The effects of emotional intelligence and ethics of SME employees on knowledge sharing in Central-European countries

Research background: The research examines the impact of emotional intelligence and ethics on knowledge sharing within organizations. It examines the impact of emotional intelligence (EQ) on the ethical behavior of the individual. The focus is on the individuals working in the SME sector. A questionnaire survey was considered the most appropriate technique to conduct the research. The study is based on 1162 responses, collected from three countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia). Purpose of the article: The aim of this article is to examine the relationship between knowledge sharing, ethics and emotional intelligence. Furthermore, nationality, gender, education, and the age of the respondents influencing EQ are also examined. The additional goal is to explore the factors that influence employee behavior. Methods: We identified four hypotheses. To test these hypotheses, we used variance analysis and logistic regression. The AES scale was chosen to assess EQ, which consisted of 33 items. The results obtained are compared with the opinion of SME owners resulting from structured interviews. Findings & value added: About 20% of enterprises are not using any motivation tool to initiate knowledge sharing of their employees. The most common (47.2%) reason for silencing knowledge ? the lack of appreciation ? did not appear among the answer of company owners. According to the employee perceptions, gender has impact on the level of emotional intelligence, while nationality, education and age group have no impact on the EQ. SME owners do not address much attention to gender. The occurrence of unethical behavior does not depend on the size of the enterprise. According to employee opinion, the EQ has positive impact on knowledge sharing, while it is not affected by ethics. The majority of owners also agreed with the positive impact of EQ. The attitude of employees and owners differ in different aspects. The results have shown that gender plays an influential role in EQ. The research of this complex problem laid down the empirical foundations for the V4 countries.