Effect of middle-level leader and teacher emotional intelligence on school teachers’ job satisfaction: The case of Hong Kong

Emotional intelligence (EI) has been an emerging topic for educational, psychological and management researchers and consultants in recent years. Despite the emerging consensus of its definition and evidence reported in business organizations, relatively little empirical evidence have been reported in the education literature. We conducted two studies to investigate the impact of middle-level leader and teacher EI on teachers’ job outcomes. In Study 1, 107 teachers were asked to list the attributes of successful middle-level leaders in their schools. In Study 2, 3866 school teachers and middle-level leaders were surveyed on their EI and job satisfaction level. Results provide supports concerning the impact of teacher and middle-level leader EI on school teachers’ job satisfaction. Implications are discussed. Copyright © 2010 Sage Publications.