Leadership and Communication Skills Towards Emotional Intelligence: A Case Study of FPT University in Vietnam

Abstract

As society evolves, people are making more of an effort to learn more about human aspects, one of which is emotional intelligence, a topic on which education experts have traditionally concentrated. This is due to the fact that emotional intelligence has a significant impact on how people think and manage their emotions. On the other side, it promotes the development of expressive ability and aids people in better adapting to life. This study explores the relationship between communication skills, leadership skills, stress management, adaptability, and emotional intelligence of FPT University students to determine the factors that affect students' emotional intelligence. To survey 500 FPT University students, this study used a sample size of 500. Previous studies used a 5-point Likert scale to assess the four skill elements. According to the results, students who completed the survey showed adequate communication skills, leadership qualities, stress management, adaptability, and emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is influenced by communication skills, leadership abilities, stress management, and flexibility. This suggests that students who master these four skills have higher levels of emotional intelligence. The outcomes of this study reveal that students have been conscious of Emotional Intelligence since a young age. The affirmations in this research paper will benefit students and young people interested in enhancing complimentary soft skills that boost Emotional Intelligence.

1. Introduction

These days, human resource recruiters have often focused on finding candidates with high levels of emotional intelligence (EI), grasping that recruitment trend, researchers have also gradually begun to focus on further study emotional intelligence and its impact on other related issues, such as leadership, communication skills, etc. EI is defined by Bar- On (2004) as a mixture of emotions and social skills, the emotional intelligence index will represent the level of self- awareness, the ability to understand others and surrounding relationships, as well as the ability to adapt and cope with problems and pressures of life.

In business organizations, emotional intelligence is considered as a solution to promote management effectiveness and promote organizational development (Lowe et al., 1996) because it helps improve the leadership ability of managers (Druskat & Wolff, 2001). People with a high EI can self-regulate and be self-motivated to improve organizational performance and interpersonal connections (Nguyen et al., 2020). In a study by Mazur et al. (2014) on the relationship of EI and the success of a project, researchers have argued that a leader with a high EI will possess effective communication between relationships, and at the same time can well solve problems arising between parties such as partners and employees.

With the above mentioned, however, in Vietnam, many students still do not pay attention to cultivating emotional intelligence. It can be said that emotional intelligence is a form of human intelligence that shapes human personality and contributes greatly to success in academics and career. Therefore, this is an element that every student should learn and cultivate to improve their self-worth and practice the skills they need in life.

In this research paper, we will focus on clarifying the relationship between communication skills, leadership skills, stress management, and adaptability towards the emotional intelligence of FPT University students.

2. Literature Review and Hypothesis Development

2.1. Communication

“Communication” is a word of Latin origin - “communicate” with the meaning of sharing or relating to each other. However, in Indo-European culture, “communication” has much meaning to the community and emphasizes more on gathering more (Cobley, 2008). Although it is a familiar word, according to Cobley (2008), the concept of “communication” has been debated to find the most accurate and comprehensive answer but it cannot be denied that communication is an important process in business because communication is a necessary skill to bring people together and create a comfortable working environment (Gulsun & Serap, 2013). Even within and beyond the group or organization, communication aids in the formation and maintenance of vital relationships (Toy, 2007). Furthermore, communication is linked to emotional intelligence, according to a study by Heeyoung and Scott (2012), since people with strong communication skills and the ability to form good relationships can better control their own emotions and comprehend the sentiments of others. Freshman and Rubino (2004) also recommended that at the management level, communication and emotional intelligence should be equipped to assist each other. Aside from that, a few research conducted at healthcare universities by Freshman and Rubino (2004) and Anderson et al. (2000) found that students or potential management candidates should equip and develop effective communication skills as well as foster emotional intelligence for themselves before entering the working phase

H1: Communication has a positive relationship with emotional intelligence among FPT University students.

2.2. Leadership

Leadership is a process of social interaction to influence members of the same group (Dasborough & Ashkanasy, 2002). Although leadership is a skill that requires IQ, John Antonakis et al. (2009) asserted that leadership needs EI to understand the differences between individuals in a team. Jordan and Troth (2004) and Offermann et al. (2004) also stated that: For leaders, IQ is key to succeeding in cognitive tasks, and emotional intelligence is key to solving social situations. In addition, a study on the relationship between leadership and emotional intelligence that took place at the University Library Directors and Their Senior Management Teams by Kreitz (2009) showed that there is a mutual correlation between leadership and emotional intelligence. In particular, EI has characteristics that leaders need to use to build a social contract of interaction in which leaders influence their members by defining and communicating mission and vision, motivating them to focus on those and make plans to achieve the set goals together. Not only that, but this research also shows that emotional intelligence is also improved and developed when participating in leadership institutes. In addition, Gardner and Stough (2002) also used the Swinburne University Emotional Intelligence Test as a measure of emotional intelligence to conduct a study to produce a result that proves the existence of a strong positive relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership.

