Emotional Intelligence and its Relationship to Employability Skills and Employer Satisfaction with Fresh Engineering Graduates

Introduction

India is ahead in the Information Technology sector and has drawn the attention of global business leaders for investing in India (Kearney, 2011; Dana, 2005). The prominent reasons for growth of outsourcing in India are low cost of operations which attract the developed nations to invest for outsourcing, urge of global competition, access to global market and availability of quality employability skills in the population (Kakabadse & Kakabadse, 2005; Pai & Basu, 2007; Dana et al., 2000; Mittal et al., 2019). FICCI and NASSCOM (2017) discussed in the report ‘Future of skills and jobs in India’. India shares 24% in global online and the factors such as globalization, demographics and industry exponential technologies will be accountable for the need of new employability skills in the information technology sector Dana (2001). Hence, there will be good demand for engineering graduates with quality employability skills in India. There also will be good probabilities of new job openings for white collars in the internet and exponential technologies related jobs which is also recognized as a gig economy. Aspiring Minds (2016) India based company providing employability solutions to worldwide multi- national companies discussed in ‘National employability report on engineers’ that India has low rate of availability in employability skills among Information technology sector engineers. 18.43% of employability skills in software services, 3.21% of employability skills in development of software products and 39.84% of availability of employability skills for BPOs.

Knight and York (2003) considered employability skills as understandings, achievements and personal qualities that make the fresh engineering graduates to convince the employers with their abilities and ensure the selection in job. Knight and York (2003) state self-efficacy is to believe in self by graduates when facing the challenging circumstances and situations. Lumley and Wilkinson (2014) discussed Emotional intelligence concerns to self efficacy of individuals, an ability to choose the right option in making career decisions. Puffer (2011), Carson & Carson (1998) discussed that emotional intelligence has a positive significant relationship with job experiences and emotional attachments to the job. Bandura (1997), Kanfer et al. (2001) and Van der Velde and Van den Berg (2003) discussed the significant role of self-efficacy in employability, self-efficacy relates to job search behavior and positive job outcomes. Coetzee and Beukes (2010) explain that an individual with ability to understand self emotions and make their use effectively for career goals must have higher confidence level and high success rate in career, their findings of the research study also discussed about scarcity of research in recognizing the relationship between emotional intelligence and career anchors and how career anchors leads to employability satisfaction.

Employers like the graduates who can easily accommodate themselves in existing work culture, individual willingness to initiate their abilities and skills towards organizational goals and who can contribute in a team with innovative ideas (Harvey et al. 1997; Little, 2001). Employers appreciate the quality of deliberative thinking in graduates as this contributes to anticipate change (Harvey 1997).Salovey and Mayer (1990) explain in their model on emotional intelligence that emotional intelligence covers four mental processes First, understanding the social problem and effective handling Second, recognizing the need of expression of emotions in self and for others Third, regulations of emotions Fourth, effective use of emotions to achieve personal and organizational goals. The ability of an individual to monitor and control emotions leads to gain of self – knowledge and helps in initiating the decisions Goleman (1998) and Brown et al. (2003). Present study is an earnest effort to understand employability skills, emotional intelligence as determinants for employer satisfaction in the IT Sector – India.

