Current Research Journal of Social Sciences 2(3): 147-154, 2010

ISSN: 2041-3246
© M axwell Scientific Organization, 2010
Submitted Date: February 22, 2010 Accepted Date: March 01, 2010 Published Date: June 15, 2010

Influence of Emotional Intelligence and Gender on Job Performance and Job

Satisfaction among Nigerian Policemen

O.A . Afolabi, R.K. A wosola and S .O. O mole

Departm ent of Psychology , Am brose Alli University , Ekpom a, Edo State, Nig eria

Abstract: This study examines the influence of emotional intelligence and gender on job performance and job
satisfaction among N igeria Police Officers. It employs a 2x2 factorial design as well as multiple regressions
with emotional intelligence and gender as the independent variables. One hundred and ninetee n police officers
were rando mly selected from E san A rea C omm and. The results sh ow that Police Officers who are of high
emotional intelligence are mo re satisfied and perform better than Police Officers who are of low emotional
intelligence. Also , respondents who have male or female roles with high emotional intelligence perform better
and more satisfied with their job than respondents who have male or female roles with low emotional
intelligence. Based on the above, recommendations are made on how to increase Police Officers’ efficiency.

Key w ords: Emotional intelligence, gender, job performance, job satisfaction

INTRODUCTION Analytic intelligence refers to the mental processes

used in learning ho w to solve problems, such as picking
Police organisations have behavioural orientations a problem-solving strategy and applying it. Creative
reflective of dominance, individual achievement and intelligence is the ability to deal with the novel situations
masculinity. However, recent challenges in Nigeria such by drawing on existing skills and knowledge. The
as developing community oriented policing and intelligent person effectively draws on past experiences
transforming a traditional Police culture that typica lly to cope with new situations, which often involves finding
emphasised opera tional effic iencies, to one that promotes an unusual way to relate old information to new.
team collaboration, innovation and ‘effective” processes Practical intelligence involves the ability to adapt to
suggest the need for improved job performance within the the environment and often reflects w hat is co mm only
law enforc eme nt agencies (Afolabi and Adesina, 200 6). called street smarts. Sternberg (1997) notes that what is
Effective performance in the protective service required to adapt successfully in one particular situation
occupations, such as in policing and fire service, is not all or culture may be very different in another situation or
about ability, but it also involves emotions. People, who culture. He stresses that the behaviour that reflect
know their own emotions and are go od at reading others practical intelligence can vary depending on the particular
emotion may be more effective in their jobs (Afolabi and situation, environment or culture. According to Goleman
Ade sina, 2006). (1995) emotional intelligence is referred to as emotional
Mayer et al. (2000) and Afolabi (2004) contend that literacy. Individual w ith emotional intelligence are
emotional intelligence is not a single trait or ability rather, therefore able to relate to others with companion and
a composite of distinct emotion reasoning abilities. empathy, have well develope d social skills and use this
Perceiving emotions consist of recognising and emotional awareness to direct their acts and behaviours.
interpreting the meaning of various emotional states, as Ciarrochi et al. (2001 ) stress tha t being able to
well as their relations to other sensory experiences. understand, perceive and express emotions in an
Understanding emotions involve comprehension of how appropriate way can determine whethe r an individua l is
basic emo tions are blend ed to form co mple x em otions. successful or not as an emplo yee in a career. Evid ence is
Regulating emotions encompasses the control of emotions accumulating that emotional intelligence is associated
in oneself and in others. An individual’s emotional with important outcomes such as high quality social
intelligence is an indicator of how he or she perceives, relationships (Lopes et al., 2005). Emotional intelligence
understands and regulates emotions. Sternberg (1997) has may contribute to work performance (as reflec ted in
proposed a different conception of intelligence, which he salary, salary increase and company rank) by enabling
calls successful intelligence. Successful intelligence people to nurture positive relationships at work, work
involves three distinct types of mental abilities: analytic, affectively in team s and build so cial cap ital. Work
creative and practical. performance often depends on the suppo rt and advice and

