Emotional intelligence as a mediator in personality traits and digital literacy to customer- oriented behaviour among nursing students in Malaysia

• Main Author: Misron, Aervina
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: RT Nursing
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/108363/1/AervinaMisronPAHIBS2022.pdf.pdf; http://eprints.utm.my/108363/; http://dms.library.utm.my:8080/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:154505

Malaysia’s healthcare sector is presently facing increasing challenges and growing expectations from patients. Recent reports from the Ministry of Health (MoH) Malaysia reflect an increasing number of complaints from public hospitals on unsatisfied service quality, which involved nursing services. Nursing graduates have been criticized for their unsatisfactory attitudes towards patients and declining standard service performance. Satisfaction with nursing services has been reported to contribute significantly to overall perceptions of healthcare service quality. The study adopts the customer-oriented behaviour concept since it is a crucial antecedent in healthcare service delivery and could facilitate better relationships and interactions between nurses and patients. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to (1) investigate the relationships between the Big Five personality traits (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism), digital literacy traits, emotional intelligence, and customer-oriented behaviour among Malaysian nursing students, and (2) determine the mediating effects of emotional intelligence on the relationships presented in the first objective. Trait theory was applied to underpin the framework of this research. A stratified random sampling technique was applied to collect data online and 437 responses were recorded. Partial Least Square - Structural Equation Modelling was performed using SmartPLS 3.1.9, while descriptive statistics were analysed using SPSS. Resultantly, digital literacy was a significant determinant of customer-oriented behaviour among Malaysian nursing students. Emotional intelligence was found to mediate the relationships between openness to experience, conscientiousness, neuroticism, digital literacy trait, and customer-oriented behaviour. However, extraversion and agreeableness were not significantly related to emotional intelligence and customer-oriented behaviour and no mediating effect was observed. The findings of this research revealed significant empirical evidence on the importance of digital literacy in promoting customer-oriented behaviour among Malaysian nursing students. In addition, the significance of mediating effects of emotional intelligence on the relationships between openness to experience, conscientiousness, neuroticism, digital literacy trait and customer-oriented behaviour serve as a new contribution to the literature. Also, the role of emotional intelligence towards customer-oriented behavior is an important contribution in this research. Practically, the research findings could be a beneficial guideline for Student Recruitment Department to enrol the best candidates with the right trait into the nursing programme. This research is limited to a cross-sectional design to test mediation and self-reporting questionnaires that may create a sense of biased response. Therefore, future studies should consider a longitudinal design and supervisor’s rating questionnaires to reduce respondents’ bias.