DEFINING THE CONCEPT "EMOTIONAL CAPITAL" AND DETECTING ITS ROLE IN PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
Purpose. The purpose of this article is to analyse the approaches to defining the concept «emotional capital» for improving efficiency of personnel management. Methodology and Approach. The paper considers the definitions of the concept suggested by foreign scientists. Results. As a result of the research, four areas of emotional capital development were determined: emotional characteristics of leaders, emotional organizational environment, clients’ emotional feedback and emotional perception of a brand, with only the latter being directly related to income generation and profit increase, and being accounted in financial reports. The first three areas, based on human relations, are intangible factors of production which influence the cost of goods and services. Leaders’ emotional labour is viewed as a fundamental element for the company’s emotional capital development. Building a positive emotional environment facilitates personnel’s motivation enhancement and prevents their burnout. Theoretical and Practical Implications. The results of the research contribute to the definition of emotional capital as a type of capital, and outline prospective accounting areas of emotional capital in the integrated reporting system. The author emphasizes the importance of leaders’ emotional capital development for effective improvement of the staff and clients’ emotional capital, viewed as intangible resources; and ultimately, for produced goods’ and services’ brand value enhancement.