Empirical Investigation of the Relationship between Emotional Intelligence, Organisational Commitment and Turnover Intentions

Abstract

It can be observed that researchers in today’s generation have started to concentrate on what has previously been considered as the “soft” side of individual differences, including moods, feelings and emotions in relation to job performance. Emotional Intelligence (EI) as the software element of the mind is illuminated as a perspective and as a working construct. A lot of studies have correlated EI with job performance and mental ability, but some researchers believe that some concepts, such as organisational commitment, and turnover intentions, are still unexplored variables that need to be studied further especially in a non-western context. This study attempts to fill this gap by testing some of these links in the UAE. Data was collected from 321 employees of two large banks in the UAE and the analysis showed a strong correlation between all EI dimensions and turnover intentions. Results of the study also showed that organisational commitment mediated the relationship between EI and turnover intentions.