Review of Literature

Mishra and Khurana (2017), Kalbande and Handa (2015) explained choosing the right employability skills in engineering graduates cannot be ignored from global economy aspects. The findings of their study focus on six important employability skills in the IT industry such as technical, cognitive, personal, social, generic and self-perceived skills. Mishra (2016) acknowledged that in India Engineering education impart knowledge, principles and professional practices to students. The researcher discussed various types of employability skills required at the workplace. The study findings recommend that engineering graduates must have good command over demonstrating skills as generic, personal presentation, technical, leadership, self-assessment and goal setting skills. Koka and Raman (2015), Maran and Chandra Shekar (2015), Gowsalya and Kumar (2015) in the research study investigated the attributes of engineering students towards employer expectations for employability. The finding of study reveals, engineering graduates lack the understanding of employability skills during their course of graduation. Hence the requirements of soft skills in engineering graduates are high. Aziz and Pangil (2017), Matsouka and Mihail (2016), Jameson et al. (2016), Belagodu (2013) explained that employers favor the candidature of graduates for employability who possess high emotional intelligence. The finding shows the discrepancy between expectation of employers towards emotional intelligences and emotional intelligence possessed by the graduate employees. The researchers recommend the graduates to improve emotional intelligence to meet with employability skills standards of employers. Ahangar (2012), Varghese et al. (2013), Sadri (2012), Tan and French-Arnold (2012)  acknowledged that individual with high emotional intelligence have more success than individual with low emotional intelligence, because individual with good emotional intelligence has good emotional self-awareness and can manage other people well,  perform better under pressure and can adapt to organization change.

Lawrence (2006) discussed the importance of self-esteem in the employability model. Self- esteem in educational psychology explains that an individual’s achievements are influenced by how he/she feels about self. Boussiakou et al. (2006) considered emotional intelligence as a benchmark in human resources management practices followed for recruitment and selection of job aspirants. Employers’ two benchmark priorities in recruitment and selection of college graduates are teamwork and communication (Bhavnani & Aldridge, 2000). Hidalgo et al. (2004), Quek (2005), Riemer (2003) acknowledged that earning technical expertise cannot affirm engineering graduates for better performance and successful career. Fresh engineering graduates with high emotional intelligence can handle the work better because he/she is found to be competent in integrating technical and emotional concepts for analyzing the circumstances and initiating decisions. Palmer and Gignac (2012) affirmed emotional intelligence as an increasingly validated predictor for job performance. Wong and Law (2002) considered that emotional intelligence significantly influences job satisfaction in spite of the nature of the job. According to Goleman (1996) emotional intelligence affects individual’s physical and mental state and career achievements. Dulewicz and Higgs (1999) acknowledged the significant effect of emotional intelligence in organization performance. Harvey (2001) considered that students during their graduation work laboriously to improve themselves in academics and do compromise with co curricular activities, which affect their personality and they cannot be groomed appropriately with the need of employability skills by employers. The blend of employability skills exists in competing with hard and soft skills both. Warn and Tranter (2001), Yorke (2001), Cherniss and Goleman (2001) state that while recruiting engineering graduates, employers show their interest in employable skills among graduates as personal and intellectual attributes which include subject knowledge, leadership quality, better communication skills, teamwork, problem analyzing skills and self-management. Seal et al. (2011), Gryn (2010), Chisholm (2010) considered that fresh engineering graduates are in the age group of 18- 24 years. During their graduation degree program, they must prepare for intellectual, social and emotional learning in order to minimize negative career effects and for academic readiness, but it has been noticed that universities’ academic curriculum are least bothered about the demographic, social and emotional concept of students; they like to make them technically experts only.

H1: Emotional intelligence will be a significant mediator between employability skills and employer satisfaction in the context of recruiting fresh engineering graduates.

Theoretical Framework

Knight and Yorke (2004) in the USEM model discuss four interlocking components of employability as Understanding of subject, Skillful practices, Efficacy beliefs and Meta cognition. According to Bandura (1995) a person with high EI understands the feelings of others and makes an effective use of group dynamics in achieving the goals of an organization. The JET model discusses the four factors such as Self-esteem, Autonomy and control, Grit and determination, Empathy in understanding EI towards the employability model [Copps & Plimmer, 2013].

