ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Organizational Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1630530
The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Conflict Management Styles Used by Saudi Nurse Managers-A Cross sectional, Correlational study
Provisionally accepted
Wdad Alanazy1*
Sherifah Alzamil2- 1Department of Nursing, faculty of nursing, Majmaah University, Majmaah, Saudi Arabia
- 2Nursing Public Health, Directorate of Health Affairs, AlHassa, Saudi Arabia
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Background: Two very important ideas for fostering harmony in the workplace are conflict management and emotional intelligence (EI). For nurse managers, controlling one's emotions and knowing how to handle disagreement are critical skills. Objective: The purpose of this research is to evaluate how emotional intelligence (EI) affects conflict resolution techniques and how it can help Saudi Arabian nurse managers. Methods: A Correlational, quantitative cross-sectional design was employed in the study. Five regions in Saudi Arabia were selected for 500 Saudi nurse managers using convenience sampling. The study was conducted for between November 2023 – January 2024. The Vanderpol Emotional Intelligence Scale and the Rahim Organisational Conflict Inventory-II were the two items that the participants answered online. Descriptive statistics like mean and standard deviation was used to analyse the emotional intelligence and conflict management among the participants. Regression analysis was used to find the correlation between the variables. Results: Most participants had a moderate level of emotional intelligence, with the mean and standard deviation (Mean-3.80,SD-0.67) and collaborating and compromise were the most often employed conflict resolution techniques with the mean 3.89 & SD - 3.79 respectively. The least was employed of the competent style with mean 2.89. Emotional intelligence was found having significant positive relation with all the onflict management styles. Regarding the application of conflict management techniques, age group, years of experience, and educational background did not significantly differ from one another statistically with P=0.05. Conclusion: The emotional intelligence of Saudi nurse managers affected all dispute resolution techniques. Programmes for nurse managers to develop their emotional intelligence may enhance their ability to resolve conflicts and function as an organisation.
Keywords: Emotional Intelligence, Conflict Resolution, nurse managers, Saudi Arabia, Work place
Received: 17 May 2025; Accepted: 12 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Alanazy and Alzamil. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Wdad Alanazy, alanazywdad@gmail.com
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