1468-2389.00145

PROFESSIONAL FORUM

Emotional Intelligence in the Collectionof Debt

John Bachman, Steven Stein*, K. Campbell and Gill Sitarenios

Two studies are reported which compare more and less successful account officers (debtcollectors) in terms of their emotional intelligence, measured using the BarOn EmotionalQuotient Inventory. The findings support the view that higher levels of emotionalintelligence lead to enhanced job performance. Implications for selection are considered inthe conclusion.

In the collections business, the best strategy foravoiding destructive encounters with customers isto prevent them. An old martial arts adage statesthat a battle avoided is a battle not lost. A newwork-place adage states that emotional intelli-gence yields success. A synthesis of the wisdomdistilled from these sources suggests that twogroupings of emotional competencies (Bar-On1997; Goleman 1998) can prevent such dealdestruction. The first grouping, consisting of self-awareness (i.e., recognizing ones own feelings)and empathy (i.e., knowing others feelings),permits the account officer to know whichfeelings indicate the potential for an emotionalhijack of negotiations and the consequentoutcome of ruined deals. The other grouping,consisting of self-control (i.e., containing dis-ruptive emotions) and adaptability (i.e., managingconflict flexibly), allows an account officer tonegotiate with less concern of falling victim to adestructive emotional encounter evoked by acustomers helpless, rude or lewd comments.The classic hijack encountered by account

officers is over-identification with the customer.When the customer appears to be helpless andthe situation hopeless, the overly empathicaccount officer can blur the psychologicalboundaries and identify with the customer as avictim. This occurs when an empathic responsedissolves into a sympathetic response, leavingthe account officer in a state of empathy distress(Goleman 1998). If the officer lacks the emotionalself-management skills needed to regulate orcalm this distress, then the situation can lead tothe negotiation of a more lenient deal that is lessthan optimal for the collection agency (CFS inthis case). Another common emotional hijack isidentification with the aggressor. Here, theaccount officer with little self-control again blursthe boundaries and identifies with the belligerent,

abusive customer. The interaction deterioratesinto a destructive shouting match and ruins anypossibility of a deal. A third kind of hijack occurswhen there is identification with the seducer.Again, the vulnerable account officer may beseduced by a sweet-talking and persuasive, some-times overtly sexual, customer into negotiating adeal that is best only for the customer. It wasspeculated that skills associated with emotionalintelligence would enable account officers to bemore successful in their collections, in part, byenabling them to bypass potential emotionalhijacks.

CFS conducted a Best Practices study ofsuccessful account officers in order to identify theattributes that contribute to their consistentlysuperior collections. A synthesis of resultsobtained from that study revealed that theseattributes include (a) attitude; (b) skills; (c)leadership; and (d) emotional intelligence. Eventhough emotional intelligence has been identifiedas a distinct category, the other attributes also areundoubtedly rooted in prerequisite underlyingemotional competencies. This article presents thefindings specifically related to the investigationof emotional intelligence as a separate attribute.The role played by underlying emotionalcompetencies in the other attributes (i.e., attitude,skills, and leadership) will be reviewed briefly inthe Summary.

It is hypothesized that working with emotion-al intelligence enables account officers to achievegreater success in collections. Two studies wereconducted in order to test this hypothesis. InStudy 1, results from the administration of anemotional intelligence measure were comparedbetween best practices (i.e., most successful) andless successful account officers. In Study 2,scores on emotional intelligence and success atcollections (defined as the average percentage of

*Address for correspondence:Steven Stein, Multi-HealthSystems, 3770 Victoria ParkAvenue, Toronto, OntarioM2H 3M6.

Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2000, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.Volume 8 Number 3 September 2000

176 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SELECTION AND ASSESSMENT

cash goal attained over a specified time period)were compared between the best and lesssuccessful practices groups.

Method: Study 1

Participants

Participants were 36 account officers employed atCFS who participated in the Best Practices studyconducted in September and October 1998. Twogroups were selected on the basis of theirperformance in conducting collections nego-tiations. The Best Practices group consisted of24 account officers who were identified as havingbeen consistently high producers. The LessSuccessful group consisted of 12 account officerswho were identified as having had consistentlylow production in the period that precededcommencement of the study.

