Emotional Intelligence of Managers in Family Businesses in Slovakia

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The topic discussed by the authors of the article is very interesting and highly topical. Emotional intelligence is very important and is a skill that is essential and necessary in the workplace. Managers and employees in either large enterprises or family businesses need to have or develop emotional skills for better work results.

The Introduction is well-written.

The manuscript has a good structure as a research article in the material-methods and results section.

In the theoretical background there is a little constructive confusion. It seems the authors want correctly to inform about some concepts, but there is a very big reference for what it is emotional intelligence, emotions, intellectual intelligence, models and measurements of EI which is not the case at this moment. And among them information about managers are mentioned which is the main goal. If I would be the author i will reduce some of the information and i stay focus on the main goals.

I have uploaded the pdf version of the article with specific comments inside.

It is a very interesting and intriguing topic because emotional intelligence is an important skill and it is appealing to see how things are in family businesses too. Some changes must be done in the theoritical background and in the discussion to enrich it to have a better scientific impact.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Reviewer 1
The topic discussed by the authors of the article is very interesting and highly topical. Emotional intelligence is very important and is a skill that is essential and necessary in the workplace. Managers and employees in either large enterprises or family businesses need to have or develop emotional skills for better work results.
The Introduction is well-written.
The manuscript has a good structure as a research article in the material-methods and results section.
In the theoretical background there is a little constructive confusion. It seems the authors want correctly to inform about some concepts, but there is a very big reference for what it is emotional intelligence, emotions, intellectual intelligence, models and measurements of EI which is not the case at this moment. And among them information about managers are mentioned which is the main goal. If I would be the author i will reduce some of the information and i stay focus on the main goals.
The theoretical part of the paper was rewritten with regard to the given objective. We completed it with a definition of family enterprises, and the specification of family enterprises in Slovakia. We further described emotional intelligence of managers, focusing on the trait emotional intelligence assessed among managers of Slovak family enterprises.
I have uploaded the pdf version of the article with specific comments inside.
It is a very interesting and intriguing topic because emotional intelligence is an important skill and it is appealing to see how things are in family businesses too. Some changes must be done in the theoritical background and in the discussion to enrich it to have a better scientific impact.
The theoretical part was rewritten. The conclusions and the discussion were completed with opinions and findings of various authors (from databases) who deal with the research issue in their work.

Reviewer 2 Report

The section "Theoretical background" is not structured correctly. What I mean is that this section has multiple ideas developed in an unconnected way where you return again and again to the same idea. Besides, it is too extensive. I suggest that the authors completely rewrite this section.
On the other hand, I miss a section of objectives and hypotheses that would help to understand the proposal of the study.

The aim of the study "is to present the results of the primary research focused on the level of emotional intelligence of managers of family businesses in Slovakia". This objective is not very well defined, only to know the levels of emotional intelligence? Is this all?

Data analysis and results
They only present descriptive results on the sample participating in the study (which is very low), which are completely uninteresting. Therefore, I suggest the authors to present some kind of comparative analysis between women and men or according to age through a t-test or ANOVA, this would help to increase the level of interest of their study.

On the other hand, is the study endorsed by any Ethics Committee?

Discussion and results
Where significant improvement is needed is the Discussion section. There is absolutely no discussion, as it is merely an extension and repetition of the results section. Discussion is very important for being published.
Limitations and Directions for future research are a bit displaced, organize them better. In addition, they should be supported by both existing studies and the results of your study.

