The Influences of Emotional Intelligence and Emotional Labor on Job Burnout and Turnover Intention: Implications for HRD Practitioners

Though emotional intelligence (EI) development programs have been frequently applied in organizational settings, there is still a lack of empirical evidence for the effect of EI on work outcomes. To provide a rationale for implementation of EI development programs, the relationships between employees' EI and job burnout and turnover intention have been investigated in this study. Especially, the concept of emotional labor has been included in this study because it can explain the process via which emotional intelligence affects organizational behavior. Based on analysis of responses obtained from 387 employees of a conglomerate, it was found that EI was positively related to deep acting but was not significantly related to surface acting. Additionally, deep acting was positively associated with personal accomplishment, and surface acting was positively related to emotional exhaustion, which also had a positive influence on turnover intention. Emotional intelligence also had direct effects on emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment. The findings of this study suggest that development of EI and training on deep acting strategies can bring about positive work outcomes for employees performing emotional labor.