The importance of emotional intelligence for the sales associates profession as a mediation between job stress and job satisfaction

Rosen and Hochwarter [2014] define job stress as stress related to one's job. Five stressors that can cause significant job stress include work-home conflict, role ambiguity, work overload, privacy invasion, and job insecurity [Moore, 2000; Rutner et al., 2008; Ayyagari et al., 2011]. Major personal factors of job stress are exhaustion, burnout, cynicism, self-doubt, and lack of work knowledge. Environmental factors of job stress are job demands, lack of support, organizational factors, autonomy, role ambiguity, role conflict workload, and interpersonal conflict [Beason, 2015].

Job satisfaction is defined as an emotional or affective reaction to a job [Janssen, 2001; Morris and Venkatesh, 2010] or individual attitudes about their job [Avolio et al., 2004; Chen et al., 2017]. Factors that affect job satisfaction are the job itself, salary or wages, supervision, promotion opportunities, and coworkers [Luthans, 2006; Robbins and Judge, 2017]. Luthans [2006] also stated that an emotional response to a job situation is called job satisfaction, and it is often determined by how well results meet expectations. Suppose organizational members feel job dissatisfaction. In that case, they will have a negative attitude toward work, supervisors, and coworkers; but, if they feel they are treated well and are paid reasonably, they tend to have positive attitudes toward work. Job satisfaction represents some attitudes that relate to one another, which are the essential characteristics of the job about which people responded. According to Robbins and Judge [2017], some of the consequences of dissatisfied employees are exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect.

Aluculesei et al. [2015] stated that job stress affects both employees and management, and job stress is an essential determinant of employee's job satisfaction. Job stress can affect job satisfaction. The correlation between job stress and job satisfaction is negative [Fairbrother and Warn, 2003]; on the other hand, Ahsan [2009] shows that the relationship between work pressure and job satisfaction is negative. Previous research found that increases in job stress tend to decrease job satisfaction [Beason, 2015]. The existence of job stress will reduce job satisfaction [Lambert and Paoline, 2010]. Several other studies have also stated that job stress is related to job satisfaction [Bakker and Demerouti, 2007; Morris and Venkatesh, 2010]. Masihabadi et al. [2015] argued that job stress has a negative effect on organizational commitment and job satisfaction, and through organizational commitment, job stress has a negative effect on job satisfaction.

The ability to perceive, access, and generate emotions to assist thought, understand emotions, and reflectively regulate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth is the definition of EI [Mayer and Salovey, 1997]. EI can be explained as someone's ability to recognize and manipulate emotional information and understand to manage self and others [Lopes, 2016].

Emotion is believed to perform many vital functions, such as prioritizing incoming information, focusing attention on matters of immediate concern, and motivating individuals to take the necessary actions. EI is not determined at birth [Goleman, 1995]. The five domains of EI are self-awareness, self-regulation, self-motivation, social skills, and empathy. It is self-awareness if someone can recognize emotions when they occur. Self-awareness means being alert to moods or thoughts about moods or not getting lost in emotions. Self-awareness is a quality characterizing a person who can realize emotions or self-awareness of emotions and is not blind to his/her own emotions, including labeling each emotion felt appropriate. Recognizing these emotions or self-awareness of emotions is the basis of EI. Self-regulation; someone who can regulate themselves can also manage and express emotions. Self-motivation; organizing emotions is very closely related to self-motivation and being creative. People who can control their emotions are the foundation of success in all areas. Self-motivated people tend to be more productive and effective at whatever they do. Empathy is feeling what other people feel, understanding their perspectives, and being in harmony with various people. People who have empathy can pick up on hidden social signals, realizing what other people need or want. Such persons are suitable for nursing, teaching, sales, and management jobs. Social skill places emphasis on the premise that people who are capable of social relationships are emotionally intelligent. Emotionally intelligent people will build relationships with other people; they can enjoy friendship with sincerity. These qualities mark people who excel in real life and the workplace: stars and those whose intimate relationships flourish. These are also the hallmarks of compassion, altruism, character, and self-discipline – essential capacities needed in society. EI is not determined at birth [Goleman, 1995].

EI can be described in a “Four-pronged Model” [Mayer et al., 2004]: Branch 1 reflects the perception of emotions and involves the capacity to recognize emotions in others’ facial expressions and body postures. Branch 2 demonstrates the capacity of emotions to influence thinking. Branch 3 reflects the capacity to analyze emotions, appreciate the tendencies over time, and understand their results. Branch 4 involves managing emotions (as an aspect of personality). Within each branch lies a range of skills ranging from simpler to more sophisticated. People with fair operational use of EI will be more effective thinkers than those with low usage.