Corresponding Author: Dr. O.A. Afolabi, Department of Psychology, Ambrose Alli University, P.M.B. 14, Ekpoma, Edo State,
Nigeria.
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other resources provided by (Seibe rt et al., 2004). The individual is with his or her job. There are a variety of
ability to manage emotions can help people nurture factors that can influence a person’s level of job
positive affect, avoid being overwhelmed by negative satisfaction; some o f these factors include the level of pay
affect, and cope with stress (Afolabi, 2004). Other and benefits, the perceived fairness of the promotion
emotional abilities such as perceiving and understanding system within a company, the quality of the working
emotions, also contribute indirectly to the quality of condition, leadership and social relationships and the job
emotional experience by helping people to identify and itself (the variety of tasks involved, the interest and
interpret cues that inform self-regulatory action. challenge the job generates and the clarity of the job
There were mixed results of studies on influence of description requ irement).
emotional intelligence and job performance, some studies The happier people are with their job, the more
suggested that emotional intelligence and job performance satisfied they are said to be. Various steps are taken by
are positively related. Lam and Kirby (2002) found that organisations to improve and enhance job satisfaction,
emotional intelligence predicts the performance of thse include job rotation, job enlargemen t and job
undergrad uate students on single task. Also Sue-Chan and enrich men t. Other factors that influence job satisfaction
Latham (2004) found that emotional intelligence is related include the management style and culture, employee
to the classroom performance of managers and involvement and autonomous work groups. Numerous
professionals, sales performance (Law et al., 2004), the authors have theorised that emotional intelligence
collection performance of account officers contributes to people’s ca pacity to wo rk effectively in
(Bachman et al., 2000) and supervisory rating of job teams and manage work stress (Caruso and Salovey,
performance (Law et al., 2004). Kelley and Caplan (1993) 2004). Emotional intelligence can as well influence job
studied the characteristics of Bell Laboratories E ngineers satisfaction, since the happ ier people are with their job the
who were rated as stars by their peers. They concluded more satisfied they are said to be which entails the
that the so-called stars were better at relating to others, expression of emotion. Sy et al. (2006 ) found that
which means that it was emotional intelligence, not employees' emotional intelligence was positively
acad emic intelligence that characterised their high associated with job satisfaction and performance. They
performance. Ano ther study cond ucted amo ng the Air also found that manager's emotional intelligence had a
Force recruiters generated similar findings; the Air Force more positive correlation with job satisfaction for
revamped its selection criteria. A follow up investigation employees with low emotional intelligence than for those
found that future hires that had high emotional with high emotional intelligence. Also, Tans (2003) found
intelligence scores were 2.6 times more successful than a positive relationship between emotional intelligence and
those who did n ot. other criteria such as job satisfaction and contextual
The implication from evidence on emotional performance. But, emotional intelligence can work w ith
intelligence is that employers should consider it as a other variables like gender, personality and personal value
factor in selection especially in jobs that demand a high to predict job satisfaction and performance. Cote and
degree of social interaction such as in policing. Recent Miner (2006) argu ed that emotional intelligence and
findings suggest that emotionally intelligent persons are cognitive intelligence interact to influence performance.
better performer than their counterpart (Law et al., 2004; It is a fact that it takes more than traditional cognitive
Van-Rooy and Viswesvaran, 2004) but most of these intelligence to be successful at work. It also takes
associations are based on self-report measures of emotional intelligence; the ability to restrain negative
emo tional intelligence. feelings such as anger and self-doubt, and rather focus on
Other studies have also su ggested that there is no positive ones such as confidence to be successful at work.
relation betw een or an inconsistent relation between Job satisfaction can as well be influenced by gender
emotional intelligence and job performance. These studies differences especially in jobs like policing which have
found no relation or inconsistent between the two been fully defined as “masculine” or resistant to
variables on particular task (Austin, 2004; Day and integration of women to jobs that are physically
Caroll, 2004), academ ic performan ce (A folabi et al., demanding such as police. Despite the change in both the
2009) and sup ervisory ratings (Janovics and Christiansen, nature of policing and the status of women, many men
2001). Mo reover past researches have focussed on a officers continue to believe that women cannot handle the
limited set of criteria, and little is known about how physical and em otional dem ands of the job . Therefore,
emotional intelligence is related to outcome such as salary they oppose to the presence of female in patrol. Th e term
and affect at w ork su ch as job satisfaction. gender refers not simp ly to a fixed attribute determined by
Job satisfaction refers to a collection of attitudes, biology or cultural processes or is it simply what one “is”.
which workers have about their jobs. Berry (1997) Rather, it is something one enacts or “does” on going
defined “Job satisfaction as an individual’s reaction to job basis by presenting oneself as m asculine or feminine in
experience”. Job satisfaction describes how content an routine daily interactions through languages, dress and

