Impact of emotional intelligence on work performance: The mediating role of occupational stress among nurses

The Relationship Between the Emotional Intelligence and Clinical Decision-Making Among Nurses in Neonatal Intensive Care Units

Introduction

Emotional intelligence (EI) is crucial for managing stress, enhancing well-being, and improving clinical decision-making (CDM). In neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), where rapid decisions, emotional demands, and complex interactions are common, understanding how EI supports CDM is key to ensuring high-quality care and effective outcomes.

Objective

This study aimed to explore the relationship between EI and CDM among NICU nurses.

Methods

The study was cross-sectional in design and used a convenience sample of 178 NICU nurses. Data collection gathered by paper-based between 10 January and 10 April 2024, employing the "Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test" and the "CDM Scale."

Results

The analysis revealed that the average EI score among participants was 151.9 ± 1.7 (range: 33-165, CI = 151.613-152.096), reflecting a high level of EI. High EI in the NICU context is characterized by nurses' ability to manage their own stress effectively, empathize with families facing emotional distress, and maintain composure in high-pressure situations. Similarly, participants demonstrated a high level of CDM, with an average score of 179.6 ± 8.6 (range: 40-200, CI = 178.349-180.770). High CDM involves making accurate and timely clinical decisions, such as assessing neonatal conditions, prioritizing interventions, and collaborating with interdisciplinary teams to ensure optimal outcomes. A significant positive relationship was found between EI and CDM (r = 0.53, p < .001, effect size = 0.8). Furthermore, EI was a significant predictor of enhanced accuracy, timeliness, and prioritization in CDM (p < .001, CI = 1.991-3.337).

Conclusion

Nurses in NICUs demonstrated both high EI and strong CDM skills. A positive association between these two variables was evident.

Mindfulness Practice and Work Performance: The Mediating Role of Emotional Intelligence and Psychological Capital

PURPOSE

The practice of mindfulness is becoming more widespread among employees, with potential benefits for workplace outcomes. However, there is a paucity of research on the mechanisms linking mindfulness to job performance.

METHOD

This study investigated the mediating functions of emotional intelligence and psychological capital in the relationship between mindfulness and job performance among 263 office employees in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The "mindfulness-to-meaning" viewpoint posits that through the practice of mindfulness, people are able to transcend negative emotions, gain a deeper understanding of themselves, and progress more intentionally by living more consciously in the present moment. Participants completed questionnaires measuring mindfulness, emotional intelligence, psychological capital, and occupational performance.

FINDING

According to the results of structural equation modeling, mindfulness has a direct positive influence on job performance. In addition, emotional intelligence partially mediated the relationship between mindfulness and performance, as evidenced by a greater indirect effect than direct effect. However, the indirect effect via psychological capital was less significant than the direct effect of mindfulness. These findings identify emotional intelligence as a key personal resource that transmits the positive effects of mindfulness on workplace performance.

CONCLUSION

The results advance comprehension of intermediary pathways in mindfulness research grounded in the resource-based view. Integrating emotional intelligence training into mindfulness programs could increase employee productivity in organizations.

Transforming outcome expectations into retention among hospital nurses: A cross-sectional study

AIM

To examine the main effects and interaction effects of outcome expectations (e.g., anticipated satisfactory salary and benefits), nurse identity (a sense of membership in the nursing profession), and information-access efficiency of the electronic medical record system (how the system enables nurses to quickly retrieve the needed information) on nurses' retention.

DESIGN

This study uses a cross-sectional survey and adopts proportionate random sampling to recruit a representative sample of nurses of a medical centre in Taiwan.

METHODS

This study successfully obtained completed questionnaires from 430 nurses during December 2021 to January 2022. Data are analysed by using hierarchical regressions.

RESULTS

Positive outcome expectations and identification as a member in the nursing profession are associated with retention. Information-access efficiency strengthens the link between outcome expectations and retention, while nurse identity weakens this link.

CONCLUSION

Outcome expectations can help retain nurses, particularly those who perceive high levels of information-access efficiency and possess weak nurse identity. That is, outcome expectations have a complementary role with nurse identity in retaining nurses.

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION

Nurse managers should devise means to build positive outcome expectations for nurses. In addition, either strengthening nurses' identification with the nursing profession or improving the information-access efficiency of the electronic medical system may also help retain nurses.

IMPACT

This study examined how to transform outcome expectation to nurse retention, offering nurse managers to devise new means to retain nurses.

