The Relationship Between

Emotional Intelligence and Job Satisfaction

of Language Institutes’ Teachers in Iran

By

Zahra Farazmehr

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Nowadays, Iranian teachers face excessive expectations and

demands, such as increased accountability, lack of parental support,

lack of available resources, negative student attitudes, low paying

salaries, and low status of the profession. As a result, many

teachers experience job dissatisfaction and these led them have

contributed to stress, burnout, and a high turnover rate (Hosseinian,

2008; Mousavi, Yarmohammadi, Bani Nosrat, & Tarasi, 2012).

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According to researches (Hasankhoyi, 2006; Naderi, 2012;

Shooshtarian, Ameli, & Aminilari, 2013), a job satisfaction

problem exists among Iranian teachers. In fact, many teachers are

leaving the profession because of job dissatisfaction.

Mertler (2002) indicates that it might be difficult for teachers to

bring the highest quality to their teaching if they are dissatisfied

with their jobs.

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With the supporting evidence that Emotional Intelligence (EQ) -

the ability to understand your own emotions and those of people

around you - was closely related to and could be a predictor of job

satisfaction, the current researcher investigated the relationship

between Emotional Intelligence and job satisfaction among Iranian

EFL teachers in Language Institutes.

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1. Is there any relationship between Emotional Intelligence and job satisfaction

among Iranian EFL teachers in Language Institutes?

2. Do male and female L2 teachers differ from each other in terms of their EQ?

3. Do male and female L2 teachers differ from each other in terms of their job

satisfaction?

4. Do young and old L2 teachers differ from each other in terms of their EQ?

5. Do young and old L2 teachers differ from each other in terms of their job

satisfaction?

6. Do less and more experienced L2 teachers differ from each other in terms of their

EQ?

7. Do less and more experienced L2 teachers differ from each other in terms of their

job satisfaction?

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1. There is a significant relationship between Emotional Intelligence and job

satisfaction among Iranian EFL teachers in Language Institutes.

2. Male and female L2 teachers differ from each other in terms of their EQ.

3. Male and female L2 teachers differ from each other in terms of their job

satisfaction.

4. Young and old L2 teachers differ from each other in terms of their EQ.

5. Young and old L2 teachers differ from each other in terms of their job satisfaction.

6. Less and more experienced L2 teachers differ from each other in terms of their

EQ.

7. Less and more experienced L2 teachers differ from each other in terms of their job

satisfaction.

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100 EFL teachers

50 male and 50 female

Age range between 20 and 50

1 to 20 years of teaching experience

Different majors of English

BA., MA., and Ph.D. degrees

Language Institutes in Isfahan, Tehran, Shiraz, Tabriz, and

Mashhad

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1) The Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i)

Self-Report Scale

This scale defines and assesses the skills that comprise

Emotional Intelligence.

High scores show one’s effective functions in meeting

environmental demands. Low scores on this scale

suggest that one may have difficulty succeeding in life

and experience social, emotional, and behavioral

problems (Bar-On, 2000).9

2) The Job Descriptive Index (JDI)

This scale measures employees’ satisfaction with their

present job. It has a total of five scales, present job

satisfaction, pay satisfaction, opportunities for promotion,

supervision satisfaction, and coworker satisfaction.

When interpreting the results, a score of 27, per scale, is

considered to be the neutral point. A score above or below it

indicates either general satisfaction or general

dissatisfaction (Balzer, Kihm, Smith, Irwin, Bachiochi,

Robie, Sinar, & Parra, 1997).10

• Completed the Bar-On EQ-i Scale and the JDI.

• Chose an option for each statement that they felt accurately

described them.

• Provided some basic demographic information such as their gender,

age, and years of teaching on the questionnaires.

• Each questionnaire was assigned a code number which served as the

teacher’s identification code, since no identifiable information was

on either form.

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To investigate the first research hypothesis, Pearson Product

Moment correlations were applied to the data.

To examine the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh

research hypotheses, Independent-Samples t-tests were run as

well.

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Descriptive Statistics for Distribution of Participants’ Emotional Intelligence

Mean Std. Deviation Minimum Maximum

Total EQ 334.84 35.93 219 420

N = 100.

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Descriptive Statistics for Distribution of Participants’ Job Satisfaction

MeanStd.

DeviationMinimum Maximum

Total Job Satisfaction a 145.53 23.97 89 201

Present Job Satisfaction b 44.68 8.72 6 54

Pay Satisfaction b 21.13 10.10 0 42

Supervision Satisfaction b 42.36 7.68 20 54

Coworker Satisfaction b 37.36 9.83 18 54

N = 100; a = Scale range 0 – 216; b = Scale range 0 – 54.

Pearson Product Moment Correlation between EQ and Job Satisfaction

Total Job Satisfaction

Total EQPearson Correlation

Sig. (2-tailed)

.262**

.009

N = 100; **p < .01.