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deme anour (A cker, 1990 ; West and Zim merm an, 1989 ). Beck and Wilson (1997) in their study found that
In summary, gender is socially constructed through police officers have relatively low levels o f com mitment.
interaction. This, according to them is a result of a culmination of
Gender as socially constructed rather than as a poor experiences they have had. Similarly, Afolabi and
characteristic of individual has several implications. It Adesina (2006) stress that low levels of police
sugg ests that gender arises through interaction and commitment are a reflection of their bad experiences,
organisational practices and is a pervasive way of some of which is a function of the type of work they
organising and differentiating feature of all social life, engaged in. Along the same line of thought, Metacalfe
woven into all aspect of life within and outside of the and Dick (2000) suggest that po lice com mitment is
workplace. In furtherance of this, Ward et al. (2004) significa ntly affected by their identification and
opined that accounting profession, like all organisations commitment to organisational values. They made a
have tend to foster self replication; that is, ind ividuals in submission that management systems and practices affect
the power structure tend to hire, mentor and advance organisational identification and in turn, the desire of
those individuals who are perceived to be most like police officers to closely identify themselves with the
themselves. They found that these persons tend to be police service’s goals and values. From the foregoing, the
“masculine” men . Therefore w ome n who are in such study wants to find answers to these questions. Does
organisations may have less job satisfaction if they are emotional intelligence influence job performance and job
perce ived n ot to have “m asculine” trait. satisfaction? Does gender difference influence job
A gender role is a set of behavioural norms satisfaction and job performance? Does emotional
associated particularly with males or females in a given intelligence and gender interact to affect job performance
social group or sy stem. The rejection of gend er role and job satisfaction among police officers? Answers to
stereotypes by women who pursue traditionally the these questions are of social and psychological
construed male careers can be suggestive of the fact that importance in view of the contribution of Nigerian Police
women in those positions have needs, motives and
Officers to the security and development of the country.
values similar to men who also are in similar positions.
Hulin and Smith (1964) contend that sex per se is not
Four hypotheses emerged, they are:
related to either high or low satisfaction; rather, when
C Gender will have a significant influence on job
sex is paired with other factors like pay, job level and
satisfaction
promotional opportunity they can influence job
C Emotional intelligence will have a significant
satisfaction. This was shown in a study by Zaleznik et al.
influence on job satisfaction
(1958) in which women were more satisfied than men.
C Gender and E motional intelligence will intera ct to
They explained that the women in the group w ere
influence job satisfaction
receiving the same pay and also had the same social
C Gender and Emotional intelligence will have
position as the men. Varca et al. (1983) contended that
independent and joint influence on job performance.
women and men are most likely to differ in satisfaction
with organizational rewards-namely, pay and promotion.
Setting: The first step in obtaining sample was to identify
Sauser and Y ork (1978) test the hypothesis that
the population of interest. Population consists of officers
observed sex differences in job satisfaction, but the
observed difference was not due to influence of sex and men of Nigeria Police Force, Edo State Command
alone, but to the effect of several variables which co- with Ben in City as the S tate hea dquarters. The sample
vary with sex. H erzberg et al. (1957) advanced that, the was drawn from Esan Area Command, which is located
greater variability in the attitudes of women can be in Irrua and headed by an Area Commander. This
attributed to the multiple roles assumed by women when command in turn is divided into Divisional Police Offices
they take position outside the home . They sug gested that, headed by Divisional Police Officers (DPOs). These
for women , job satisfaction might depend on factors Divisional Police Offices are based in the five Local
different from those of men. Government Areas that make up Esan land. These Local
It was wid ely thought that Nigerian P olice officer’s Government Areas inclu de: Esan West (Ekpoma), Esan
salary is a good predictor of his/her level of job Central (Irrua), Esan North East (Uromi), Esan South East
performance and job satisfaction. Government has (Ubiaja) and Igueben Local G overnm ent (Igueben ).
continuously increased the salary of officers in
anticipation of increased productivity and effectiveness Participants: A total num ber of 119 participants took part
but the reverse is alw ays the case. Are mu a nd O luwole in the study. From the sam ple, age of the respondents
(2000) reported that Police, irrespective of gender and were as follows 39 (32.8%) were 21-30 years, 51 (42.9%)
marital status, have low self esteem and these accounted were 31-40 years, 26 (21.8%) were 41-50 years and 3
for their low productivity. (2.5) were 51 years and above.

