The role of teachers’ emotional intelligence in enhancing student achievement

Date02 January 2018
Pages31-43
Published date02 January 2018
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JABS-08-2015-0134
AuthorAbdullah Alam,Mushtaq Ahmad
Subject MatterStrategy,International business
The role of teachers’ emotional
intelligence in enhancing student
achievement
Abdullah Alam and Mushtaq Ahmad
Abdullah Alam is a
Research Fellow at the
Institute of Social and
Policy Sciences,
Islamabad, Pakistan.
Mushtaq Ahmad is a
Professor of Management
Sciences at Bahria
University, Islamabad,
Pakistan.
Abstract
Purpose This study aims at finding the impact of teachers’ emotional intelligence on student
achievement.
Design/methodology/approach For a sample of 224 public school teachers, regression analysis
has been conducted to find the impact of emotional intelligence on student achievement through the
mediation of teacher commitment and school culture.
Findings The study results indicate that the relationship between emotional intelligence and student
achievement is mediated by school culture.
Originality/value Previous studies on emotional intelligence and student achievement have focused
on emotional intelligence of the principals only. Literature on the impact of teachers’ emotional
intelligence on student achievement is scarce. The current study adds to this strand of literature by
exploring the impact of teachers’ emotional intelligence in enhancing student achievement.
Keywords Emotional intelligence, Student achievement, School culture, Teacher commitment
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Research on student achievement has identified numerous factors, including classroom
factors (Hanushek, 1995), student characteristics (Kudayja, 2006), management-related
factors (Santibanez et al., 2014), school characteristics (Lockheed and Komenan, 1989),
family characteristics (Aijaz, 2001), teacher characteristics (Crouch and Mabogoane,
1998) and leadership (Leithwood and Jantzi, 2005;Louis et al., 2010) etc. that are expected
to have an influence on student achievement. To add to this growing set of factors, literature
has recently focused on emotional intelligence which is also expected to impact student
achievement (Parker et al., 2004;Adeoye and Emeke, 2010).
Emotional intelligence refers to “the processes involved in the recognition, use,
understanding and management of one’s own and others’ emotional states to solve
emotion-laden problems and to regulate behavior” (Salovey et al., 2004, p. i). Proponents
of the ability model of emotional intelligence conceptualize emotional intelligence as “[. . .]
the ability to perceive accurately, appraise, and express emotions; the ability to access
and/or generate feelings when they facilitate thought; the ability to understand emotion and
emotional knowledge; and the ability to regulate emotions to promote emotional and
intellectual growth” (Mayer and Salovey, 1997, p. 10). The following five elements are
known to be the constituents of emotional intelligence (Goleman, 1998):
1. self-awareness;
2. self-regulation;
Received 22 August 2015
Revised 14 December 2015
12 April 2016
9 May 2016
22 May 2016
Accepted 4 June 2016
DOI 10.1108/JABS-08-2015-0134 VOL. 12 NO. 1 2018, pp. 31-43, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1558-7894 JOURNAL OF ASIA BUSINESS STUDIES PAGE 31

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