Abstract:

Emotional Intelligence (EI) provides ability to perform proper ‘social functioning’ (Mayer and Salovey, 1995). EI is being considered as one of the important competencies to be successful in any field (Goleman, 1995). The purpose of this paper is to establish the use of social media in terms of the users’ emotional intelligence competencies and its effects on performances at both educational and organizational level. In doing so, we looked at the collage of articles in the fields of Human Resource Development, Business, Management and Psychology. The study adopted the ‘content analysis’ approach (Mausner, 1987). Authors performed a thorough research on social media and emotional intelligence that can influence performance and productivity of an individual at workplace. To generate as many relevant publications as possible, we performed manual search and online search through various databases. The databases used included Academic Search Complete (Ebsco), Social Sciences Full Text (Wilson), ProQuest Education Journals, ProQuest Dissertation and Thesis, ProQuest Central, Social Sciences Citation Index (ISI), ERIC (Ebsco), SAGE Full Text Collection (CSA), Google Scholar, Emerald, and SAGE.

The results of the study revealed that traits identified in social media articles and critical incidents related to use of social media at K12 and higher education level and the consequences that followed. The selected incidences used in this study affected performance, reputation and productivity. It is noted in the study that ‘understanding emotion (own and others)’ and ‘thinking about the consequences’ are some of the common aspects necessary for an individual to be able to avoid social media massacre and help increase efficiency at individual, group, process, and organizational level. It is established that the traits like self-awareness, self-regulation, tolerance, impulse control, empathy and reality testing are related to emotional intelligence. In other words, EI enables an individual to make self-controlled informed decision when selecting content of a message to be posted on social media outlets. The findings of this study show that “words” are lethal and the most powerful weapons that people have and need to use carefully in this attention economy. Words used inappropriately in the social media can spread quickly like a wild fire and cause death, job loss, property destruction even thousands of miles away.

There are limited studies that focus on the issue of social media, emotional intelligence competencies and individual productivity. This article has laid pioneering ground work for research on the role of social media in this new attention economy. The paper is limited since it is based on review of literature. Quantitative and qualitative research studies focusing on the relationship between EI and social media efficiency are needed. Empirical studies need to be performed to support the ideas generated in this paper.

References:
Bar-On, R. (1997). In Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory: technical manual. Toronto, ON: Multi-Health Systems.
Goleman, D. (1995). In Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. New York: Bantam Books.
Mausner, C. (1996). A kaleidoscope model: Defining natural environments. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 16(4), 335.
Mayer, J. D., & Salovey, P. (1995). Emotional intelligence and the construction and regulation of feelings. Applied and preventive psychology, 4(3), 197-208.

Keywords:

Attention Economy, Emotional Intelligence, Educational performance, Workplace Productivity, Social Media.