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From the sam ple 79 respondents (66.4) are males, 40 Gender was measured by respondents’ indicating
respo ndents (33.6% ) are females. On marital status 38 their roles in the homes and in the society. Through that
respo ndents (31.9%) were single, 77 respondents (64.7%) the researchers were able to determine respondents’
were married, 2 respondents (1.7%) were divorced and 2 gender. For exam ple, “Are yo u the one responsible for
respo ndents (1.7% ) were widow . Religion affiliation payment of rent and other fees in your family”, “Do you
showed that 99 respondents (83.2%) were Christians; like to baby-sit” “Do you engage in general household
while 16 respondents (13.4% ) were M uslims w hile others work like sweep ing and co oking”. Pa rticipants were
(who did not indicate their religion) w ere 4 (3.4% ). instructed to respond to the items on a “Yes” or “No”
On rank 33 respondents (27.7%) were Constable, 21 format.
respo ndents (17.6%) were Corporal, 25 respo ndents Job perform ance was tapped using a 19-item scale
(21.0%) were Sergeant, 29 respondents (24.4%) w ere developed by Helen (1990). Th e scale items w ere
Inspector, 9 respondents (7.6%) were Assistant designed in 5po int Like rt type respon se form at (strong ly
Superintendent of Police, 1 respondent (0.8%) was agree, agree, undecided, disagree and strongly disag ree).
Superintendent of Police. Number of years spent in the This scale has been used among Nigerian samples b efore
service showed that 33 respondents (27.7% ) were of 0-5 now. For exam ple, O sifo (2005) found a split half
years, 34 respondents (28.6) were of 6-10 years, 15 reliability coefficient of 0.68 and a validity coefficient of
respo ndents (12.6% ) were of 11-15 yea rs, 25 respon dents 0.63 among Nigerian factory workers. For the present
(21.0%) were of 16-2 years, 9 respondents (7.6%) were of study, an item total correlation was carried out to test the
21-25 years and 3 respondents (2.5%) w ere of 26 years validity of the scale. The analysis supported all the items
of the scale. Internal consistency coefficient of 0.72 was
and above.
obtained using Cronbach alpha reliability.
One respondent (0.8%) had Primary School
Job satisfaction w as tapp ed using a 10-item scale
Certificate, 66 respondents (55.5%) had Secondary School
developed by A danijo (1987). This scale is a short version
Certificate, 34 respondents (28.6% h ad N CE /ON D, w hile
of the U gwuegbu (1981) 25-item job satisfaction
18 respondents (15.1% ) had degrees (HND, B.Sc., B.A,
questionnaire. The 10 item version of job satisfaction
E.Ed).
scale show ed a significantly high correlation with the
origina l scale (r = 0.93; p<0 .0001). Also each of the ten
Instrum ent: The instrument used was a questionnaire,
items had significantly high correlation with the total
which tapped different measures like d emo graphic
score on the 25 items scale. The correlation coefficients
information, gend er, em otiona l intelligen ce, job
obtained ranged from 0.62 to 0.70 all significant at
performance and job satisfaction. The questionnaire was p<0.001 level. The internal consistency coefficients of the
divided into four (4) sections. 10 - item scale obtained for the pretest was 0 .75. In
Emotional intelligence was measured by using a scoring, items 7 and 8 were reversed and higher score
25-item scale d evelo ped by A folabi (2004). The scale indicates high er job satisfaction.
contained 5 factors that include empathetic response
(items 1-5), mood regulation (items 6-11), interpersonal Design: The design used for this study was expo facto
skills (items 12-16), internal motivation (items 17-21) and design/predictive design, the reason for the design was
self-awareness (items 22-25). The author reported due to the fact that there was no manipulation of
reliability alpha coefficients of 0.69, 0.72, 0.67, 0.73 and independent variable rather the indepen dent variable was
0.81 and test re-test reliabilities of 0.72, 0.75, 0.73, 0.75 manipulated by nature. Therefore the researche rs we nt to
and 0.84 for the respective subscales. For the whole scale, measu re their influence on the dependent variable. Which
alpha reliability was 0.90 among work teams. Also, means that the behavioural phenomenon was studied and
Afolabi et al. (2009) found an alpha reliability of 0.79 for attempts was made to explore the conditions under which
the sca le among Nigerian undergraduates. the phenomenon occurred.
For the present study, an item-total correlation was The research had two independent variables they are
analysed to re-validate the scale because it is essential for emotional intelligence and gender with two levels each
test validity to be computed on a different sample of (high and low) and (m ale and female) respectively. The
persons from that wh ich item s we re originally selected study also had two dependent variables; they are job
(Anastasi and Urbina, 1997; Ehigie et al., 2006). The performance and job satisfaction.
analy sis supported the 25 items used in this study. A
confirmatory factor analysis conducted using the principal Pilot study: In a preliminary study, 10 Police Officers at
factor component method and the varimax rotation Force Headquarter in Ben in City we re used by the
yielded five factors that conformed with the five factors researchers to test for psychometric properties of the
origina lly identified by Afolabi (2004). In scoring, higher instrum ents in the questionnaire. The pilot study was also
scores indica te higher emotional intelligence. used to determine the mean score that will be used in

