Contributions of Emotional Job Demands and Emotional Intelligence in Work Engagement of Teachers

Abstract

This study investigated the contributions of emotional job demands and in emotional intelligence in work engagement of teachers. Two hundred and thirty-five (235) participants, comprising two hundred and one (201) females and thirty-four (34) males within the ages of 25 to 60 years with a mean age of 43.22 and standard deviation of 6.98, were drawn through a multistage (simple, stratified, systematic, and purposive sampling techniques) sampling technique from nine schools in the Enugu educational zone. The study was a cross-sectional survey in which the 10-item Brief Emotional Intelligence Scale (Davies et al., 2010), the 6-item Emotional Job Demand Scale (Xanthopoulou et al., 2013), and the 9-item Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (Schaufeli et al., 2006) were administered for data collection. Moderated multiple hierarchical regression analysis was used for data analysis. The results indicated that emotional job demands positively predicted the vigour, dedication, and absorption components of work engagement, respectively (β =.32, p<.01; β =.21, p<.01; β= .27, p<.01). Emotional intelligence did not moderate the relationship between emotional job demands and work engagement (vigour, dedication, and absorption). It has been recommended that policymakers in the educational sector, especially secondary schools, should consider emotional job demands in order to enhance teachers’ work engagement.