How Job Resources Influence the Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Job Satisfaction.

Abstract

The present meta-analysis has demonstrated that: First, emotional intelligence (EI) is positively related to job resources (overall EI: ρ ̂ = .27; ability EI: ρ ̂ = .24; self-report EI: ρ ̂ = .27; mixed EI: ρ ̂ = .28). Second, job resources mediate the relationship between EI and job satisfaction. Third, the relationship between EI and job satisfaction does not differ across gender, age, and tenure, meaning that regardless of whether an employee is male or female, young or old, or having short or long tenure, they equally benefit from EI. The moderator effect of job level is only significant for self-report EI – job satisfaction and this relationship is stronger in non-managerial jobs than in managerial jobs. Yet, the moderator effect of job level is not significant for ability EI – job satisfaction and mixed EI – job satisfaction meta-analytic distributions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.