Author Response

Reviewer 2
The section "Theoretical background" is not structured correctly. What I mean is that this section has multiple ideas developed in an unconnected way where you return again and again to the same idea. Besides, it is too extensive. I suggest that the authors completely rewrite this section.
The theoretical part of the paper was rewritten as suggested byt he reviewer. We included a definition of family enterprises, as well as the specification of family enterprises in Slovakia. We further focused on characterizing emotional intelligence of managers, describing the trait emotional intelligence, which has been the main focus of our research. The theoretical part was shortened by excluding the characteristics of emotional intelligence models, which were not aprimary concern of our research. Duplicities in ideas and opinions relating emotional intelligence were removed.
On the other hand, I miss a section of objectives and hypotheses that would help to understand the proposal of the study.
The basic objective of the paper was included in the abstract. The methodology was completed with the main research objective and the research hypotheses.
The aim of the study "is to present the results of the primary research focused on the level of emotional intelligence of managers of family businesses in Slovakia". This objective is not very well defined, only to know the levels of emotional intelligence? Is this all?
The objective was adjusted, while it is now formulated as: pointing out the importance and the positive effect of managers’ skills related to emotional intelligence, which we consider to be significant predictors of managerial work in family enterprises; as well as proposing of further opportunities for development of the individual factors of managers’ emotional intelligence.
Data analysis and results
They only present descriptive results on the sample participating in the study (which is very low), which are completely uninteresting. Therefore, I suggest the authors to present some kind of comparative analysis between women and men or according to age through a t-test or ANOVA, this would help to increase the level of interest of their study.
Based on the consultation with a statistician, we have come to a conclusion that as to representativeness of the selected sample of respondents (with regard to gender), which is an inevitable prerequisite to generalizing the whole basic sample, it is important to maintain the structure of the selected sample. The size (frequency) of the selected sample is more that 200 (specifically 286), which is considered sufficient from the view of statistical elaboration, and it eliminated individualities which may negatively affect the conclusions of the research.
With regard to the determined research objective and the questionnaire used in the research to measure emotional intelligence of managers in family enterprises, the used methods are sufficient, in our opinion. The statistical methods we used may be a limitation to the study. Deeper statistical analysis will be used in further research of the issue.
On the other hand, is the study endorsed by any Ethics Committee?
The questionnaire we used is officially taken from a handbook created for Slovakia within the projects VEGA of the Slovak Ministry of Education. The handbook was a result of direct mutual cooperation of researchers with the author of the model of trait emotional intelligence - K. V. Petrides. The given method is considered to be the most frequently used methods in emotional intelligence as well as within other trait constructs. Based on the above, we may state that the research problem is in line with all ethical standards.
Discussion and results
Where significant improvement is needed is the Discussion section. There is absolutely no discussion, as it is merely an extension and repetition of the results section. Discussion is very important for being published.
The research results and the discussion were completed with opinions of multiple authors dealing with the researched issue (Betancourt and Blero, 2014; O´Boyle et al., 2011; Mühlfeit, 2017; Moresová et al., 2020; Rafaeli, 2013; Alkahtani, 20123; Labaki et al., 2013; Hosseininasab and Ghadeni, 2011; Petrides, Pitta, Kokkinaki, 2007; Gugliandolo et al., 2015; Siegling et al., 2015; Dippenaar and Schaap, 2017; Li and Ma, 2018; Kohll, 2017; Boyatzis et al., 2010; Carmeli, 2003; Joseph and Newman, 2010; Zachary, 2011; Frankovský et al., 2006 etc.)
Limitations and Directions for future research are a bit displaced, organize them better. In addition, they should be supported by both existing studies and the results of your study.
Limitations and Directions for future research were added to the conclusion of the study.

Reviewer 3 Report

I attached my review report. 

 

 

The research paper presents an important topic: managers` EI, working in family businesses. The paper reports an explanatory process, comparing men and women leaders` EI in Slovakia.

I will address you some suggestions connected with the literature review.

The manuscript needs some clarification concerning the development of the research and statistical analysis.    

1. Abstract:

I suggest, include exactly the Petrides bibliography on the text.

What means TEIQue? Explain!

How do you arrive at this conclusion? I understand in your manuscript, the results come from the statistical analysis with SPSS program. Would be good, to mention already in the abstract!

2. Theoretical background

My suggestion is: include a short bibliographically synthesis concerning the EI of managers in FAMILY businesses. I highlight here the EI between family members, if they are working together. Give answer in the text: How it is the situation of the family businesses in Slovakia?

3. Materials and Methods

For me was not very clear: how did you develop the study methodology?

Give me the answer: What are the paper research question(s)? (not survey questions!!!).  How should be formulate the research hypothesis? Determine: why did you use quantitative measurement? Include in the text!

Give here answers: How did you collect data? Did you use virtual questionnaire (by the internet) or paper? How did you select the respondents (managers)? When did you collect data? Include in the text!

Survey data from Excel spreadsheet usually should be imported into SPSS for statistical processing. Give me the answer: How did you conduct your research method? Include in the text!

What kind of analysis did you use in SPSS? I understood: Chi-Square test and factor analysis. Must be clear indicated in this subparagraph!

Give here the answer: How did you create global EI variable? Include in the text!

Include in the text the identification of the independent and dependent variables used in Chi-square test!

The output of Chi-Square test indicated the value of Pearson coefficient, df, and p.  Statistically, the level of significance is confirmed if p < 0.05. What 0.984 does represent?

4. Results and discussion

How did you find statistically the four factors? Would be clearer the presentation of the results, if you include the details concerning the factor analysis at the beginning of this subchapter.  