Measure

The instrument employed in this study was theBarOn Emotional Quotient Inventory (Bar-On1997). The Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i)is designed to measure emotional intelligence inindividuals 16 years of age and older. Emotionalintelligence pertains to the emotional, personal,social, and survival dimensions of intelligence,rather than the strictly cognitive skills related tolearning, memory recall, thinking, and reasoning.An emotional intelligence score helps to predictsuccess in life. It also reflects ones currentcoping skills, ability to deal with daily environ-mental demands, degree of common sense, andultimately, overall mental health.

The EQ-i consists of 133 items that yield, inaddition to the emotional intelligence scores, val-idity checks in the form of positive and negativeimpression scores and a response inconsistencyscore. Also, the EQ-i produces scores for 5 com-posite factors and 15 sub-scales of emotionalintelligence. The Intrapersonal composite consistsof five sub-scales: Emotional Self-Awareness,Assertiveness, Self-Regard, Self-Actualization,and Independence. The Interpersonal compositeconsists of three sub-scales: Empathy, Inter-personal Relationship, and Social Responsibility.The Adaptability composite includes three sub-scales: Problem Solving, Reality Testing, andFlexibility. The Stress Management scale iscomprised of two sub-scales: Stress Toleranceand Impulse Control. The General Moodcomposite includes two sub-scales: Happinessand Optimism.EQ-i raw scores for these composite factors

and sub-scales are converted into standard scoresthat have a mean of 100 and a StandardDeviation of 15. This is done to make com-parisons within and between individuals and

groups easier to comprehend. In this way,reporting of the EQ-i results resembles that ofthe traditional IQ scores.The EQ-i sub-scales have been shown to have

very good internal consistency with averageCronbach alpha coefficients ranging from .69(Social Responsibility) to .86 (Self-Regard). Theoverall average internal consistency coefficient ofthe EQ-i is .76. Extensive research has beenconducted to assess nine types of validity:content, face, factor, construct, convergent,divergent, criterion-group, discriminant, andpredictive. EQ-i validity studies are reported inthe EQ-i Technical Manual (Bar-On 1997).Overall, the EQ-i is a scientifically reliable andvalid way to assess emotional intelligence.

Procedure

The EQ-i was administered to all participants inthe Best Practices and Less Successful groups.The reported results are the average responses ofeach group.

Results

Emotional Intelligence in the Best Practices AccountOfficers

The Best Practices officers, as a group, werefound to possess a level of emotional intelligencethat is significantly higher than that of the NorthAmerican population at large, as indicated bytheir Total EQ score (see Table 1).1

This groups overall Intrapersonal EQ is alsosignificantly higher than the population averagewith substantial elevations in the areas ofIndependence, Emotional Self-Awareness, Self-Actualization, and Assertiveness. Four of theeight highest sub-scale scores for these accountofficers are within this Intrapersonal domain.The Best Practices officers also demonstrate

strength in their Interpersonal Relationship andSocial Responsibility skills, both sub-scales of theInterpersonal EQ composite scale. Surprisingly,their skills in the area of Empathy are notexceptionally well developed. This groupsoverall strength in the area of Adaptability islargely due to its expertise in Reality Testingskills.Within the Stress Management composite, the

two sub-scales, Stress Tolerance and ImpulseControl, represent the second highest and thelowest scores for this group profile, respectively.The Best Practices officers tolerance for stress isvery high, while concurrently, their impulsecontrol is not. This apparently contradictoryfinding will be explored further in the Discussionsection.Finally, the total General Mood EQ mean

score is considerably above average, with both of

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE COLLECTION OF DEBT 177

Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2000 Volume 8 Number 3 September 2000

its sub-scales, Optimism and Happiness, indicat-ing well-developed skills in this group.These results are summarized in Table 1.

Overall, they support the hypothesis that con-sistently successful account officers work withsubstantially higher than average emotionalintelligence.

