Emotional intelligence and workplace stress of Albanian academic staff

Emotional intelligence is a very important aspect of human life. It has implications at many areas of life including educational and professional ones. On the other side, stress has become an important feature of our day to day lives. Occupational stress occurs when the employees experience aversive or unpleasant emotional states in their work place. Occupational stress among university employees is a global phenomenon and has traditionally been regarded as low. In recent years, the Albanian university sector has undergone large-scale organizational changes. The current study investigate the overall level of emotional intelligence and work stress among the academic staff of Higher Education Institutions in Albania, and the relationship between these two variables. The data are collected during September 2019, through an on-line questionnaire, including Schuttle Scale of Emotional Intelligence and Workplace Stress Scale. A total of 183 academic staff of Albanian Higher Education Institutions participated in this study. The study findings indicate that almost half of academic staff experience a moderate level of workplaces stress and the other half a low level of workplace stress. The majority of academic staff have a high level of emotional intelligence. There is a significant negative relationship between emotional intelligence and workplace stress of academic staff. Implications, limitations and recommendations of this study are discussed.