Does Emotional Intelligence Affect Job Stress? Exploring the Relationship, Moderation by Work Experience in Lebanese Nursing Context During COVID-19

Abstract

Present literature suggests the effect of emotional intelligence (EI) on job stress (JS). However, the four EI skills’ effect were less considered. Furthermore, as in Lebanon, there is a shortage of works on this relationship in a global crisis context like COVID-19. This paper aims at empirically exploring the EI – JS relationship while considering work experience as a moderator. Collation came from 365 registered nurses in the Lebanese hospitals during the COVID-19 crisis. SPSS 25 was utilized to process data in the presence of control variables. Hypothesis were tested using a hierarchical regression. Step 1: EI regression on JS was performed. Step 2, the moderator, work experience, was inputted along interaction terms. Findings showed that EI and its skills (social awareness, self-management, Self-awareness and social skills)- negatively affect JS. The effect of work experience as a moderator, on the relationship between EI and JS, was significant. Interestingly, that work experience strengthens their negative influence on nurses’ job stress. The paper empirically examines EI’s role on JS of Lebanese nurses during COVID- 19. It iterates the researchers’ call to incorporate various moderators’ effects of on EI - JS relationship during crisis with direct impact. The moderator’s influence on JS was interesting as it produced reverse effects.