A Study of the Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Job Satisfaction Among IT Employees in Delhi NCR

Abstract

The technology sector is part of a rapidly changing global corporate milieu․ Given the unique challenges of employee burnout‚ attrition and workplace stress‚ retaining the cutting edge and top talent requires understanding the psychology of workplace well-being․ The research empirically investigates the relationship between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and the General Job Satisfaction of Information Technology (IT) Professionals of Delhi NCR․ A mixed-method‚ exploratory sequential (QUAN-qual) research design was used for this study․ A survey of $N = 500$ IT professionals from 10 private software companies (50 employees from each company) and $N = 25$ qualitative semistructured interviews were conducted․ Emotional Intelligence was measured by Dr․ Hyde‚ Pethe‚ and Dhar's (2004) EIS‚ while the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) developed by Paul E․ Spector (1985) was used to measure Job Satisfaction․ Multiple Linear Regression between emotional intelligence dimensions and job satisfaction shows that emotional intelligence dimensions explained 46․1% of variance in Job Satisfaction ($R^2 = ․461‚ p < ․001$)․ The highest beta value for the emotional intelligence dimensions was found for Emotional Regulation ($\beta = ․312$) and Empathy ($\beta = ․248$)․ Additionally‚ qualitative thematic analysis identified emotional regulation by the employees and supportive relationships with their coworkers as buffering factors to the pressure caused by tight deadlines‚ thus revealing emotional competence as a vital psychological resource in knowledgeintensive work․