Emotional Intelligence and Employee Productivity in the National Police Service, Case of Nairobi County Kenya

Law enforcement is a highly complex profession that is faced with a high demand for leadership and professionalism since they engage with diverse population in their daily running of activities. Police officers’ productivity can be affected by many factors owing to the nature of the job. Having to work in a stressful environment affects the way they make decisions and execute their tasks. When employees are aware of their surroundings and the impact of maintaining their relations, they will manage the situations more decently than having random outbursts while at work. The study assessed the connection betwixt emotional intelligence (EI) and employee productivity (EP) in the NPS in Nairobi County, Kenya. The study stressed on three objectives, including ―self-awareness, social awareness, and relationship management‖, to understand how these aspects of emotional intelligence influence employee productivity. A quantitative research design was adopted, and a sample size of 351 officers used. Further a descriptive research design was also adopted and the target population was 2883 police officers currently working in Nairobi County. Using proportionate random sampling, the sample size consequently comprised of 36 Gazetted police officers, 68 members of inspectorate, 95 Non commissioned officers and 152 junior officers to make a total sample of 351 officers. Self-structured questionnaires were utilized to gather data and, modified to include both EI and EP elements and interview guides. Reliability of the research tools was tested and Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient of reliability was computed and found to be 0.7. Validity of the data collection instruments was ascertained through expert review. SPSS was adopted to analyze primary data. The results of the study show that, ―self-awareness, social awareness, and relationship management‖, have a remarkable effect on employee productivity among NPS officers in Nairobi County, Kenya. Self-awareness had positive impact on employee productivity, with the promotion of self-awareness among officer’s leads to an increase in productivity. Social awareness also had a positive impact on employee productivity, and can be used as a predictor of employee productivity. Relationship management also has a sturdy positive interconnection with employee productivity, and the coefficient of determination indicated that 12% of the variation in employee productivity was explained by relationship management. The findings reveal that, that emotional intelligence significantly impacted on employee productivity in the NPS. It is hence recommended that emotional intelligence training programs should be developed to enhance the emotional intelligence of NPS officers. Further research can be conducted to examine the effect of emotional intelligence training programs on employee productivity in the NPS.