REPORTING METHOD

STROBE statement was chosen as EQUATOR checklist.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

No patient or public contribution.

Generalized anxiety disorder and job performance can predict job stress among nurses: A latent profile analysis

BACKGROUND

Nursing is a stressful profession that can impact the physical and mental health of nurses as well as the safety of patients. Furthermore, various factors may affect the job stress of nurses. However, recent studies mainly focused on the overall level of job stress and its related factors, ignoring the population heterogeneity of nurses' job stress.

METHODS

A total of 440 nurses participated in the questionnaire survey between March 2023 and April 2023. Data were collected using the Demographic Characteristics Questionnaire, the Nursing Job Stressor Inventory, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item Scale, and the Nurse Job Performance Scale. A latent profile analysis was used to identify the latent profiles of job stress. Kruskal-Wallis H test and ordinal logistic regression were used to explore the predictors of different profiles.

RESULTS

The job stress of nurses could be classified into four profiles: relatively low job stress, relatively high job stress, high job stress, and the highest job stress. Generalized anxiety disorder, job performance, health status, and dislike of nursing as a career were predictors of different profiles.

CONCLUSIONS

The majority of nurses were classified into profile 2, and their job stress was relatively high. Lowering anxiety levels, enhancing job performance, improving nurses' health status, and changing professional attitudes toward nursing may be effective ways to reduce nurses' job stress.

The effects of work readiness, organizational justice and professional identity on the work performance of new nurses: a cross-sectional survey

BACKGROUND

With the evolution of disease patterns and the continuous pursuit of persons for high-quality nursing services, new nurses are the reserve talents of the nursing team and shoulder a major mission. However, due to their low work performance and high turnover rate, this is not conducive to the stable development of nursing teams, and it is urgent to solve this problem. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of work readiness on the work performance of new nurses, focusing on the mediating role of organizational justice and professional identity.

METHOD

A cross-sectional design was employed. Using convenience sampling methods, 607 new nurses were surveyed in 5 hospitals in Henan Province, China, from January to February 2023. Data were collected using demographic characteristics questionnaire, the Work Performance Scale, the Work Readiness Scale for Graduate Nurses, the Organizational Justice Scale, and the Professional Identity Rating Scale for Nurses. AMOS 26.0 was used for model drawing and mediation path testing, and SPSS 25.0 was used for data analysis.

RESULTS

The mediation model shows a good fit (χ2 /df = 2.747, CFI = 0.987, GFI = 0.948, AGFI = 0.926, TLI = 0.984, IFI = 0.987, and RMSEA = 0.054). In this study, we found professional identity is a mediating variable between work readiness and the work performance of new nurses (β = 0.113, P<0.01), organizational justice is a mediating variable between work readiness and the work performance of new nurses (β = 0.269, P<0.01) and Organizational justice and professional identity play a chain mediating role in work readiness and work performance (β = 0.066, P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

The study highlights the importance of improving the work performance of new nurses. To improve work performance, managers should create a fair atmosphere, formulate transparent policies, improve the organizational justice of new nurses, and promote the professional identity and work readiness of new nurses by holding activities or conducting lectures. This will help stabilize the nursing team, improve the medical environment, stimulate the work enthusiasm of new nurses, and contribute to the development of the hospital.

The influence of effort-reward imbalance and perceived organizational support on perceived stress in Chinese nurses: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

The nursing profession is characterized by high intensity and significant stress. Nurses must not only manage heavy workloads but also address diverse patient needs, engage in emotional labor, and cope with occupational exposure risks. These factors collectively contribute to substantial work-related stress for nurses. Currently, there is limited research on identifying distinct categories of nurse stress profiles and their influencing factors.

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to explore the potential categories of perceived stress among nurses using Latent profile analysis (LPA) and to analyze the influence of sociodemographic factors, effort-reward imbalance, and perceived organizational support on perceived stress categories.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study METHODS: Data were collected via electronic surveys from 696 nurses in Shanxi Province, China, from February 18 to 28, 2023. The survey parameters included sociodemographic characteristics, nurse job stressors scale, effort-reward imbalance scale, and perceived organizational support scale. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to classify the perceived stress levels of nurses, and disordered multi-classification logistic regression was used to identify the influencing factors.

