Emotional Intelligence and Turnover Intention: The Mediating Roles of Job Satisfaction and Burnout
Abstract
Purpose – This study examines how emotional intelligence affects turnover intention among contract employees in the marketing division of Bank BRI, West Java, and identifies job satisfaction and burnout as the mediating mechanisms.
Methodology – Using an ex post facto, cross-sectional correlational design, data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire from 171 outsourced contract employees in the marketing division of Bank BRI branches in West Java, selected by purposive sampling. Direct effects were estimated using simple linear regression and SEM-PLS, while mediation was tested using the causal-steps procedure and the Sobel test.
Findings – Emotional intelligence increased job satisfaction (β = 1.953) and reduced burnout (β = –1.143) and turnover intention (β = –0.282). Job satisfaction partially mediated the relationship (Sobel = 2.755), while burnout produced full mediation (Sobel = 5.353), rendering the direct effect insignificant.
Originality/Novelty – The study tests job satisfaction and burnout as parallel mediators and shows that burnout, not job satisfaction, is the dominant pathway linking emotional intelligence to turnover intention within an under-examined outsourced banking workforce. Drawing on Affective Events Theory and the Job Demands–Resources model, it shows that emotional intelligence operates mainly as a personal resource that buffers strain rather than only as a driver of positive job attitudes.
Implications – Organizations can lower turnover by providing emotional-intelligence training, managing peak workloads, and adopting work–life-balance policies to reduce burnout and strengthen retention.
Keywords
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.30596/ijbe.v8i1.31994
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