Trait Emotional Intelligence and Teacher Longevity: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This is a qualitative, interpretative phenomenological analysis examining the potential impact of trait emotional intelligence (EI) on teacher longevity. Studies have shown positive relationships exist between trait EI and various employment factors, including longevity (Davis, 2006; De Vito, 2009), job performance (Mingwei et al., 2018), organizational commitment (Anari, 2012), and job satisfaction (Anari, 2012; Hollis et al., 2017; Manhas, 2013); however, specific descriptions of how a teacher’s trait EI contributes to their longevity are lacking. This descriptive phenomenological study examines how one teacher’s trait EI profile impacted his job satisfaction, workplace performance, and length of service. Therefore, the selected methodological approach provided the best data for the following research questions:RQ1:How did the participant’s trait EI impact his job satisfaction, workplace performance, and length of service?RQ2:Which EI traits does the participant identify as beneficial for educators to optimize?RQ3:What is the participant’s trait EI profile?The researcher conducted a semistructured interview with the participant. To address the first research question, the researcher conducted a thematic analysis from the interview transcripts and identified how the participant’s trait EI impacted his job satisfaction, workplace performance, and length of service. The participant was also asked to provide experiential advice to educators. To address the second research question, the researcher used the experiential advice to identify embedded EI traits. To address the third research question, the researcher administered the TEIQue (Petrides, 2009) to the participant and the TEIQue-360° to the researcher to obtain the participant’s trait EI score. Then, the researcher created a trait EI profile of the participant using his trait EI global score, factor scores, and facet scores. The researcher used the results from this study to form suggestions for future studies regarding trait EI and teacher longevity.