RESULTS

The most suitable model was a three-profile model, comprising the "low perceived stress" group (10.5%), "moderate perceived stress" group (66.7%), and "high perceived stress" group (22.8%). Multi-classification logistic regression analysis showed that average working hours per day (OR = 3.022, p = 0.026), extrinsic effort (C2 vs. C1, OR = 1.589, p < 0.001; C3 vs. C1, OR = 2.515, p < 0.001), and perceived organizational support (C2 vs. C1, OR = 0.853, p < 0.001; C3 vs. C1, OR = 0.753, p < 0.001) were the factors influencing the classification of nurses' perceived stress.

CONCLUSIONS

Latent profile analysis revealed that nurses' perceived stress exhibits distinct characteristics. It is recommended that clinical administrators should identify these characteristics and the influencing factors of different nurse categories, and adopt targeted intervention strategies to reduce the levels of perceived stress.

Emotional Intelligence as Critical Competence in Nurses' Work Performance: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

Emotional intelligence may help nurses to cope with demanding work environments where the need to improve the quality and safety of the care provided, as well as the care of the chronically ill, prevails. Although it is well known that emotional intelligence is positively related to work performance, the literature on nurses is limited. The aim of our study was to examine the impact of emotional intelligence on work performance in a sample of nurses in Greece.

METHODS

We conducted a cross-sectional study with 318 nurses. We collected data from a convenience sample of nurses during January 2024. Since we conducted an online survey through social media, our sample could not be representative of all nurses in Greece. For instance, older nurses may be underrepresented in our study due to limited access on social media. We measured emotional intelligence with the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (TEIQue-SF) and work performance with the Individual Work Performance Questionnaire (IWPQ). We created multivariable linear regression models adjusted for sex, age, educational level, and work experience. We followed the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) guidelines.

RESULTS

We found that the four streams of emotional intelligence (i.e., well-being, self-control, emotionality, sociability) increased nurses' work performance. In particular, we found a positive relationship between well-being and task performance (adjusted beta = 0.210, 95% CI = 0.140 to 0.281, p-value < 0.001) and contextual performance (adjusted beta = 0.135, 95% CI = 0.050 to 0.221, p-value = 0.002). Similarly, there was a positive relationship between self-control and task performance (adjusted beta = 0.136, 95% CI = 0.030 to 0.241, p-value = 0.012). Additionally, sociability increased task performance (adjusted beta = 0.223, 95% CI = 0.151 to 0.295, p-value < 0.001) and contextual performance (adjusted beta = 0.198, 95% CI = 0.111 to 0.286, p-value < 0.001). Moreover, emotionality (adjusted beta = -0.198, 95% CI = -0.319 to -0.076, p-value = 0.002) and sociability (adjusted beta = -0.133, 95% CI = -0.221 to -0.044, p-value = 0.003) reduced counterproductive work behavior.

CONCLUSIONS

Our multivariable models identified a positive impact of emotional intelligence on nurses' work performance. Nurse managers and healthcare organizations should adopt appropriate interventions to improve nurses' emotional intelligence. Enhancing emotional intelligence among nurses can improve work performance and, thus, healthcare outcomes. Moreover, higher levels of emotional intelligence may empower nurses' compassion and resilience, fostering a supportive work environment. In this context, the well-being of both nurses and patients may improve.

Relationship between Pharmacists' Emotional Intelligence and Job Performance: A Cross-Sectional Study in Saudi Arabia

Pharmacists' job performance is crucial for improving pharmacy services. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association of emotional intelligence with the job performance of pharmacists in Saudi Arabia. Using social media platforms, we disseminated an online questionnaire to pharmacists licensed to practice in Saudi Arabia between June and July 2022. The questionnaire was filled out by 352 pharmacists. The majority of the participants were women (60.5%) and working as community pharmacists (55.7%). On self-reported emotional intelligence and job performance scales, the respondents scored an average of 5.5 ± 0.9 (out of 7) and 4.0 ± 0.6 (out of 5), respectively. Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that emotional intelligence had a significant relationship with job performance (β = 0.43, p < 0.001). In conclusion, the findings indicated that emotional intelligence may influence the job performance of pharmacists in Saudi Arabia. As the primary objective of every organization is to accomplish the best possible performance, prioritizing emotional intelligence is important. Further research is needed to identify the impact of emotional intelligence on work performance, which could potentially enhance clinical outcomes for patients.