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1. There is a significant relationship between Emotional Intelligence

and job satisfaction among Iranian EFL teachers in Language Institutes.

Independent-Samples T-test for Emotional Intelligence and Gender

t dfSig.

(2-tailed)

Mean

Difference

Std. Error

Difference

95% Confidence

Interval of the

Difference

Lower Upper

Total EQ -.455 98 .650 -3.280 7.216 -17.600 11.040

Descriptive Statistics for Male and Female Teachers’ Emotional Intelligence

Gender n Mean Std. DeviationStd. Error

Mean

Total EQMale 50 333.04 35.232 4.982

Female 50 333.20 36.908 5.220

N = 100.

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2. Male and female L2 teachers differ from each other in terms of

their EQ.

Independent-Samples T-test for Job Satisfaction and Gender

t dfSig.

(2-tailed)

Mean

Difference

Std. Error

Difference

95% Confidence

Interval of the

Difference

Lower Upper

Total Job

Satisfaction3.832 98 .000 17.220 4.494 8.302 26.138

Descriptive Statistics for Male and Female Teachers’ Job Satisfaction

Gender n Mean Std. DeviationStd. Error

Mean

Total Job

Satisfaction

Male 50 154.14 22.865 3.234

Female 50 136.92 22.066 3.121

N = 100.

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3. Male and female L2 teachers differ from each other in terms of their

job satisfaction.

Independent-Samples T-test for Emotional Intelligence and Age

t dfSig.

(2-tailed)

Mean

Difference

Std. Error

Difference

95% Confidence

Interval of the

Difference

Lower Upper

Total EQ -1.776 98 .079 -23.272 13.104 -49.276 2.732

Descriptive Statistics for Young and Old Teachers’ Emotional Intelligence

Age n MeanStd.

Deviation

Std. Error

Mean

Total EQYoung (20-35) 92 332.98 36.205 3.775

Old (36-50) 8 332.25 32.550 2.033

N = 100.

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4. Young and old L2 teachers differ from each other in terms of their EQ.

Independent-Samples T-test for Job Satisfaction and Age

t dfSig.

(2-tailed)

Mean

Difference

Std. Error

Difference

95% Confidence

Interval of the

Difference

Lower Upper

Total Job

Satisfaction-.996 98 .322 -8.799 8.836 -26.334 8.737

Descriptive Statistics for Young and Old Teachers’ Job Satisfaction

Age n MeanStd.

Deviation

Std. Error

Mean

Total Job

Satisfaction

Young (20-35) 92 153.96 38.83 13.768

Old (36-50) 8 153.63 36.150 12.781

N = 100.

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5. Young and old L2 teachers differ from each other in terms of their

job satisfaction.

Independent-Samples T-test for Emotional Intelligence and Years of Teaching Experience

t dfSig.

(2-tailed)

Mean

Difference

Std. Error

Difference

95% Confidence

Interval of the

Difference

Lower Upper

Total EQ -.324 98 .747 -4.083 12.614 -29.114 20.948

Descriptive Statistics for Less and More Experienced Teachers’ Emotional Intelligence

Teaching Experience n MeanStd.

Deviation

Std. Error

Mean

Total EQLess Experienced (1-10) 91 334.47 35.385 3.709

More Experienced (11-20) 9 334.56 33.316 2.439

N = 100.

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6. Less and more experienced L2 teachers differ from each other in

terms of their EQ.

Independent-Samples T-test for Job Satisfaction and Years of Teaching Experience

t dfSig.

(2-tailed)

Mean

Difference

Std. Error

Difference

95% Confidence

Interval of the

Difference

Lower Upper

Total Job

Satisfaction.534 98 .595 4.490 8.407 -12.193 21.173

Descriptive Statistics for Less and More Experienced Teachers’ Job Satisfaction

Teaching Experience n MeanStd.

Deviation

Std. Error

Mean

Total Job

Satisfaction

Less Experienced (1-10) 91 141.93 46.068 17.208

More Experienced (11-20) 9 141.44 45.796 15.265

N = 100.

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7. Less and more experienced L2 teachers differ from each other in

terms of their job satisfaction.

In summary, results of the current study showed that

Iranian EFL teachers in Language Institutes had normal

emotional capacity and were highly satisfied with their

jobs.

In addition, it was revealed that there was a significant

positive relationship between Emotional Intelligence and

job satisfaction among EFL teachers. So teachers with

higher EQ and skills in controlling emotions, have more

job satisfaction, and they are more skillful at evaluating

and regulating their own emotions.

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Findings of the present study indicated that male and

female EFL teachers differed in terms of their job

satisfaction and males were more satisfied with their jobs.

On the contrary, gender had no effect on EFL teachers’

Emotional Intelligence.

Moreover, findings reported that neither age nor years of

teaching experience had effect on Emotional Intelligence

and job satisfaction among EFL teachers.

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