Date of Conferral

2021

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Management

Advisor

Karina Kasztelnik

Abstract

Emotional intelligence is an essential trait for managers to possess to be effective and successful in organizations. Soft skills are becoming as crucial as making quotas. Scholarly literature lacks research on emotional intelligence and employee engagement in retail in St. Lucia. Engaged employees could stay motivated during adversity and help maintain an organization’s culture. The purpose of this exploratory case study was to examine how retail store managers in St. Lucia perceived their emotional intelligence influences employee engagement. The conceptual framework that grounded the study was emotional intelligence and employee engagement from an organizational performance perspective. The data collection process included semistructured interviews with a purposeful sample consisting of 14 retail store managers from St. Lucia who have been in that role for at least 1 year, as well as reviewing archival data. In a year the manager would have experienced a complete business cycle. The interviews consisted of open-ended questions. I conducted coding and thematic analysis of 14 interviews. Several patterns and themes emerged from the data analysis, including emotional intelligence, controlling emotions, coaching, legacy, training, hiring well, communication, and personalized relationships. Increased emotional intelligence training emerged as useful in the St. Lucian business landscape and the Caribbean by extension. Researching other sectors at varying levels may give a broader understanding of how emotional intelligence is perceived. The findings of this study may be useful to stakeholders and organizational leaders to allow developing strategies to build more emotionally intelligent and engaged organizations and could positively affect social change.

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