The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Employees’ Attitudes

Emotions can precisely affect antecedents of behaviors such as attitudes, attributions and perceptions. Since an insensitive human being, an unmanned organization or an unorganized society cannot be imagined, the role of emotions in human life is quite evident. The emergence of the importance of emotions in human life has led to the emergence of emotional intelligence concept. General emphasis of studies in management, psychology and other disciplines is that emotional intelligence is a very critical concept in work and social life, and it needs to be improved. The previous research show that people who have high emotional intelligence are more successful, have higher performance and compatible and responsible personality traits. Although emotional intelligence and the attitudes of employees towards work and organization have been examined in many studies, it is necessary to repeat such studies in different samples and different cultures since they will contribute to scientific accumulation. For this reason, by depending on the emphasis in literature, in this study it is aimed to investigate the impact of emotional intelligence levels of employees on their job satisfaction and intention to leave. A quantitative research was designed to reach the study purpose. The required data were obtained via survey method by using convenience sampling. The sample of the study is composed of 146 participants who are active in working life. Findings revealed that emotional intelligence affected job satisfaction moderately and positively, while it affected intention to leave negatively. Findings also indicated that comparing to other dimensions, regulation of emotions was found to be more effective on employee attitudes. So, it seems to be critical to control nerves, be able to evaluate negativity and negative situations as ordinary and prevent sudden emotional changes.