Emotional intelligence protects nurses against quiet quitting, turnover intention, and job burnout

Background

Emotional intelligence can improve nurses' interpersonal and coping skills, job performance, and resilience. However, there is a dearth in the literature on whether emotional intelligence affects levels of quiet quitting, turnover intention, and job burnout in nurses.

Objective

We examined the relationship between emotional intelligence, quiet quitting, turnover intention, and job burnout.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study in Greece with a convenience sample of 992 nurses. We used the following valid tools to measure our study variables: the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form, the Quiet Quitting Scale, and the single item burnout measure.

Results

The mean age of our nurses was 42.2 years. After controlling for gender, age, work experience, shift work, and understaffed department, the multivariable linear regression models indicated significant negative relationships between emotional intelligence and quiet quitting, turnover intention, and job burnout. Specifically, self-control reduced detachment, lack of motivation, job burnout, and turnover intention. Moreover, emotionality reduced detachment, lack of motivation, and lack of initiative. Sociability reduced lack of initiative and lack of motivation, while well-being reduced lack of motivation, job burnout, and turnover intention.

Conclusion

Emotional intelligence reduced quiet quitting, turnover intention, and job burnout in nurses. Therefore, nurse managers and policy-makers should apply interventions to optimize the emotional intelligence profiles of nurses.

Thriving at work as a mediator of the relationship between psychological resilience and the work performance of clinical nurses

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to investigate the relationship between psychological resilience, thriving at work, and work performance among nurses, as well as analyse the mediating role of thriving at work in the relationship between psychological resilience and the work performance of nurses. The findings are intended to serve as a reference for nursing managers to design tailored work performance intervention programs.

METHOD

Using convenience sampling, 308 clinical nurses were selected from a tertiary hospital in Changsha City, Hunan Province, China, from February to April 2023. The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), the Thriving at Work Scale, and the Work Performance Scale were employed for the questionnaire survey. Pearson correlation analysis was used to explore the relationship between psychological resilience, thriving at work and work performance. The SPSS 26.0 software's 'Process' plugin was utilised for mediation effect analysis.

RESULTS

Significantly positive correlations were found between psychological resilience and thriving at work (r = 0.806, P < 0.01), thriving at work and work performance (r = 0.571, P < 0.01) as well as psychological resilience and work performance (r = 0.572, P < 0.01). Psychological resilience significantly predicted work performance positively (β = 0.558, t = 11.165, P < 0.01), and this prediction remained significant when thriving at work (the mediating variable), was introduced (β = 0.371, t = 4.772, P < 0.01). Psychological resilience significantly predicted thriving at work positively (β = 0.731, t = 20.779, P < 0.01), and thriving at work significantly predicted work performance positively (β = 0.256, t = 3.105, P < 0.05). The mediating effect size of thriving at work between psychological resilience and work performance was 33.49% (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Thriving at work plays a partial mediating role between psychological resilience and work performance. The level of work performance among clinical nurses was relatively high. Nursing managers can enhance thriving at work by fostering psychological resilience among clinical nurses, thereby further improving their work performance to ensure high-quality and efficient nursing care.

The level of emotional intelligence among Saudi nursing students: A cross-sectional study

Background

Emotional intelligence is an individual's capacity to comprehend, use, and control their own emotions to communicate and connect with people successfully. The emotional intelligence level among nursing students indicates their ability to regulate their emotions, possess self-awareness, demonstrate empathy, have motivation, and display social skills, impacting how they adapt during their education and preparation for nursing care. However, studies investigating emotional intelligence in the Saudi Arabian context are scarce.

Objective

This study aimed to evaluate the degree of emotional intelligence and its differences according to sociodemographic variables among nursing students in Saudi Arabia.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was undertaken with 322 nursing students conveniently selected at Majmaah University, Saudi Arabia. Data were collected between May and June 2023 utilizing the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT). Descriptive statistics, such as mean, standard deviation, frequency, and percentage, independent t-test, and one-way ANOVA were used for data analysis.

Results

Most of the students had emotional intelligence levels ranging from moderate to high (96.6%). There were significant differences in emotional intelligence levels according to the age of students, gender, year of study, marital status, mother's education, physical and psychological health, and grade point average (p <0.05).

Conclusion

The study findings may offer valuable insights for nursing educators in universities, emphasizing the importance of enhancing emotional intelligence and integrating it into nursing curricula. Additionally, it highlights the need to develop effective strategies and training sessions and workshops according to sociodemographic factors to enhance emotional intelligence levels among nursing students.