Limitations to the Study
CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This chapter concludes this research study and includes limitations of and recommendations for this research.
4.1 CONCLUSIONS
This research study focused on determining the relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Self-Efficacy as attributes to Leadership Effectiveness. The research will be concluded in terms of the research aims as stated in section 1.3, chapter 1 and set out below.
The General Aim
The general aim of this research was to gain a better understanding of the relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Self-Efficacy as attributes and the extent (if any) to which they influence Leadership Effectiveness. Understanding this aim was achieved in chapters 2 and 3. Chapter 2 helped provide literature and empirical research that has been done in the field whilst chapter 3 provided the statistical analysis of the data collected which gave a representation of the statistical relationship of Emotional Intelligence and Self-Efficacy and the degree to which they correlate to Leadership Effectiveness. The analysis also highlighted poor and negative correlations between certain subscales. Hence through this analysis, the researcher was able to gain a better understanding of the relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Self-Efficacy as attributes and the extent to which they influence Leadership Effectiveness.
The Specific Literature Aims
The specific literature aims were to conceptualise the constructs (Emotional Intelligence, Self-Efficacy and Leadership Effectiveness) which formed part of this research study and to theoretically integrate the literature between these constructs. This aim was achieved by means of a literature review in chapter 2.
For the purpose of this study Emotional Intelligence was defined in terms of Mayer and Salovey, (1997) as including the ability to perceive, appraise and express emotion accurately and adaptively; the ability to understand emotion and emotional knowledge; the ability to access and generate feelings where they facilitate cognitive activities and adaptive action;
and the ability to regulate emotions in oneself and others. Chapter 2 further described models of Emotional Intelligence that have generated the most interest in terms of research and application, these being the Ability Model by Salovey and Mayer (1999), Mixed Model by Goleman (1995) and the Bar-On Model by Bar On (2002). This research study used the
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Ability Model by Salovey and Mayer (1999) to conceptualise Emotional Intelligence. The Emotional Intelligence literature review concluded with the integration of literature between Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Effectiveness and the criticisms of this construct.
Self-Efficacy was defined as “the beliefs in ones capabilities to organise and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments” (Bandura, 1997, p. 3). For the purpose of this study Self-Efficacy was conceptualised in terms of the Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1986, 1997), which states that Self-Efficacy beliefs vary on three dimensions:
(a) Level or magnitude (particular level of task difficulty);
(b) Strength (certainty of successfully performing a particular level of task difficulty);
(c) Generality (the extent to which magnitude and strength beliefs generalise across tasks and situations.
The literature review of Efficacy further proceeded to explore the sources of Self-Efficacy and concluded with the integration of literature between Self-Self-Efficacy and Leadership Effectiveness.
The last construct of this research study is Leadership Effectiveness. Leadership is a broad construct thus the literature reviewed in this study included the core leadership characteristics, leadership roles and leadership behaviours. Leadership theories from the Great Man Theories, trait theories, behavioural theories, contingency leadership theories and modern leadership theories were discussed to highlight the developments in the field of leadership. The Social Cognitive Theory was used to conceptualise leadership. The literature reviewed concluded with the definitions of Leadership Effectiveness for the purpose of this study.
The Specific Aims related to the Empirical Study
The objective of this research study was to determine the relationship between Emotional Intelligence, Self-Efficacy as attributes of Leadership Effectiveness. A policing organisation was chosen as the context in which to address the objective of this study.
The specific aims that were related to the empirical study were answered in chapter 3 of this dissertation.
In general the methodology consisted of the use of three instruments. The Assessing Emotions Scale was used to collect information about Emotional Intelligence, the
Self-85
Efficacy Scale was used to collect information on efficacy and data on the third construct, Leadership Effectiveness was collected using the MLQ. The data was analysed using Spearman’s rho correlation coefficient.
The three hypotheses in this study were confirmed by the statistical analysis that is, there is a significant correlation between Emotional Intelligence and effective leadership. There is a significant correlation between Self-Efficacy and effective leadership and lastly there is a significant correlation between Emotional Intelligence and Self-Efficacy. It should be noted that due to a deviation in normality a non-parametric correlation analysis was used to test the above-mentioned hypotheses. Therefore it can be concluded that Emotional Intelligence and Self-Efficacy as attributes do play a role in Leadership Effectiveness.
The last aim was to formulate recommendations in terms of the field of Industrial and Organisational Psychology, future research and for the organisation represented in this study, which were achieved chapter 3 and section 4.3 in chapter 4.
In conclusion, the intention of conducting this research was to create awareness of how certain psychological constructs as attributes may influence Leadership Effectiveness.