Research Methods

Descriptive research design was used in the research study followed by standardized survey questionnaires for primary data collection. Purposive sampling technique was used 507 employers of IT sector companies in India were chosen as respondents, who as recruiters conduct campus placement drive in the Public and Private Technical Institution and Universities for the recruitment and selection of B. Tech CSE/IT fresh engineering graduates except the -IIT’s candidates for their company. The companies studied in the research study were MNCs and national IT companies, performing IT functions such as Information Technology Enabled Service/ Business Process Outsourcing, Development of software products, Information Technology services, Research and Development activities, Hardware and Ecommerce. These companies are located in several parts of India with its operational branches and offices in Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Mysuru, Thiruvananthapuram, Madurai, Nagpur, Kochi, Gurugram, Noida, Chandigarh, Ahmadabad, Nellore and Vijayawada.

The companies in the capacity as employers assigned their delegates in two different capacities which is relevant to this research, one is to conduct campus placement drive for recruitment and selection of the B. Tech CSE/IT fresh engineering graduates for the IT sector, and another one is employing these selected graduates in the various projects and programs that the company executes and delivers for their customers. Among the total 507 respondents 312 were Males and 195 were the Females. The Total sample size of 507 respondents is in conjunction with the studies of Israel (1992) and Hinkin (1995) researchers recommend the item to response ratios generally ranged more than 1:10.  The respondents were Vice President, Sr. Director, Associate Director, HR Director, General Manager HR, Senior Executive HR, Associate Manager Delivery, Employee Relation Manager, Executive HR, Chief HR Officer, Assistant HR Manager, IT Project Manager, Chief IT officer, IT Administrator, Associate Architect, Zonal Operations Manager, Process Manager, Software Developer, Business Analyst Team Leader, Deputy General Manager, Customer Service Team Leader and Leader Consultant. Total 43 items statements selected in the questionnaire.

Employability skills were measured using Blom and Saeki (2011), 24 item scale which included the three sub-constructs as Management Skills, Technical Skills and Communication Skills. Management Skills included 12 items, Technical Skills included 8 items and Communication Skill included 4 items. All the item statements were on Likert scale, scoring as ‘1’ Strongly Disagree to ‘7’ Strongly Agree. The Emotional Intelligence was evaluated by following Wong and Law (2002), 16 items scale which included the four sub-constructs as Self-emotional appraisal, Other emotional appraisal, Regulation of emotion and Use of emotion. Self-emotional appraisal included 4 items, Other emotional appraisal 4 items, Regulation of emotion 4 items and Use of emotion 4 items. All the item statements were on Likert scale, scoring as ‘1’ Strongly Disagree to ‘7’ Strongly Agree.

The Employer Satisfaction was assessed by using Jeswani (2016), 3 items scale. All the item statements were on the Likert scale, scoring as ‘1’ Strongly Disagree to ‘7’ Strongly Agree. All the respondents took time of about 45 minutes to fill the survey questionnaire. The purpose of the research study was made clear to all the respondents. The respondents were instructed to fill the survey questionnaire remembering the recent years 2016 to 2018 status of employer satisfaction in reference to the employability skills and emotional intelligence. This is to get the latest information on the topic of interest.

Results and Discussion

H1: Emotional intelligence will be a significant mediator between employability skills and employer satisfaction in the context of recruiting fresh engineering graduates.

The collection was analyzed using structural equation modeling using the software’s SPSS 21.0 and AMOS 20.0. SEM concentrates more on confirmatory factor analysis. SEM follows the multiple regression and path analyses to explore latent variable relationship. CFA Confirmatory Factor Analysis measures the reliability and validity of the constructs.

Reliability score shows the consistency in the data obtained from the respondents. Reliability can be measured with Cronbach alpha whose measuring values vary from 0 to 1 Hatcher (1994). Validity is assurance about the instrument for measuring the accuracy of an item statement content which is of high interest (Hair et al., 2011). Table 1 Discuss the reliability and validity measures for the Employability Skills and Employer Satisfaction.