H2: There exists a significant positive relationship between leadership and emotional intelligence among FPT University students.

2.3. Stress Management

Stress management is described as the ability to adapt and change one’s feelings in response to changing circumstances (Livingstone & Day, 2005). It includes skills such as postponing or resisting impulses. High-stress managers usually keep calm and operate effectively under pressure; they are rarely impetuous and can generally respond to stressful situations without erupting emotionally. For students, controlling emotions to control stress is a necessity for future work. “In a business culture that puts more pressure on us to succeed, it is vital to control and manage stress”(Grout, 1994). Stress management also has positive effects on emotional intelligence, which largely depends on the emotional balance between your underlying stress and your response to it. Researchers have proven this fact through positive emotions correlate with general health and subjective well-being (Kok et al., 2013; Tugade et al., 2004). Emotional intelligence, an essential determinant of life success, and psychological well-being appear to play an important role in shaping interpersonal interactions and their work. Furthermore, Siu (2009) observed that adolescents with high EI had fewer problem behaviors than adolescents with low EI. Thus, high EI promotes the ability to cope effectively in stressful situations.

H3: Emotional intelligence is positively associated with stress management.

2.4. Adaptability

According to Livingstone and Day (2005), adaptability is the ability to be flexible and change one’s feelings in response to changing circumstances. It includes skills such as the ability to modify one’s emotions and behavior in response to changing situations or surroundings and effectively solve problems of a personal and interpersonal nature. For students, the job search process of a student requires a lot of preparation even before finding a job in the final year of graduation. The number of graduates rises by every year, and the job market becomes increasingly competitive, so the chances and job prospects more rarely (Al-Jubari et al., 2021). They face many uncertain and difficult situations during their job search efforts (Wanberg et al., 2010; Brown et al., 2006). To deal with these difficulties, students need to be flexible to create adaptations to obstacles, which impacts emotional intelligence. It includes emotional awareness, knowing relationships between emotions and rational use of emotions, problem-solving, and self-motivation (Koman & Wolff, 2008; Mayer et al., 2008). Individuals with high levels of emotional intelligence are regarded to play a unique role in job success, perceiving more about their emotions and having more capacity to integrate their emotions, experiences, thoughts, and actions. And people have high adaptability scores, are flexible, realistic, effective in managing change, good at finding positive ways of dealing with problems.

H4: Having good adaptability will help develop the emotional intelligence of FPT University students.

2.5. Emotional Intelligence

According to Mayer et al. (2000), emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to be self-aware of different types of emotions and the ability to solve emotional problems in the relationships around us. The emotional intelligence scale also shows us the level of emotional understanding and emotional control. In addition, according to Bar-On and Parker (2000), EI can also be understood as: a set of factors of an individual’s emotional ability for social activities and relationships that affect the quality of life. Bar-On (1997) and Goleman (1995) argued that the foundation of emotional intelligence is self- awareness; to increase emotional intelligence, we need to gain self-acceptance and become more confident. Because when we can realize our worth, it makes it easier for us to detach from situations that are harmful to our mental health, easily adapts to situations, increase our self-confidence, and easily control the emotional pressure. Furthermore, according to Doan et al. (2020), emotional intelligence is crucial for good managers to improve their performance.

It can be said that focusing on developing skills such as adaptability can also develop emotional intelligence moreover skills such as stress management and, communication skills, leadership skills will also influence positive and improvement.

H5: Emotional intelligence has a positive relationship with communication skills, leadership skills, stress management skills, and adaptability skills.

The research framework is depicted in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Research Model

3. Research Methods

Purposive sampling was used in this study as a sample for students at FPT University, regardless of the year of study or major. Through the use of brief classes or specialized fields of study, first-year students are taught to gain skills such as communication skills, leadership skills, stress management, adaptability, or self-regulation. A total of 500 questionnaires were delivered to all university students using Krejcie and Morgan’s (1970) approach, in which 450 questionnaires were collected, and 420 questionnaires were utilized, accounting for about 84 percent of the total.

