Emotional intelligence and work engagement among bank workers: moderated mediation model of ethical leadership and job burnout

This study examined the moderated mediation effects of ethical leadership and job burnout on the predictive role of emotional intelligence in work engagement among bank workers. Respondents consisted of 226 (M = 121; F = 105) that were selected through stratified random sampling technique. Results from the regression analysis revealed that emotional intelligence and ethical leadership predicted work engagement while emotional intelligence was found to be inversely related to job burnout. Furthermore, job burnout had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between emotional intelligence and ethical leadership. Results from the conditional PROCESS macro model eight showed the indirect effect of emotional intelligence on work engagement through ethical leadership to be significantly stronger among bank workers with low level of job burnout compared to those with high level of job burnout. This suggests that low job burnout mediates the indirect effect of ethical leadership on the association between emotional intelligence and work engagement.