The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Work Stress and Work Performance

Abstract

Work and career as a teacher in today's day and age are increasingly challenging. Change in students' thinking and actions throughout the ages requires high levels of competence, skill and patience by teachers, who sincerely educate and build the souls of the people. Teachers are now not only burdened with teaching, they are also burdened with administrative and managerial work that inevitably causes stress and disrupts their work performance. This study aimed to identify the role of emotional intelligence as a moderator for the relationship between work stress and job performance among high school teachers serving under the education system of a private body, called IM Education. 4-part questionnaire set was used as a survey instrument for 211 secondary school teachers from 30 IM Education branch schools across Malaysia. The respondents of this study were selected using the targeted sampling method. The data were then analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software version 25. Most teachers reported moderate levels of work stress, accompanied by high work performance and also high level of emotional intelligence. Through Pearson's correlation analysis and hierarchical regression, emotional intelligence elements have successfully become a significant moderator in the relationship between work stress and job performance among respondents in this research. This finding signifies the importance of emotional intelligence elements in influencing perceptions of work pressure and work performance among educators. Emotional intelligence is a very important asset that needs to be considered and monitored as early as work selection. Researchers have also suggested several initiatives that can be done to improve teachers' emotional intelligence levels.