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Table 1: 2X2 AN OVA showing the influence of emotional intelligence and gender on job satisfaction.
Source SS df MS F-value p-value
S ex ro le s ( A) 12.347 1 12.347 0.463 p >0.05
E m o ti on in te ll ig e nc e ( B ) 164.233 1 164.233 6.159 p <0.01
A VS B 93.640 1 93.640 3.512 p <0.01
Error 3066.421 115 26.665
Total 14321.395 118

classifying respondents into high and low categories. This Tab le 2: Sum mary of jo b sa tisfactio n by g ender and emotional
intelligence among police officer
also affords the rese arche rs the opportunity to know the
Va riable N Mean
procedu re to be followed and problems that would likely Ge nde r: Male roles 83 42 .8
be encountered in the study. The emotional intelligence Female roles 36 42 .2
scale has sp lit half reliability o f 0.71 and validity Emotional Intelligence: High 63 39 .6
Low 56 35 .3
coefficient of 0.69 while job pe rformance scale h as split
half reliability of 0.68 and validity coefficient of 0.66 and
satisfaction did not reach significant level when gend er is
lastly job satisfaction has split half reliability coefficient
considered. The hyp othesis is hereby rejected.
of 0.72 and validity coefficient of 0.74. This finding
The second hypothesis which predicted that
shows that the instrument has a sufficient reliability to
emotional intelligence will have a significant influence on
justify their future use.
job satisfaction was confirmed as shown in table 1,
F(1,115) = 6.159; P< .01. The mean comparison of the
Procedure: The resea rchers sought and got perm ission to
two groups show that respondents who are of high
conduct the research from the Police Public Relation
emotional intelligence are more satisfied with their jobs
Officer at the Force Headq uarters in Benin City. The Area
(x=39.6) than respondents who are of low emotional
Commander Esan Area Command was briefed in order to
intelligence (x=35.3) as shown in Table 2.
seek his support and assistance to undertake the stud y in
The third hypothesis predicted that gender and
his domain. emotional intelligence would interact to influence job
Before the questionnaire w as administered, satisfaction. The hypothesis was supported, F (1,115) =
respo ndents were given relevant information relating to 3.512; P<0.05 as sho wn in Tab le 1. A comparison of the
the nature and purpose of the research. A guarantee of mean of the groups is presented in Table 3.
confidentiality of inform ation and an appre ciation of There is no significant difference between
respondents’ time was also expressed. In order to ensu re respo ndents who exhibit male roles with high emotional
good response, respondents’ were given amp le of time to intelligence and those w ho ex hibit fem ale roles w ith high
fill the questionnaire. emotional intelligence on job satisfaction. B ut,
respo ndents who exhibit female roles with high emotional
RESULTS intelligence are more satisfied with their job than
respo ndents who exhibit female roles with low emotional
The analyses reported here were based on a sample intelligence. Therefore, respondents who exhibit female
of 119 subjects who participated in this study, which is roles with low emotional intelligence are the least
designed to measu re the influence of emotional satisfied with their job as compared to other groups in the
intelligence and gender on job performance and job study.
satisfaction. The fourth h ypothesis w hich p redicted that there
The first hypothesis wh ich predicted that gender will would be an independent and joint influence of gender
have a significant influence on job satisfaction was not and emotional intelligence on job performance was tested
supported F(1, 118) = 0.463; p>0.05. Table 1, shows using multiple regression analysis. The result is show n in
clearly that the measure employed in the study for job Table 4

Table 3: Showing groups and means comparisons

Group Mean 1 2 3 4
1 Male roles/High emotional intelligence 38.90 - 1.18 2.46** 3.58**
2 Female roles/High emotional Intelligence 40.08 - - 3.64** 4.76**
3 Male roles/Low emotional intelligence 36.44 - - - 1.12
4 Female roles/Low em otional Intelligence 35.32 - - - -
**: p<0.01

Table 4: Multiple regression table showing independent and joint influence of gender and emotional intelligence on job performance
Variables R R2 F-value p-value $ t-value p-value
Gender 0.11 1.47 N.S
Emotional intelligence 0.88 0.77 3.57 <0.05 0. 57 2.58 < 0.01

