42 p \u3c .001, R2 = .13. The model predicted that about 13% of the variation in turnover intention was attributed to the predictor variables. In the final model, employee engagement was the only significant contributor (β = -.37, p \u3c .001). A key recommendation for business leaders is to employees individual, team, and growth needs. The implications for positive social change include the potential for a better work environment for employees and improved business financial performance, reducing unemployment and benefiting stakeholders in the community