Controlling emotions when things get stressful can be a challenge. The presence of stress in everyday life compromises our ability to regulate emotions effectively. Indeed, negative influence suggests playing a critical role in our failure to exercise self-regulatory control over our thoughts and behavior. However, the direct relationship between physiological stress response and cognitive control of emotions had not been studied. In that study, we attempted to explore how cognitive regulation of emotions is affected by acute stress induction [Otto et al., 2013]. Nikolaou and Tsaousis [2002] and Burnett and Pettijohn [2015] found that EI has a negative effect on job stress. This study explains that employees who can manage their emotions well tend to have a low level of work stress. Higher EI can improve leadership skills and management performance [Van Wart, 2010]. Wisker and Poulis [2014] use four dimensions of EI: self-emotional appraisal, use of emotion, regulation of emotion, and other's emotional appraisal. The results showed that the four dimensions were positively related to adaptive selling behavior, but only the other's emotional appraisal positively correlates with sales performance.

Research conducted by Seyal and Afzaal [2013] shows that all EI dimensions affect job satisfaction. EI can create pleasure in the workplace, influence efficient management and job satisfaction, and contribute to emotional development. Ealias and George [2012]; Rezvani et al. [2016]; and Lopez and Extremera [2017] have studied and also shown that EI has a positive effect on job satisfaction. Employees who have high EI are aware and can control emotions well in the workplace and affect job satisfaction. EI is vital for emotional labor and job satisfaction [Knezevic et al., 2021]. EI positively correlates with job satisfaction, creativity, and job performance [Lassk and Shepherd, 2013].

In research conducted by Seyal and Afzaal [2013], it is stated that the dimensions of EI affect job satisfaction. EI is considered a strong predictor of job satisfaction. Besides, Shooshtarian et al. [2013] found a relationship between EI and employee performance and job satisfaction. Employees with EI and high emotional control abilities will produce high performance and job satisfaction because they are good at assessing and regulating their emotions and aware that emotions affect a person's behavior and work results.

Not all dimensions of EI affect job satisfaction, but only self-awareness, which is important in enhancing job satisfaction. In this case, emotional self-awareness contributes to job satisfaction with public service workers [Guy and Lee, 2015].

In the workplace, EI is seen more as an ability and not as a personality trait [Guy and Lee, 2015]. Individuals’ ability to perceive, understand, and express emotions coupled with the ability to generate and regulate feelings must be involved in optimizing the application of EI [Salovey and Mayer, 1990; Mayer and Salovey, 1997].

Peters [2016] examines the relationship between job stress and job satisfaction, with EI and organizational citizenship behavior as mediating variables. Data processed with Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling PLS-SEM found that job stress had no negative impact on job satisfaction, but EI and organizational citizenship behavior partially mediated.

The mediation analysis stage is to introduce EI into the model as a mediating variable. The mediation analysis results show that job satisfaction and EI decrease when work pressure increases, while job satisfaction increases when EI is higher. Based on the above, the hypothesis put forward is as follows:

Hypothesis: The higher the level of EI, the stronger the extent to which the relationship between job stress and job satisfaction is mediated.

Jakarta is the capital city of Indonesia. Jakarta in 2019: the population was 10,557,810 inhabitants (rate of growth is 1.19% per year), and the population density was 15,900 people each km². Total number of economically active people amounted to 5,157,878; provincial minimum wages and inflation amounted to 3,940,973 rupiahs and 3.23%, respectively. The human development index (HDI) was 80.76% and still ranked the highest HDI in Indonesia's provinces. [Badan Pusat Statistik Provinsi DKI Jakarta, 2020].

The duties and responsibilities of a job as a sales associate have become factors that trigger stress. Sales associates are required to be able to meet store sales targets and individual sales targets. Through an interview session with several sales associates, the researchers found an overview of a store's target. When an outlet has a sales target of 500,000,000 rupiahs per month and five sales associates in the store, each sales associate has a sales target of 100,000,000 rupiahs per month. The outlet also has an average transaction unit of three quantities per bill, which means that sales associates must sell at least three products in one transaction or one account. We conclude intense competition between sales associates, even in the same store, to achieve individual sales targets.

This study's sampling method is non-probability sampling, which is that not all subjects have an equal opportunity to be chosen as a sample [Kerlinger and Howard, 2000]. The sampling technique used was accidental/convenient sampling. This technique is used because researchers do not know with certainty the number of populations accurately.

Data collection was carried out by distributing questionnaires to respondents in February–March 2020. The questionnaires were distributed to respondents who worked as sales associates in malls targeting middle to upper-level customers in downtown Jakarta. Investigators directly contact sales associates outside of working hours or during breaks and ask their willingness to participate in this survey voluntarily, and the confidentiality of data is guaranteed. Those who were selected as respondents were asked to fill out a complete questionnaire accompanied by the investigator. This process begins with the investigator explaining the purpose of this study, asking the respondent's willingness to voluntarily be involved in the research, explaining how to fill out the questionnaire, and explaining the meaning of the statement if there are items that the respondent does not understand. If there are sales associates who, after reading the items in the questionnaire, change their minds and object to participating, they can return the questionnaire to the investigators. The questionnaire distributed by the author contains questions equipped with answers in the form of a Likert scale. This study distributed questionnaires to 123 respondents, but 23 were excluded because of incomplete answers. The proportion of valid answers was, therefore, 100/123 = 81.3%.

