The mediating effect of job satisfaction between emotional intelligence and organisational commitment of nurses: A questionnaire survey

Background: The effect of emotional intelligence and its dimensions on job satisfaction and organisational commitment of nurses has been investigated in this study. Objectives: This paper examines the relations among emotional intelligence, job satisfaction and organisational commitment of nurses and the mediating effect of job satisfaction between emotional intelligence and organisational commitment. Design: A questionnaire survey was carried out to explore the relations between emotional intelligence, job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Setting: Teaching hospital in Ankara, Turkey. Participants: Questionnaires were distributed by Nursing Services Administration to 550 nurses working at different departments of the hospital and 267 questionnaires were analyzed. Methods: A 45-item questionnaire which consists of emotional intelligence, job satisfaction and organisational commitment parts was carried out to investigate the relations among these variables. Some basic socio-demographic questions were included. Results: Emotional intelligence was significantly and positively related to job satisfaction (r = 0.236, p <= 0.01) and organisational commitment (r = 0.2291 p <= 0.0 1). The positive relation between job satisfaction and organisational commitment was also significant (r = 0.667, p <= 0.0 1). Job satisfaction was found to be related with "regulation emotion (ROE)" (r = 0.228, p <= 0.0 1) and "use of emotion (UOE)" (r = 0. 155, p <= 0.0 1) but not with other dimensions of emotional intelligence. "Others's emotional appraisal" did not have any relations with job satisfaction or organisational commitment and "self-emotional appraisal (SEA)" was found to be a suppressor. Conclusion: It was found that job satisfaction is a mediator between emotional intelligence and organisational commitment. The other finding of the study was that "SEA" and "UOE" have direct effects on organisational commitment whereas job satisfaction is a mediator between "regulation of emotion" and organisational commitment. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.