Title: Emotional intelligence skills: the building blocks of defence against emotional labour burnout

Authors: L. Melita Prati, Joy H. Karriker

Addresses: Department of Management, College of Business, East Carolina University, Bate Building, Room 3112, Greenville, NC 27858, USA. ' Department of Management, College of Business, East Carolina University, Bate Building, Room 3112, Greenville, NC 27858, USA

Abstract: We examined the moderating role of the four emotional intelligence components on the emotional labour perceptions – burnout relationship. Several hypotheses were tested to evaluate the relationship between subject emotional labour perceptions and burnout. Specifically, we hypothesised that emotional intelligence abilities alleviated burnout related to emotional labour perceptions. The results supported some of the hypothesised relationships, and we found that some emotional intelligence abilities were effective in moderating the relationship between emotional labour perceptions and burnout. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

Keywords: emotional labour; perceptions; emotional intelligence; burnout; stress; emotion.

DOI: 10.1504/IJWOE.2010.035322

International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion, 2010 Vol.3 No.4, pp.317 - 335

Published online: 21 Sep 2010 *

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