Reliability measure on Cronbach alpha between 0 and 1 for Employability Skills and Employer Satisfaction are discussed in Table 1 which shows ‘Management Skills’ with 0.956, ‘Technical Skills’ with 0.943, ‘Communication Skills’ with 0.886 and ‘Employer Satisfaction’ with 0.820 value. All reported values confirm good reliability. Composite reliability in Table 1 for ‘Management Skills’ with 0.957, ‘Technical Skills’ with 0.944, ‘Communication Skills’ with 0.889 and ‘Employer Satisfaction’ with 0.828 value. All reported values are above .70 and confirm good composite reliability.

Convergent validity confirms when all the standardized items factor loadings should be above .70 (Hair et al., 2010). Table 1 shows factor loadings values varies maximum with item statement ‘TS 5’ .883 to minimum with item statement ‘TS1’ .704. All the factor loadings in Table 1 for ‘Management Skills’, ‘Technical Skills’, ‘Communication Skills’ and ‘Employer Satisfaction’ are above .70 and confirms the Convergent validity. Hair et. al., (2010) explain to measure the Convergent validity, CR to be above .7 and must be  greater than AVE, AVE must be above .5, Discriminant validity assessed when MSV should be less than AVE and ASV to be less than AVE. All AVE’s were reported more than 0.5 in Table 1 and were higher from MSV and ASV. Hence meet to the condition of discriminant validity also. CFA measure for Employability Skills and Employer Satisfaction signified good model fit indices with the values χ2 / df = 2.77, CFI = .943, GFI = .874, AGFI=.850, NFI = .913 and RMSEA= .061.Recommended values for goodness of fit Indices are χ2 / df= < 3.0 (Kline,1998), CFI should be greater than or equal to.90, GFI should be greater than or equal to .90, AGFI should be greater than  or  equal to  .90  (Bentler,  1990),  NFI  be  should  greater than or equal to.90 and RMSEA < .05.Hence CFA model of Employability Skills and Employer Satisfaction can further be tested for structural relationship.

Cronbach alpha measure for reliability between 0 and 1 for Emotional Intelligence are discussed in Table 2 which shows ‘Self – Emotional Appraisal’ with 0.871, ‘Other Emotional Appraisal’ with 0.876, ‘Regulation of Emotion’ with 0.899 and ‘Use of Emotion’ with 0.870 value. All the reported values confirm good reliability.

Composite reliability in Table 2 for ‘Self – Emotional Appraisal’ with 0.871, ‘Other Emotional Appraisal’ with 0.877, ‘Regulation of Emotion’ with 0.901 and ‘Use of Emotion’ with 0.875 value. All the reported values are above .70 and confirm the good composite reliability.

Convergent validity in Table 2 shows factor loadings values varies maximum with item statement ‘SEA 2’ .916 to minimum with item statement ‘.698’. All factor loadings are good and above .70 or very close to that. Hence confirms the convergent validity. All AVEs value in Table 2 are more than .5 and are above MSV and ASV. Hence confirms discriminant validity also. CFA measure for Emotional Intelligence signified good model fit indices with the values χ2/df = 2.46, CFI = .967, GFI = .943, AGFI=.921, NFI = .945 and RMSEA= .055.Hence CFA model of Emotional Intelligence can further be tested for structural relationship.

Mediation shows the causal relationship in the form of a model which explains the process of cause and effect of ‘why’ and ‘how’ such relationship happens with an effort to recognize the intermediary process where independent variable affects the dependent variable. (Muller et al., 2005; Frazier et al., 2004; Rose et al., 2004; Wegener & Fabrigar 2000; Baron & Kenny, 1986). Mediation effect of structural model in Figure 1 was assessed with an SPSS PROCESS macro and AMOS to examine the indirect effect of independent variables in the presence of a mediator Hayes (2013). Bootstrapping reinforced the indirect effect in mediation with additional features (Preacher & Hayes, 2008; Baron & Kenney, 1986). Figure 1 and Table 3 shows the Regression outcomes for direct and indirect effect of Employability Skills on Employer Satisfaction in the presence of mediating construct Emotional Intelligence. The level of significance is set at 0.05. The mediation was assured by bootstrap estimates on 2,000 bootstrap samples.