Emotional Intelligence in the Less SuccessfulAccount Officers

The overall Total EQ mean score for the LessSuccessful group did not prove to besignificantly different from the mean of thepopulation at large.2 However, this group diddemonstrate well-developed Interpersonal skillsas assessed by the Interpersonal Relationship,Social Responsibility, and Empathy sub-scales.This group also was found to possess a relativelyhigh tolerance for stress, (i.e., Stress Tolerancesub-scale of the Stress Management composite).

Comparison of Best Practices Versus LessSuccessful Groups

Overall, the Best Practices group demonstrateda substantially higher level of emotionalintelligence than did the Less Successful group.Within the Intrapersonal dimension, the greatestdifferences were found between the two groups,with the Best Practices group scoring sub-stantially higher on the following sub-scales:Emotional Self-Awareness, Assertiveness, Self-Actualization, and Independence (see Table 1).

In terms of Adaptability, the Best Practicesgroup performed better than did the LessSuccessful group. The difference between groupswas most apparent in the area of Problem-Solving skills.

The mean score on General Mood was signifi-cantly different between the groups with BestPractices reporting substantially higher levels onthe sub-scales of Optimism and Happiness.

Overall, the Less Successful account officersscored lower than did the Best Practices groupon every EQ-i measure of emotional intelligence,with the exception of Empathy and ImpulseControl (see Table 1).

Discussion: Study 1

Results of Study 1 support the hypothesis thatthe Best Practices group possesses a higher levelof overall emotional intelligence than the LessSuccessful group. This groups performancesuggests that it is comprised of people withwell-developed emotional intelligence who aregenerally leading successful and happy lives.

The Intrapersonal emotional intelligence of theBest Practices group is very well-developed andthese individuals can be described asindependent, aware of feelings, and able toexpress those feelings and ideas to others withcomfort and confidence. Results suggest thatthese individuals are usually willing and capableof thinking, working, and making decisionsindependently. They are likely to value their

Table 1: Comparison of mean EQ-i scores between best practices and less successful account officers

EQ-i Scale Best Practices Less Successful t-value p-value Significant?

Total EQ 110 102 1.848 0.037 YesIntrapersonal EQ 112 102 2.677 0.006 YesEmotional Self-Awareness 110 101 1.726 0.047 YesAssertiveness 109 99 2.281 0.014 YesSelf-Regard 104 101 0.692 0.247 NoSelf-Actualization 110 101 2.237 0.016 YesIndependence 114 104 2.977 0.003 YesInterpersonal EQ 108 107 0.241 0.405 NoInterpersonal Relationship 108 107 0.179 0.430 NoSocial Responsibility 109 106 0.628 0.267 NoEmpathy 104 106 0.443 0.330 NoAdaptability EQ 108 99 1.733 0.046 YesProblem Solving 105 94 1.862 0.036 YesReality Testing 109 104 1.242 0.111 NoFlexibility 104 99 0.998 0.163 NoStress Management EQ 105 103 0.514 0.305 NoStress Tolerance 111 106 1.382 0.088 NoImpulse Control 98 99 0.249 0.403 NoGeneral Mood EQ 108 97 2.696 0.005 YesHappiness 106 94 2.172 0.018 YesOptimism 110 101 2.305 0.014 Yes


Volume 8 Number 3 September 2000 Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2000

inner emotional life and are able to recognize theorigin and importance of their feelings. The highSelf-Actualization score suggests that membersof this group feel pride in their work and theongoing process of achieving their goals in life.They can effectively assert themselves byexpressing their feelings, beliefs, and needs withconfidence and are able to defend their positionsin nondestructive ways.While both Best Practices and Less

Successful groups possess significantly higherthan average Interpersonal emotional intelli-gence, the groups do not differ significantly inthis area. Overall, members of both groupspossess social adeptness as seen in their ability tounderstand and interact with others effectively.Of particular interest is the finding that the