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The results of the multiple regressions in Table 4 in the society may not affect job satisfaction if they are
above partially supported the hypothesis. T he result able to und erstand as w ell as nu rturing positive
revea ls that there is a joint influence of gender and relationship at work.
emotional intelligence on job perform ance F (2, 117) = The fourth hypothesis, which predicted a joint and
3.57; p<0.01 w ith R =0.88 and R 2 = 0.77. This implies that independent influence of gender and emotional
the two variables accounted for 77% variations in job intelligence on job performance, is partially confirmed.
performance among police officers. Thus, part of the This is because though all the two-predictor variables
fourth hypothesis is confirmed. The result also shows the jointly predict job performance, only emotional
contribution of each of the variables and it reveals that intelligence is found to independently influence job
emotional intelligence contributed significantly ($ = 0.57; performance. The joint influence o f the two variab les is
t = 2.58; p<0.01) while the contribution of gender to the 77%. Furthermore, Table 4 shows that emotional
prediction is not significant ($ = 0.11; t = 1.47 ; p = NS ). intelligence contributed 57% while gender contributed
11% to the total beta weight. The implication of this result
DISCUSSION is that police officers’ job performance can be predicted
by gender roles and emotional intelligence. Researches
The result of this study extends previous research on have supported this finding Hartley (2009) asserts, that
emotional intelligence and gender on job satisfaction and emotional intelligence can w ork with other variables like
job performance. The study also examines the joint gender, personality and personal value to predict job
influence of these variables in enhancing job satisfaction satisfaction and perform ance. Cote and Miner (2006)
and performance. There is a significant difference argued that em otional intelligence do es interact with other
between high emotional intelligence and low emotional variab les like cognitive intelligence to influence job
intelligence on job satisfaction. The result of this analy sis performance.
shows that police officers wh o are of high emotional
CONCLUSION
intelligence are more satisfied with their job than police
officers who are of low emotional intelligence. Th e result
This study has shown that emotional intelligence
is in consonance with the findings of Tans (2003) study
does predict job satisfaction and job performance. The
that found a po sitive relationship between emotional
result indicates that respondents who are of high
intelligence and other criteria such as job satisfaction and
emotional intelligence perform better and are m ore
contextual perform ance .
satisfied with their job than respondents who are of low
This result is also in line with Caruso and Salovey
emotional intelligence. In policing which involves team
(2004) and Sy et al. (2006) who found that employees'
work and g etting alo ng w ith others wh ich is critical to
emotional intelligence was positively associated with job
success; the ability to perceive and regulate others’
satisfaction and p erform ance . It is assumed that emotions may determine an individual’s job performance
individuals with h igh em otional intelligence may use as well as job satisfaction and this could as well increase
