THE IMPACT OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE ON EMPLOYEE JOB PERFORMANCE AND SATISFACTION

ABSTRACT

This study examined the Effect of Emotional Intelligence on Employee Job Performance and Satisfaction in the hospitality sector in Benin City, Edo State. The focus was to analyze how the dimensions of emotional intelligence—Self-Awareness (SWA), Self-Management (SMA), Social Awareness (SOA), and Relationship Management (RLM)—influence employee job performance and satisfaction. Data were collected through structured questionnaires distributed to 117 employees across five selected hotels, with 100 valid responses used for analysis. The study adopted a quantitative research design, utilizing descriptive statistics (frequency, mean, and percentage) and inferential statistics (regression analysis) through SPSS for data analysis. The findings revealed that Self-Awareness had a strong and significant positive effect on employee job performance and satisfaction (β = 0.580, p = 0.000), while Self-Management showed a moderate but significant influence (β = 0.125, p = 0.023). However, both Social Awareness (β = 0.040, p = 0.508) and Relationship Management (β = 0.016, p = 0.746) did not significantly impact employee outcomes. Based on these findings, the study recommends that hospitality firms implement targeted self-awareness and self-management training programs to enhance employee performance and satisfaction, while re-evaluating current strategies for developing social awareness and relationship management skills to better align them with performance goals.