The instruments for the four skills listed above with emotional intelligence are acknowledged and used by Cobley (2008), Dasborough and Ashkanasy (2002), Livingstone and Day (2005), Kok et al. (2013), Tugade et al. (2004), Wanberg et al. (2010), Brown et al. (2006), Koman and Wolff (2008), Mayer et al. (2008), and Bar- On and Parker (2000). Furthermore, the study employed a Likert scale with a 5-point scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Finally, demographic information includes gender, year of study, major, and hometown.

4. Results

4.1. Reliability Analysis (Cronbach’s Alpha)

The Cronbach’s Alpha reliability performance mentioned above is calculated to assess the reliability of the equivalency scale on the topic of factors affecting Emotional Intelligence, and the findings are shown in Table 1. The table includes variables such as Leadership Skills (LS), Communication Skills (CS), Stress Management (SM), Adaptability (AD). Table 1 shows that except for the AD variable, all the remaining three variables have Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient of more than 0.6, which shows that the variables LS, CS, SM are all reliable and usable. In addition, the correlation coefficient of each observed variable with the overall variable is greater than 0.3 (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994). Therefore, all variables LS, CS, SM, and observed variables are kept and analyzed in the next steps.

Table 1: Cronbach’s Alpha

4.2. Exploratory Factor Analysis

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) is a basic way of summarising and interpreting data that is frequently used in research. Instead of testing the association between factors in the same group, EFA represents the relationship between components from separate groups. It will be possible to determine whether the factors have been allocated to the appropriate group to conduct a reasonable reallocation. In the KMO and Bartlett’s Test (Table 2), the standard KMO coefficient of 0.5 ≤ KMO ≤ 1 will be sufficient to determine the appropriate factor analysis. The KMO coefficient of the factors to be analyzed in this study is 0.684, which meets the appropriate conditions. Simultaneously, the Sig coefficient (sig Bartlett’s Test) is 0.00, satisfying the condition sig Bartlett’s Test < 0.05 so that the factors are correlated with each other.

Table 2: Exploratory Factors Analysis KMO and Bartlett’s Test

There are 3 factors with Eigenvalues > 1, namely 4, 333, 2.089 and 1.498. From Table 3, it can be concluded that those 3 factors have the best ability to summarize the information of 9 variables included in EFA analysis. At the same time, the cumulative percentage of these 3 factors is 88.001% > 50%, so these 3 factors can explain 88.001% of the variation of the 9 factors included in the EFA analysis.

Table 3: Exploratory Factors Analysis Total Variance Explained

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

With a sample of 420, the factor loading factor suitable for the study is 0.3. From Table 4, it can be seen that the factors in the Structure Matrix table are all greater than 0.3, and there are no bad variables. Thereby, it can be concluded that through the inclusion of 9 observed variables in EFA analysis, all variables are suitable correlated with each other, and none of them are excluded.

Table 4: Exploratory Factors Analysis Structure Matrix

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Rotation Method: Promax with Kaiser Normalization.

4.3. Descriptive Statistics of Respondents

Descriptive statistics of the 420 respondents are listed in Table 5. The results show that 54.5% of the participants are female and 44.8% are male; the remaining 0.7 % are others. All the answers came from students of the university, and the majority of the participants were majoring in business administration, with 44.3% and 56% of the answers belonging to the first-year student. Regarding the scope of the survey, most of 40% of students are from Can Tho city, which has many universities in Vietnam, so it can be concluded that the data collected from the survey is consistent with the scope of the survey and completely reliable.

Table 5: Descriptive Statistics of Respondents

4.4. Descriptive Statistics of Variables

As shown in Table 6, students with mean scores in communication skills (CS1, CS2), leadership skills (LS1, LS2, LS3, LS4), and adaptability (AD1, AD2, AD3) had a higher level of acceptance than students with mean scores in stress management (SM1, SM2, SM3). In terms of emotional intelligence, the mean scores of the factors EI1, EI2, EI3, and EI4 indicate that students comprehend, use, manage, and interpret their emotions well.

Table 6: Descriptive Statistics of Variables

4.5. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)

First, the SEM model will be developed to analyze the multidimensional relationship between the variables in the model (Figure 2). After reviewing the data based on Figure 2 and Table 7, we confirm or decide to reject the null hypothesis and proceed to make the evaluation.

Figure 2: Direct and Indirect Effects on Emotional Intelligence

Notes: CMIN/DF = 2.318, GFI = 0.956, CFI = 0.989, RMSEA = 0.056 and TLI = 0.985, PCLOSE = 0.203.

