The Relationship between Perceived Emotional Intelligence, Work Engagement, Job Satisfaction, and Burnout in Italian School Teachers

Abstract

The study investigates the relationship between perceived emotional intelligence, burnout, work engagement, and job satisfaction in 238 Italian school teachers. The mean age was 50 years, ranged from 26 to 66 (SD = 9.16). The research protocol included a demographics data sheet, the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS; Wong & Law, 2002), the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI; Kristensen, Borritz, Villadsen, & Christensen, 2005), the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES; Schaufeli, Bakker, & Salanova, 2006), and the Organizational Satisfaction Scale (QSO; Cortese, 2001). Several international studies already demonstrated an association among these variables. Our results showed that perceived emotional intelligence positively correlates with work engagement and job satisfaction, and negatively correlates with burnout. Hierarchical regression analyses also point out that, among all the perceived emotional intelligence subdimensions, the use of emotion is the best predictor of the study variables, even when controlling for gender differences. These results suggest that emotional intelligence may have a protective role in preventing negative working experiences of teachers.