Best Practices group failed to differ from thepopulation at large only in their empathic skills.The Less Successful group performedsignificantly better than did the population atlarge on Empathy. One possible explanation forthis result is that too high an Empathy scorecould lead to a sympathetic over-identificationwith the customer (i.e., as the victim or theaggressor) and hence leave the account officervulnerable to an emotional hijack. A lower levelof performance for the Best Practices groupmight render them less vulnerable to such anexperience and hence, more effective atcollections. Nevertheless, the Best Practicesgroup functions within the average range ofempathic ability and most of the time, theseindividuals have a good awareness,understanding, and appreciation of the feelingsof others.The Best Practices group performed very well

on the Adaptability composite scale, whichindicates that these people are skilled in theirresponses to changing circumstances and situ-ations. Their high performance on the RealityTesting sub-scale denotes an ability to dis-tinguish accurately between what they experi-ence subjectively and what exists objectively.They are able to focus and concentrate on theimmediate situation with clarity and are proactivein their responses to it. Members of this grouppossess a greater aptitude for identifying anddefining problems, as well as generating andimplementing more effective solutions to them.Both the Best Practices and the Less

Successful groups tolerate stressful situationsand circumstances well. The lowest scoreobtained by the Best Practices group was onImpulse Control, a sub-scale of Stress Manage-ment. This result indicates that the groups abilityto resist or delay impulsive action is adequate,however some individuals could have problemsoverreacting or losing emotional control.A sharp contrast is observed between the

performance of both Best Practices and Less

Successful groups on the sub-scales of this StressManagement composite. In the area of StressTolerance, both groups perform significantlybetter than the population at large yet in thearea of Impulse Control, neither group performsany better. It is speculated that this contrastbetween well-developed stress tolerance skillsand average, yet adequate, impulse control skills,constitutes the dynamic seen in the best accountofficers as they successfully thrive on perpetuallychanging challenges while simultaneouslyconveying a sense of real urgency to thecustomer.The General Mood of the Best Practices

group is significantly better than that of the LessSuccessful group and suggests that they aregenerally more satisfied with their lives and jobs,enjoy the company of others, and derive pleasureand fun from life. These account officers are ableto maintain a positive attitude in the face ofadversity and they have a hopeful outlookregarding their futures.

Emotional Intelligence Profile of Best PracticesAccount Officers

Overall, these results indicate that the BestPractices account officers possess significantlyhigher levels of overall emotional intelligenceand serve to reveal a profile of CFS successfulaccount officers that consists of a unique blend ofthe following competencies:

1. Assertive Independence combines aninner-directed, self-reliant preference to workautonomously and an ability to expressneeds, thoughts, and feelings in a confident,non-aggressive manner that results ineffective interpersonal communications.

2. Self-Actualized Problem Solving refers toa well-developed, inner knowledge of onesown goals and expectations in conjunctionwith a finely tuned set of skills that promoteattainment and fulfillment of ones aspir-ations. These problem-solving skills consistof time management, information processing,communication, and negotiation capabilities.

3. Optimistic Happiness describes a pervas-ive, stable mood that prevails despite stress,rejection, and disappointment. It protects theindividuals self-confidence and capacity tocarry-on regardless of adversity.

4. Emotional Self-Awareness and Empathy enough empathy allows the successfulaccount officer to negotiate humanely witha reduced risk of an overly sympathetic oraggressive identification with the customer.The officer also has highly developed skillsin emotional self-awareness and is able toself-regulate stronger feelings or empathydistress. It is speculated that this combi-



nation of skills, in part, prevents the problemof over-identification with the customer andthe subsequent blurring of boundaries thatcan result in the emotional hijack.

An important question concerns the relevance ofthe emotional intelligence findings from Study 1to the actual collection of debt by collectionagency officers. In the collections business,differences in emotional intelligence betweenaccount officers become meaningful only if theypredict increased cash collections. Study 2investigates this dynamic and the hypothesistested is that higher levels of emotionalintelligence in account officers will lead toincreased levels of cash goal attainment.

Method: Study 2

Participants

Participants were 34 account officers employed atCFS who participated in the Best Practices Studyconducted in September and October 1998.3

Measure

A measure of cash collections, based oninformation maintained in the CFS data base, isthe percentage of cash goal attained per monthby each account officer. Table 2 shows these dataaveraged for the two groups of account officersunder study.Participants completed the Bar-On Emotional

Quotient Inventory prior to engaging in thisstudy (see Study 1).

