Online working amid COVID-19 pandemic. The role of emotional intelligence as aggression de-escalator: research reported from Islamic Republic of Pakistan

ABSTRACT

World has transformed to a new era after the outbreak of a virus named COVID-19 in late 2019, a virus that consequently spread worldwide, forced the governments to declare smart, partial, or complete lockdowns. The constant and prolonged lockdowns resulted in the uncertainty over disease status, inadequate information, food supplies and boredom that led to anger and confusion, emotional breakdowns, and development of aggressive behaviors. During the pandemic and constant lockdown, one of the major differences in day-to-day activities was the transformation of the working and learning environment from the physical to the online realm. The prime objective of the study is to highlight that during pandemic how transferring towards online working helped people to stabilize their emotions, anxieties, aggressions, anger and frustration. The study is designed to find out how online working has negatively connected with the development of aggression and how emotional intelligence has mediated this effect. The study design is non-experimental, correlational and comparative, followed by quantitative research analysis. The survey technique used in the data collection process where validated and reliable questionnaire were used for data collection and hypothesis testing. A sample size of 233 (144 females, 88 males, 1 participant did not disclose gender) participants from the metropolis city of Karachi participated in an online survey. Results have indicated that engaging people in online working improved mental and emotional stability as well as the suppressed level of direct, indirect and displaced aggression. Moreover, emotional intelligence has acted as a negative influencing mediator towards different forms of aggression, where an expansion in online working, positively impacted emotional intelligence and negatively co-related with direct, indirect and displaced aggression. No gender difference is found in terms of emotional intelligence, however, a distinctive difference in terms of indirect and direct form of aggression is reported. It is concluded that emotional intelligence is acting as a mediator between online working and direct, indirect and displaced aggression. It means that engaging people in online working helped to stabilize themselves in terms of emotions and helped them to control their anxieties during isolation. © Italian e-Learning Association.