5. Conclusions My suggestion is: include the limitations of this study.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Reviewer 3
The research paper presents an important topic: managers` EI, working in family businesses. The paper reports an explanatory process, comparing men and women leaders` EI in Slovakia.
I will address you some suggestions connected with the literature review.
The manuscript needs some clarification concerning the development of the research and statistical analysis.
1. Abstract:
I suggest, include exactly the Petrides bibliography on the text.
Petrides’s citations were included in the methodology.
What means TEIQue? Explain!
The explanation of the expression TEIQue included in the methodology.
How do you arrive at this conclusion? I understand in your manuscript, the results come from the statistical analysis with SPSS program. Would be good, to mention already in the abstract!
The required information were included in the abstract.
2. Theoretical background
My suggestion is: include a short bibliographically synthesis concerning the EI of managers in FAMILY businesses. I highlight here the EI between family members, if they are working together. Give answer in the text: How it is the situation of the family businesses in Slovakia?
The theoretical part of the papers was reqritten in line with the reviewer’s comments. We included the defition of family enterprises and the specification of family enterprises in Slovakia into the text. We further described emotional intelligence of managers, focusing on trait emotional intelligence, which we assesed among managers of Slovak family enterprises.
3. Materials and Methods
For me was not very clear: how did you develop the study methodology?
Give me the answer: What are the paper research question(s)? (not survey questions!!!). How should be formulate the research hypothesis? Determine: why did you use quantitative measurement? Include in the text!
The texxt was completed with the objective and the research hypotheses. In the research, we used a quantitative questioning method of questionnaire. The questionnaire used in the research was taken from a handbook created for Slovakia within the projects VEGA of the Slovak Ministry of Education. The handbook was a result of direct mutual cooperation of researchers with the author of the model of trait emotional intelligence - K. V. Petrides. The given method is considered to be the most frequently used methods in emotional intelligence as well as within other trait constructs.
Give here answers: How did you collect data? Did you use virtual questionnaire (by the internet) or paper? How did you select the respondents (managers)? When did you collect data? Include in the text! Survey data from Excel spreadsheet usually should be imported into SPSS for statistical processing. Give me the answer: How did you conduct your research method? Include in the text! What kind of analysis did you use in SPSS? I understood: Chi-Square test and factor analysis. Must be clear indicated in this subparagraph!
The requested information was included in the study methodology. We used quota sampling, which searches respondents that fulfill certain criteria. The questionnaire was randomly distributed by email to selected 600 family enterprises operating in Slovakia. 458 questionnaires were returned, out of which number we selected (based on a chosen sign of representativeness – gender, and by quota sampling) 286 correctly filled-in questionnaires, which ensured the sample representativeness. When evaluating the research results, we used methods of descriptive statistics (arithmetic mean, median, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis). In quantitative elaboration of the data from the research findings, we used the sociological research technique of online questionnaire. The online research was conducted in the period between December 2019 and February 2020.
Give here the answer: How did you create global EI variable? Include in the text!
The global level of EI was assessed by means of the TEIQue questionnaire, which included 30 questions regarding the individual factors of emotional intelligence. The respondents indicated their answers on a Likers scale 1-7. This information was further processed in the statistical program SPSS.
Include in the text the identification of the independent and dependent variables used in Chi-square test!
As the study can only have a limited number of pages, we do not consider including the detailed i nformation about the basic sample into the text to be essential. The information was drawn from the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic, sepcifically from the Information Services of the Office - Section of collencting and processing data in industry and empirical findings in Banská Bystrica. We were provided with the statistical data regarding the organizational statistics “Enterprises in Slovaka according to a number of employees“ (1-9, 1-49, 50-249 and more than 250 employees). As to the aspect of employability, labor market respectively, we drew information form a document published by the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic – Results of selective finding of labor forces (www.statistics.sk, 2018). Based on the obtained information, the selected sample fulfills the criteria of the Chi-square test of representativeness according to gender, which was confirmed by a test performed through the statistical program IBM SPPS Statistics 19.
The output of Chi-Square test indicated the value of Pearson coefficient, df, and p. Statistically, the level of significance is confirmed if p < 0.05. What 0.984 does represent?
The result of the statistical test is confimed on the basis of p-value. If the p-value is lower than the chosen level of significance, we must reject the statistically formulated null (main) hypotheses. In our case, this is not true; therefore, we are not rejecting the assumption of representativeness of the selected sample according to gender.
The sample representativeness according to the selected sign – gender, we tested by Chi-square test, at the f significance level of 0.05. The representativeness was confirmed (p-value gender = 0.984).
4. Results and discussion
How did you find statistically the four factors? Would be clearer the presentation of the results, if you include the details concerning the factor analysis at the beginning of this subchapter.
The requested information was included in the methodology of the study.
5. Conclusions My suggestion is: include the limitations of this study.
Limits of the study were included in the conclusion.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The changes made it a well-structured article for the scientific world, the administrative sector and the business industry.

Reviewer 2 Report

Thank you for making the changes

Reviewer 3 Report

Congratulation!