Emotional labour, social intelligence, and narcissism among physicians in Jordan

Abstract

AbstractAlthough many studies have investigated relationships between emotional labour and emotional intelligence among hospital staff, few have paid attention to social intelligence in this field. This study explored the relationships between emotional labour, social intelligence, and narcissism among physicians in governmental hospitals in Jordan. The goal was to improve the understanding of the causes of patients abusing physicians in Jordan. Some patients have maintained that physicians are responsible for hostile behaviour against them, as these resulted from medical errors, physician negligence, and a failure to provide adequate care, exacerbated by physician narcissism, lack of empathy, verbal miscommunication, and lack of sympathy in critical cases. Findings confirmed that whenever physicians engage in strategies of emotional labour, they display higher social intelligence and lower levels of narcissism. Moreover, social intelligence does not mediate the relationship between emotional labour and narcissism. The results of the study suggest that interventions by the Jordan Medical Association to reduce physical and verbal assaults on physicians should encompass more than a mere legal focus.