Results in Table 3 shows that Emotional Intelligence mediates between the relationship of Employability Skills and Employer Satisfaction. The total (direct) effect c of Employability skills on Employer Satisfaction was significant β = 0.573, SE = 0.042, p = .000 and direct effect c’ of Employability Skills on Employer Satisfaction was significant with reduced effect β = 0.141, SE = 0.032, p = .000.

Therefore, we have a pattern consistent with mediation difference between the total (direct) effect c of Employability Skills on Employer Satisfaction and direct effect c’ of Employability Skills on Employer Satisfaction is the indirect (mediated) effect of Employability Skills on Employer Satisfaction, with a point estimate of 0.423, SE = 0.03, p = .001 was significant and 95% BC, bootstrap CI of 0.437 to 0.812 did not contain zero value and p value is significant less than .05 Hence, Emotional Intelligence partially mediated the relationship of Employability Skills on Employer Satisfaction as shown in the Figure 1. Structural Model Fit Indices Figure 1 of Employability Skills, Emotional Intelligence and Employer Satisfaction signified a good model fit with χ2 / df = 2.84, CFI = .910, GFI = .913, AGFI=.857, NFI = .867 and RMSEA= .024.

Discussion

The literature on Employability skills concerns to emotional intelligence, self efficiency and personal attributes among graduates shows skills deficiency (Tran, 2016; Feldmann, 2015; Jackson, 2015; Rateau et al., 2011; Pillai, 2009; Dacre Pool & Sewell, 2007; Knight & Yorke, 2003; Jain & Jain, 2013; Nauta et al., 2009; Brown et al., 2006; Finch et al., 2015; Dacre Pool & Qualter, 2012; Kirk et al., 2008). Dacre Pool et al. (2014) state that very few models in previous research studies tested broad concepts of employability among graduates for job readiness, researchers recommend the need to include the theme in the model. The present study with its earnest efforts has tested Emotional Intelligence as a mediator between the relationship of Employability Skills and Employer Satisfaction in recruiting Fresh Engineering Graduates in the IT Sector of India. Emotional Intelligence has shown significant mediation effect. Beukes (2010) findings shows Emotional Intelligence is significantly related to graduate employability, Apart from academic qualification employers prefer emotional intelligence, client service and computer skills in the graduates.

Mousavi et al. (2012), Kreitz (2009), Serrat (2009), Hernon et al., (2007), Hopper (2005), Zeidner et al., (2004), Goleman, (1998), Salovey and Mayer (1990), Goleman (1998) explained the significant relationship of emotional intelligence with productivity, commitment and job outcomes. Goleman theory (1998) emphasizes the four factors such as self-awareness, social interactions, self management and relationship building approach are crucial in managing emotional intelligence. Hernon et al., (2007) recognized emotional intelligence as significant skills to understand the feelings, moods and social interaction of others at the workplace. Bande et al., (2015); Cullen et al., (2014); Nesbit and Lam (2014); Pulakos et al., (2000) consider emotional intelligence as an important factor for organization performance and customer satisfaction. Singh et al., (2017) had put the efforts to understand the determinants of employability skills from employer perspective, the research findings shows that knowledge, emotional intelligence, personality factors, innovative practices followed and self-efficacy are the significant determinant, researchers recommend the role self-assessment of employability skills by graduates play a vital role in their personal and professional development.

Bar-On (2006) discussed emotional intelligence as managing social and emotional skills to recognize self, expressing self, understand emotions of others, and deal with life challenges. Job performance is enhanced when one is in an optimistic state and recognizes his/her abilities to manage social and emotional skills (Moon and Hur, 2011). People with good emotional intelligence skills were able to manage life challenges and workplace obstacles (Slaski & Cartwright, 2003).

