INTERACTION BETWEEN OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AS AN ANTECEDENT OF PERSONAL OUTCOMES

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to quantify the effect of emotional intelligence and occupational stress on personal outcomes. The survey method was employed to gather self-report questionnaires from academic employees in Malaysian private higher learning sector in Borneo Island Outcomes of hierarchical regression analysis showed three important findings: firstly, the levels of physiological and psychological stresses cannot increase job satisfaction when employees have not adequate competencies to manage their emotions in executing job. Secondly, the level of physiological stress can increase job performance when employees have adequate competencies to manage their emotions in executing job. Thirdly, the level of psychological stress cannot increase job performance when employees have not adequate competencies to manage the emotions in executing job. This result demonstrates that emotional intelligence does act as a partial moderating variable in the relationship between occupational stress and personal outcomes in the studied organizations. Further, discussion, implications and conclusion are elaborated.