Procedure

In order to determine any differences in per-centage of cash goal attained between the BestPractices and the Less Successful groups overthe preceding three and six months, t-tests wereconducted. If significant differences were foundbetween the groups, the study would thenproceed.Participants, for whom three full months of

collection data were available in August,September and October 1998, were ranked andthen divided into two groups of High versusLow Cash Collectors, each group consisting of 17people. Next, t-tests were conducted on

emotional intelligence scores obtained by theHigh and Low Cash Collectors groups. Anadditional t-test analysis provided the basis fora comparison of the High and Low collectorsgroups on their percentage of cash goalattainment.

Results

Preliminary Analysis of Percentage of Cash GoalAttained by Group

The Best Practices group clearly outperformedthe Less Successful group in terms of cash goalattainment for the preceding six and threemonths. Results of this analysis were highlysignificant statistically (see Table 2).

Comparison of High and Low Cash Collectors onEmotional Intelligence

Analyses were conducted in order to comparethe High and Low Cash Collectors groups ontheir EQ-i scores (see Table 3). Overall, the HighCash Collectors group performed better than didthe Low Cash Collectors group on all sub-scaleswith the exception of Empathy and ImpulseControl. They performed notably better on threeof the EQ-i sub-scales: Independence, Self-Actualization, and Optimism. The LowCollectors group performed significantly betterthan the High Cash Collectors group on theInterpersonal sub-scale of Empathy. Thisparticular finding reflects the trend seen in Study1 where the Less Successful group scored higheron the Empathy sub-scale. Again, as in Study 1,Low Cash Collectors performed better than didHigh Cash Collectors on the sub-scale ImpulseControl, however the difference was notstatistically significant.

Comparison of High and Low Cash Collectors onPercentage of Cash Goal Attained

An additional t-test was conducted in order tocompare the High and Low Cash Collectors ontheir average (corrected)4 percentage of cash goalattained. Results of this analysis are highlystatistically significant with the High CashCollectors clearly outperforming the Low CashCollectors (see Table 4).

Table 2: Average percentage of cash goal attained over the past 6 and 3 months by the best practices and lesssuccessful account officers

Best Practices Less Successful p-values Significant?(n=22) (n=12)

MayOctober 1998 100% 47% p < 0.01 YesAugustOctober 1998 88 42 p < 0.01 Yes



Discussion: Study 2

Results of these analyses strongly suggest thathigher levels of emotional intelligence in accountofficers lead to increased cash goal attainment.Overall, high cash collectors have particularlywell-developed skills in the areas of indepen-dence, self-actualization, and optimism. Interest-ingly, low cash collectors perform significantlybetter in the area of empathy (an interpersonalskill) and relatively better in the area of impulsecontrol (a stress management skill).It is suggested that a good empathic skill in

combination with an adequate, or good enoughability to control ones impulses, results in awinning set of skills. This skill set provides theaccount officer with enough understanding of thecustomers feelings and needs to build a goodrapport while maintaining the emotionalintensity needed to communicate a sense ofurgency a skill considered as being necessary insuccessful collections.Given that the two groups in Study 2 did

differ on Empathy, with the Low Cash Collectorsperforming significantly better than the HighCash Collectors, the greater success of the BestPractices group can be attributed to its well-developed skills in other areas. Specifically, betterdeveloped skills in the Intrapersonal area, such asSelf-Actualization and Independence, and in the

area of General Mood, such as Optimism, appearto contribute to the successful expression ofEmpathy, and the prevention of emotionalhijacking or over-identification with thecustomer. These skills are related to the twogroupings of emotional competencies suggestedas being essential in successful collectionsofficers: (a) self-awareness and empathy (skillsrelated to Intrapersonal and Interpersonal sub-scales); and (b) self-control and adaptability (skillsrelated to Adaptability and Stress Managementsub-scales). Results of this study strongly suggesttherefore, that well-developed emotionalintelligence plays a vital role in successfulcollections.

