Emotional Intelligence of Health Professionals and Its Impact on Caring Behaviour and Job Performance

The present study focuses on examining how emotional intelligence (EI) affects the behaviour of healthcare professionals. An original research model incorporating eight factors is empirically tested using data collected with a structured questionnaire on a sample of 393 nursing and medical personnel of two Greek public hospitals. The results of the structural equation modelling indicate that, while EI does not directly affect job performance, it does have the strongest overall impact on both caring behaviour and job performance. Actually, caring behaviour is the factor with the strongest direct impact on job performance, with stress and satisfaction being the other two factors directly influencing job performance. Furthermore, it is shown that job satisfaction has the strongest direct impact on caring behaviour.