Sy et al, (2006), Wong and Law (2002), Villard (2004), Patra (2004), Cooper and Sawaf, (1997), Johnson and Indvik (1999) research findings discussed High Emotional Intelligence individual at work place has high level of Job Satisfaction and can contribute high to the productivity and organization development.

Law et al., (2008); Mikolajczak et al., (2007); Zhou and George, (2003); Carmeli, (2003); Bar On et al., (2000); Dulewitz and Higgs, (1999) and Scott – Halsel et. al., (2008) found an individual with High Emotional Intelligence has good leadership qualities, creativity and career achievements.

Nair et al. (2009) discussed the need of employability skills in engineering graduates from employer satisfaction perspectives and found emotional intelligence, communication, decision initiating skills, and knowledge of social ethics are important but found they are missing in Indian engineering graduates. Koka and Raman (2015), Kulkarni and Chachadi (2014) shared communication skills, interpersonal skills, problem analyzing skills were the most required expectations of top IT companies for fresh engineering graduates in their employability skills requirements. Padhi, (2014) shared the views of former president Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam in which The President had addressed in the meeting of Vice chancellors in the association of Indian universities he had mentioned that Indian graduates are lacking in technical skills, English proficiency and critical thinking.

Mitra (2011) and Dearing (1997) shared English language is the way which the graduates need to understand for its significance in communication. Besides the learning of technical concepts of engineering, math and science. The smart spoken, and written knowledge of English is a must for the graduates. English is an international language. In India, English is the official language but still many of them do not officially speak well in the IT sector. It was found even the top officials in Human Resource Departments of the IT sector are lacking in communication in English. This is because of the dominance of local languages in India. Patil (2013) found English as a career booster for graduates’ employability skills from employer satisfaction aspects.

Washer (2007) and Shafie et. al, (2010) recommend for employer satisfaction regarding employability skills of graduates, it is imperative that educational institutions and universities must design their undergraduate curriculum contemplating the need of employers for soft skills.

Conclusion

Emotional Intelligence partially mediates in the relationship of Employability Skills and Employer Satisfaction in recruiting the Fresh Engineering IT graduates.

Practical Implications

The research study findings show that emotional intelligence as the significant mediator in the relationship of employability skills and employer satisfaction while recruiting the fresh engineering graduates in the IT sector of India. The present finding will be supportive for the academicians in designing the course curriculum concerning the need of soft skills for engineering or other graduates in Indian universities and institutions. The finding will also be useful for the employers who are investing in India for outsourcing, because the study gives the idea about the competencies and employability skills of Indian graduates. The study also highlights the gaps between the education and industry sector in identifying the employability skills in the graduates.

Limitations and Future Scope

Data were collected from employers and they were enquired about fresh engineering IT graduates for their employability skills and emotional intelligence. However, IT companies in India beside FEG also recruit other degree graduates such as BCA and BSC (IT)etc., which were not included in the study. Hence for the study of the IT sector more generalized and holistic outcomes may be generated, if all such graduate’s degree courses are also considered.

The study has examined employability skills with the sub-factors as management skills, technical skills and communication skills. Emotional Intelligence with sub-factors as self–emotional appraisal, other emotional appraisal, regulations of emotion and use of emotion for employer satisfaction in the IT sector. However, to generalize better results in the IT sector. Future scope of study is recommended to include more dimensions for employability skills and emotional intelligence as planning and organizing, problem solving, self-management, learning, initiatives, stress handling and ability to adapt the change process.

The research study has collected the data by following the close ended questions using Likert scale options which had made respondents to answer the questions accordingly. However, if a mixed approach was followed, following both quantitative and qualitative methods with some open-ended questions could have generalized more results for understanding the concept.

Acknowledgment

The Authors acknowledge thanks to the Doctoral Research Centre, Chitkara Business School, Chitkara University, Punjab, India for their support.

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