The relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction: A survey study in a public organization

The purpose of this study is to measure the levels of job satisfaction and emotional intelligence of public employees with different demographic characteristics and to investigates how the demographic variables affect these two factors. The study was conducted with a sample of 330 public sector employees in the Black Sea Region. Demographic Information Form, Schutte Emotional Intelligence Scale and Minnesota Job Satisfaction Scale were used. A questionnare was used for data collection. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 90% of the participants; the rest were reached via mail. Data analyses were conducted using SPSS 22.0 software. The emotional intelligence levels of the employees were significantly different between genders, marital statuses, service lengths and income and education levels. The job satisfaction levels, on the other hand, significantly differed only between genders, service lengths and the regions where most of the life spent. A positive correlation between optimisim dimension of emotional intelligence and intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction was observed. Also, there was no significant relationship between expression of emotions dimension of emotional intelligence and intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction. Key Words: Emotional Intelligence, Job Satisfaction, Civil Servants.