Table 7: Results of the Integrating Mode

Note: ***p-value < 0.001. Significant at the 0.05 level.

For The Chi-square (χ²/df) index, the result is 2, 318, considering the condition less than 3, this is a very good result for the study. The Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) is 0.956. In addition, we also get the Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.989, both of which satisfy the condition > 0.9. Finally, consider the value of the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) is 0.056, the value satisfying the condition is less than 0.08.

However, the SEM results show that the Sig of SM is 0.12 > 0.05, which shows that the SM variable has no effect on EI. Sig of the remaining variables is LS and CS is *** (value *** in Amoss application is equivalent to 0.000), so these 2 variables will have an impact on EI and these relationships are significant. From this, it can be concluded that the two independent variables LS and CS have a large and significant impact on the dependent variable EI. From the initial 5 hypotheses, the remaining 2 hypotheses are accepted, rejecting hypotheses H3 and H4.

The estimate of leadership skill (LS) in Standardized Regression Weights is 0.193, and the estimated value of communication skill (CS) is 0.352. This shows that the influence of leadership skills on emotional intelligence is stronger than that of communication skills. It can be said that a person who possesses good leadership skills or communication skills will have a high emotional intelligence quotient.

5. Discussion

We used the SEM model to analyze the impact of other factors on Emotional Intelligence through Empirical Research in Vietnam. The problems are solved through a common research model that is combined to assess the interplay between variables. We have identified factors including Leadership and Communication skills that influence Emotional Intelligence.

The study is based on survey data on FPT University students in Vietnam. 54.5% of the participants are female, and 44.8% are male; the remaining 0.7% are other subjects. In which, students majoring in business administration with 44.3% are interested in Leadership skills and communication skills. This shows that Leadership and Communication is an important factor required for a person to work in the future business environment (Gulsun & Serap, 2013). After the survey, the results showed that Communication skills and Leadership skills completely impact Emotional Intelligence.

Leadership Skills (LS) Hypothesis 1, here studies whether Leadership Skills (LS) affect Emotional Intelligence. According to research by Kreitz (2009), it is shown that when improving Leadership Skills, contributes to improving Emotional Intelligence. Emotional intelligence helps leaders build social interactions. This makes it easier for them to identify and communicate information to employees and members of the organization more easily. Leadership skills can be improved every day through study and practice. As a business employee and a future business and organization leader, Leadership skills are one of the indispensable skills and need to be cared for.

Hypothesis 2 studies whether Communication Skills (CS) affect Emotional Intelligence. Talking about Communication Skills, people with good communication skills will have good Emotional Intelligence and vice versa. This result supports the idea of Heeyoung and Scott (2012). It suggests that people with good communication skills and the ability to build good relationships will have good control over their own emotions and easily understand the emotions of others. The essence of communication is towards mutual understanding between the parties. When you manage your emotions well, you can understand the interlocutor and communicate with you. From there it is easy to succeed in a conversation. In addition, understanding and being honest with your emotions is a wise attitude in communication. Communication skills can be improved along with Emotional Intelligence. We can easily improve it day by day.

6. Conclusion

This study aimed to examine the relationship between soft skills and emotional intelligence influences. Through the research results, we found that it is true that Communication Skills and Leadership Skills have an impact on Emotional Intelligence. In recent years, under the influence of social networks, we have had the opportunity to connect and interact with many different people. Since then, the concept of Emotional Intelligence, which partly determines the level of success in meetings and exchanges between people, has become more popular. It plays an important role not only in work but also in life. College students in Vietnam understand better than anyone how important Emotional Intelligence is today for their future.

The survey data is based on objective assessments of more than 500 participants and there are 420 evaluation samples suitable for study. The participants are students studying at FPT University Vietnam - which has a dynamic and internationalized learning environment, most of the participants are freshmen. It can be demonstrated that students have been aware of Emotional Intelligence since a young age. However, there are still certain flaws in the sample data gathering and study procedure, thus it may not be possible to fully assess the situation. Students and young people who are more interested in enhancing complementing soft skills that boost Emotional Intelligence would benefit from the affirmations and findings in this research article because Emotional Intelligence is a strong predictor of long-term success. As people’s communication becomes more computerized, there is less interaction, and emotional intelligence is becoming increasingly essential to maintain healthy human emotional connections and relationships. Despite the study’s limitations, it will help to support and contribute to other future research projects in Vietnam. Particularly, research on Emotional Intelligence to help promote Emotional Intelligence among young people - Gen Z in particular - and the workforce in general in Vietnam and around the world.