Emotional Intelligence and Job Satisfaction of School Teachers: An Ability-Based Approach

Teaching is an emotionally demanding profession, and teachers’ job satisfaction is strongly influenced by how well they manage everyday emotional challenges at school. Although previous research has established a positive relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction, most studies have relied on self-report measures of emotional intelligence, leaving the role of ability-based emotional intelligence relatively underexplored. Addressing this gap, the present study investigated the research question: How does ability-based emotional intelligence influence job satisfaction among school teachers? The sample consisted of 150 school teachers (92 males and 58 females) selected from government and private schools of Begusarai district of Bihar using purposive and snowball sampling techniques. Ability-based emotional intelligence was measured using the Mayer–Salovey–Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), and job satisfaction was assessed using a standardized Job Satisfaction Scale. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation, and linear as well as multiple regression analyses. The results indicated that overall ability-based emotional intelligence significantly predicted teachers’ job satisfaction, explaining 31% of the variance. Further, the four branches of emotional intelligence jointly accounted for 40% of the variance in job satisfaction. Among these, managing emotions emerged as the strongest predictor, followed by understanding emotions and facilitating thought, whereas perceiving emotions did not make a significant contribution. The findings suggest that actual emotional abilities, particularly emotion regulation, play a crucial role in shaping teachers’ professional well-being. The study highlights the importance of incorporating emotional skills training into teacher education and professional development programmes in order to enhance job satisfaction and reduce emotional strain in school settings.