According to Herbest and Maree (2008), the role that attributes play in predicting leadership success will become more prominent as leadership situations become more complex and varied leadership represents a crucial determinant of police organisational efficacy (Adam, 2010). Moving towards domains of leadership, however, requires that police organisations develop definitions of what effective leadership means within their own communities and policing contexts (Schafer, 2008). In this study it is clear that there are positive correlations between the constructs Emotional Intelligence, Self-Efficacy and Leadership Effectiveness.
Therefore, Emotional Intelligence and Self-Efficacy as attributes do play a role in Leadership Effectiveness.
4.2 LIMITATIONS
The limitation to this study is related to the nature of the sample. The sample size was small n=107. The sample can also be considered to be gender and age biased, that is there were more males than females in the sample and the age category indicated that most of the sample participants ranged between 39-49 years. Another limitation refers to the reliability coefficient for the subscales of the MLQ which were significantly lower than the full scale reliability. Factor analysis could not validate the subscales used in the correlation analysis, which is also a limitation of this study. Lastly it should be noted that the results will be specific to the policing context and cannot be generalised to other populations.
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4.3 RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendations were made as set out below.
The field of Industrial and Organisational Psychology:
In view of the findings from this research study the following recommendations are made for the field of Industrial and Organisational Psychology:
The Social Cognitive Theory of Leadership
The application of the Social Cognitive Theory to describe leadership has both theoretical and practical implications in the field of Industrial and Organisational Psychology. The Social Cognitive Theory is a conceptual framework of human functioning that is well supported by a large body of empirical research (McCormick, 2001). Thus it forms a reliable paradigm perspective in which to explore leadership. The practical implication is that the Social Cognitive Model of leadership has relevance in leadership training. However there is a lack of research to substantiate the value of the Social Cognitive Theory to leadership. Thus it is recommended that research be done to increase the empirical and practical nature of applying the Social Cognitive Theory to leadership.
Self-Efficacy
Literature provides empirical findings on the various conceptualisations of Self-Efficacy such as leadership Self-Efficacy, task Self-Efficacy, general Self-Efficacy and its influence in different domains. However due to the various conceptualisations of Self-Efficacy, there seems to be a lack of research concerning Self-Efficacy as a concept and leadership. It is recommended that a meta-analytic study of Self-Efficacy and Leadership Effectiveness be done to increase the knowledge and understanding of Self-Efficacy and Leadership Effectiveness as well as to identify gaps in terms of the literature, empirical research and practical implication.
The Assessing Emotions Scale
The Assessing Emotions Scale is a self-report inventory which measures individual’s Emotional Intelligence traits. However this scale has not been standardised to South African norms. Thus it would be useful to develop South African norms for the Assessing Emotions Scale, thus increasing the self-report inventories with South African norms available to South African researchers.
87 Future Research
In view of the findings from this research study the following recommendations are made for future research:
Future studies that are aimed at improving on this research study should include a larger sample size and a sample population that represents police commanders from different parts of South Africa.
Another approach to this study could look at research in terms of biographical dynamics such as race, gender and age and the influence thereof.
Additional research might investigate a comparative study of this research between police commanders in the different provinces of South Africa. This will make interesting research as South Africa is a diverse country and each province has its own political and socio-economic influences which impact on policing.
Further research may investigate leadership styles and the impact they have on Leadership Effectiveness. Further investigation could report the police current leadership style and which leadership style will generate effective leaders considering the nature of police work.
Recommendations for the Organisation
In view of the findings from this research study the following recommendations are made for the organisation:
Due to the complexity and nature of work within police organisations, leaders face different challenges to those in other environments. For this reason, a way to equip these leaders is through developmental programmes for current leaders. In this way they become more resourceful in performing their leadership duties.
Furthermore potential leaders are to be initiated into these developmental programmes to better prepare them for leadership within the police and foster effective leadership. Thus it will be useful for the police organisation to create a talent management strategy focusing on identification and succession planning of potential leaders.
A revision of the current recruitment and selection policies to address the implementation of selection instruments that screen for psychological constructs like
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Emotional Intelligence and Self-Efficacy would impacts on leadership of policing organisations.
This study indicated that that the number of females in commanding positions is significantly lower than males. Traditionally police commanders are predominately male and this still appears to be the case. Thus the organisation should revise its strategy for addressing transformational change, by representing more females in commanding positions. This strategy should also address how to prepare these women for commanding roles and the change management needed to create an acceptance of women in these roles.
4.4 CHAPTER SUMMARY
In this chapter a detailed conclusion about this research study was presented. The limitations that constrain the research were highlighted and recommendations for further research were made.
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