The relationship between the emotional intelligence of tourist guides and their job satisfaction

The tourist guiding profession is a profession that is in contact with tourists and tourism stakeholders therefore emotions are also important and play a major role in the promotion of the country. The tourist guiding profession is in communication with the tourists and other authorized employees with whom the tourist guide is in cooperation, and it is important both in terms of the satisfaction of the tourist and the satisfaction that the tourist guide will get from the job. Knowing which emotional states will be used while performing the tourist guiding profession comes to the fore for professionalism. The study consists of five parts. In the first part, there is an introduction, a definition of the research, hypotheses, assumptions, and limitations. The second chapter focuses on the conceptual framework of the study. In the third chapter, the universe, and sample of the research, and the research model are explained. Data collection tools in this section; Minnesota job satisfaction scale, emotional intelligence trait scale (TEIQue-SF), and personal information form were used. In the fourth chapter, the findings and comments of the research are given. The last part consists of the conclusion and recommendations of the research. The aim of this research is to determine the relationship between the emotional intelligence levels of tourist guides and their job satisfaction levels. A literature review for the research was conducted and a conceptual framework was created. The universe of the research consists of active tourist guides. The sample mass representing the research universe was created and the convenience sampling method was used. The questionnaire technique, one of the data collection methods, was used in the study, and the emotional intelligence trait scale (TEIQue-SF) and Minnesota job satisfaction scale were used. Questionnaires were collected face-to-face and online on a voluntary basis between February 2021 and July 2021. The survey of the study was applied to 370 active tourist guide participants and the data were analyzed in the SPSS 23.0 program. During the analysis, mean, frequency, t-test for binary variables, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) in the analysis of more than two variables, correlation to determine the relationship between variables, and simple linear regression analyses to determine the relationship between variables were used. As a result of the analysis of the data, it was determined that there was a significant difference between the emotional intelligence of the participant tourist guides and their job satisfaction. It has been determined that the emotional intelligence of tourist guides affects their job satisfaction. It has been determined that as the emotional intelligence of tourist guides increases, their job satisfaction also increases.