Demographic analysis of the sample shows that 56% are male and 44% female. Age was in the following range: between 21 years and 25 years, 64%; less than 20 years old, 21%; and the rest are between 26 years and 30 years old. Education: 84% are undergraduate degrees, and others are diploma and senior high school. Marital status: 94% married and do not have children. Meanwhile, monthly revenue is 54%, ranging from 3 million to 5 million rupiahs (1 IDR equal about 0.000068 USD).

The instrument used to measure EI, job stress, and job satisfaction in this study is a questionnaire. The questionnaire used is a valid and reliable instrument because it has been tested in previous studies. The questionnaire, which is originally in English, is translated into Indonesian to be understood well by respondents. The questionnaire consists of four parts. The first part covers socio-demographic characteristics. The second part is the questionnaire of EI. The third part is the job stress questionnaire, and the fourth part is the job satisfaction questionnaire. The questionnaire distributed contains questions equipped with answers, using a Likert scale 1–6, from strongly disagree (1) to agree strongly (6).

Reasoning that takes into account emotions is mentioned as EI [Mayer and Geher, 1996]. Measurement of EI variables adapted from EI questionnaire [Leadership Toolkit: (EI) Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire, [2019]], consists of five dimensions, namely self-awareness, motivating oneself, managing emotions, social skills and, empathy, with a total of 16 items. Example of items: Soon, I realize when I lose my temper, I understand why my actions sometimes can offend others, I am good at reconciling differences with others, etc. The validity and reliability test results for EI show that the scale used was valid and reliable (correlation coefficient EI ranging from 0.332 to 0.597, significant at α = 0.05; Cronbach's alpha EI coefficient = 0.736).

The job stress variables referred to in this study include five dimensions that can cause job stress: work-home conflict, work overload, invasion of privacy, role ambiguity, and job insecurity [Peters, 2016]. Measurement of job stress variables is made using instruments adapted by Peters [2016], consisting of 18 items. Examples of items: Worrying about what is going on at home makes it difficult for me to do my job; it often seems that I have too much work for one person; I feel my company could violate my privacy by tracking my work activities using technology, etc. The validity and reliability test results for job stress variables show that the scale used was valid and reliable (correlation coefficient job stress ranging from 0.325 to 0.680, significant at α = 0.05; Cronbach's alpha coefficient job stress = 0.745).

The job satisfaction variable questionnaire was adapted from Winata [2017] based on the theory stated by Colquitt et al. [2015]. Job satisfaction has five dimensions, namely: satisfaction with the work itself, coworker satisfaction, supervision satisfaction, promotion satisfaction, and pay satisfaction, consisting of 20 items. Examples of items: I am satisfied with the work I do and my pay and I am satisfied with the way I relate with my coworkers, I am satisfied with the competence of my supervisor in making decisions, etc. The validity and reliability test results for job satisfaction variables show that the scale used was valid and reliable (job satisfaction's correlation coefficient ranged from 0.490 to 0.712, and significant at α = 0.05; Cronbach's alpha job satisfaction coefficient = 0.755).

The analysis method to test this research model uses The Simple Mediation Model [Hayes, 2013] with Macro Process, which is processed through SPSS Process 22.0 for Windows using ordinary least squares and logistic regression path analysis modeling.

To test the mediation variable to determine how it affects the relationship between the independent and dependent variables, the authors conducted a path analysis test. It was the Preacher–Hayes (the simple mediation) model, using Model = 4; Y = job satisfaction; X = job stress; and M = EI.

From Table 1, we found that the correlation coefficient between job stress and EI is 0.2533 with a determination coefficient of 0.0641. The correlation coefficient between job stress and EI on job satisfaction is 0.4423, with a correlation coefficient of 0.1957. On the total effect with the outcome of job satisfaction, the correlation coefficient is 0.0267, and the determination coefficient is 0.0007.

It can be seen that the positive and significant effect of job stress on EI is from the value of p = 0.0110 < α = 0.05 with a coefficient of 0.1628. Furthermore, there is a positive and significant influence between the EI variable on job satisfaction based on the p-value = 0.0000 < α = 0.05 with a coefficient of 0.8216. There is no significant difference between job stress and job satisfaction based on the value of p = 0.7923 < α = 0.05 with a coefficient of −0.0309.

The direct effect of the independent variable (job stress) on the dependent variable (job satisfaction) is not significant; p-value = 0.1340 > α = 0.05 with a coefficient of 0.2011.

Table 4 shows the results of the indirect effect: the job stress (independent variable) on job satisfaction (dependent variable) and EI (mediating variable). It can be seen that the output results above produce BootLLCI = 0.0203 and BootULCI = 0.2791, so it means that the EI variable has a significant effect as a mediating variable. The EI variable fully mediates the effect of job stress on job satisfaction, and we conclude that the hypothesis is accepted. It is proven: the higher the level of EI, the stronger the extent to which the relationship between job stress and job satisfaction is mediated.