Summary

Findings reported on the basis of these studiesstrongly suggest that an overall higher level ofemotional intelligence in account officerscontributes to more successful collections. Twogroupings of emotional competencies, thought tobe essential in successful negotiations, wereoutlined. Self-awareness and empathy constitutedthe first grouping, while self-control andadaptability comprised the second. Skills in theseareas were hypothesized as being essential in theprevention of an emotional hijack or problem of

Table 3: Averages of emotional intelligence profile scores for high and low cash collectors

Notes:a Note the inverse relationship.b All p-values are based on t-tests.

EQ-i Scale High cash collectors Low cash collectors p-valueb Significant?(n=17) (n=17)

Intrapersonal EQAssertiveness 109 103 0.13 NoSelf-Actualization 112 103 0.01 YesIndependence 114 107 0.02 YesInterpersonal EQEmpathya 101 110 0.01 YesAdaptability EQProblem Solving 107 101 0.16 NoStress Management EQImpulse Controla 96 104 0.07 NoGeneral Mood EQHappiness 106 99 0.10 NoOptimism 111 104 0.03 Yes

Table 4: Average percentage of cash goal attained over the past 3 months by the high and low cash collectors

High collectors Low collectors p-value(n=17) (n=17)

% Goal attainment 163 80 < .0001



over-identification with the customer andsubsequent failure to successfully negotiatecollection. Various components of the EQ-imeasure of emotional intelligence were tied inwith these two groupings of skills. Subsequentanalyses between groups of more and lesssuccessful account officers demonstrated morehighly developed skills among the former groupand hence, less vulnerability to emotionalhijacking.Other attributes that distinguished successful

account officers from those who were lesssuccessful, were identified by the CFS BestPractices study and include (a) attitude; (b) skills;and (c) leadership. It has been suggested thatcompetence in each of these areas depends onunderlying emotional competencies. For example,a success-oriented attitude could be derived fromwell-developed skills in five underlying areas ofemotional intelligence: self-regard, self-actualization, optimism, achievement drive, andinitiative. The latter two categories could bemeasured indirectly by EQ-i sub-scales ofAssertiveness and Independence. Skills in theareas of time management, informationprocessing, communications, and negotiations,could be nourished by the underlying emotionalcompetencies of emotional self-control,assertiveness, independence, problem solving,reality testing, flexibility, and empathy.Leadership skills required by managers ofsuccessful account officers could also find theirbasis in underlying emotional competencies.These skills include the ability to develop acollaborative/cooperative working style withtheir staff and to allow them the independencethey require. Future research in this area holdspromise.Implications of these findings are quite

exciting for Human Resources, Training, andContinuing Education. If higher levels ofemotional intelligence lead to enhanced jobperformance among account officers, then itmay be hypothesized that emotional intelligence

plays an important role in the overall success ofindividuals in the workplace. The assessment ofcurrent levels of emotional intelligence could beconducted using the BarOn EQ-i. This type ofassessment could fulfil a vital role especially inthe areas of personnel selection anddevelopment. Results of such an assessmentwould clearly indicate areas in which furtherimprovement is needed and recommendations fordeveloping essential emotional skills, whetherthrough individual coaching or specialized EQtraining, could be implemented.

Notes

1. All skills reported within this section, asstrengths of the Best Practices group, arebased on t-tests which achieved statisticalsignificance at the probability level of .05.

2. All skills reported within this section, asstrengths of the Less Successful group, arebased on t-tests which achieved statisticalsignificance at the probability level of .05.

3. Two Best Practices account officers begansection leader training during the AugustOctober period and hence did not contributedata to the analyses in Study 2.

4. Each account officers monthly percentage ofgoal attained was divided by the averagepercentage of goal attained for thatindividuals functional area. This ensurescomparability between account officersworking different assets.

References

Bar-On, R. (1997) Bar-On Emotional QuotientInventory: A Measure of Emotional Intelligence(Technical Manual). Toronto, ON, Multi-HealthSystems Inc.

Goleman, D. (1998) Working with EmotionalIntelligence. New York, Bantam Books.



Documents

1468-2389.00145