buffering techniques to internally encapsulate and the motivation and effectiveness of the po licemen in
segregate emotions so that it does not interfere with their combating crime.
job thereby enhancing their job satisfaction. Aside from
this, policing entails a high level of teamwork and team RECOMMENDATIONS
building. Individuals with a high level of emotional
intelligence will be able to build such alliances thereby The study has im plications for policing career,
increasing their job satisfaction. especially given the importance of the profession in
The hypothesis which predicted a 2 - way interaction maintaining law and order in the society. The Nigerian
between emotional intelligence and gender on job Police Force should develop training courses of emotional
satisfaction received supp ort. This result lends its support intelligence so that office rs will kn ow how to effectively
from Hartley (2009) who asserts, that emotional monitor their own, others feelings and emotional reaction
intelligence can work with other variables like gend er, in real time. The study a lso reveals that emotional
perso nality and personal value to predict job satisfaction intelligence interacts with other factors to influence police
and perform ance . This result suggests that police officers officers job performance and job satisfaction. Nigerian
who have female roles with high emotional intelligence Police Force as an organization should do everything
are more satisfied with their job than police officers who possible to provide a healthy psychological environment
have male or female roles with low emotional to make policing an interesting career, as modern policing
intelligence. This also underscores the importance of is not determined by only physical capabilities.
emotional intelligence in enhancing job satisfaction of an The following recommendations can be useful to the
average policeman. This means that their roles at home or Nigerian Police Force.

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 Curr. Res. J. Soc. Sci., 2(3): 147-154, 2010

C Since emotional intelligence can be learned, officers Caruso, D.R. and P. Salovey, 2004. The emotionally
(men and wom en) must be taught ho w to boost their intelligent manager: How to develop and use the four
emotional abilities where they lack them. key emo tional sk ills of leadership. San Francisco,
C The Nigerian P olice College should introduce the CA : Jossey-Bass.
Police Problem Based-Learning (PBL) as it is the Ciarro chi, J., J.P. Forgas and J.D. Mayer, 2001.
case all over the world as part of Police Training Emotional Intelligence in E veryday Life: A
Program. The program helps to improve and teaches Scien tific Inquiry. P.A. Psychology Press,
police instructo rs and students how to exam ine their Philadelphia.
own em otional competencies. Cote, S. and C.T.H. Miner, 2006. Emotional intelligence
C Females are under represented in the Nigerian Police and job performance . Admin. S ci. Quart., 51(1): 1-
Force, so more female must be encouraged and 28.
recruited into the Nigeria Police Force as it is found Day, A.L. and S.A. Carroll, 2004. Using an ability-based
that gender or roles has nothing to do w ith their measu re of emotional intelligence to predict
performance and job satisfaction. individual performance, group performance and
group citizen behaviour. Pers. Indiv. Differ., 36:
1444-1458
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