The mediating role of emotional intelligence in the relationship between learning motivation and academic outcomes: Conditional indirect effect of gender

BACKGROUND: The role of emotional intelligence and learning motivation in shaping university students’ academic outcomes has received greater attention, especially during the modernization era. Thus, this study investigates the mediating role of emotional intelligence in the relationship between learning motivation and academic outcomes while examining the gender-conditional indirect effect. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in four randomly chosen cities in Saudi Arabia (Riyadh, Jeddah, Hail, and Yanbu), where 400 health science students were conveniently selected using equal allocation (100 students/campus). A digital survey was used for data collection (April-May 2022) containing three sections: Personal Characteristics and Academic Outcomes, Modified Schutte Self-Report Inventory, and Academic Motivation Scale. RESULTS: Emotional intelligence positively correlated with learning motivation (r = 0.525, P < 0.001) and academic outcomes (r = 0.153, P < 0.001), where academic outcomes had a weak positive correlation with learning motivation (r = 0.115, P = 0.014). Mediation analysis confirmed that emotional intelligence fully mediates the relationship between learning motivation and academic outcomes with an insignificant direct effect of learning motivation on academic outcomes (β =0.049, P = 0.573), 95% CI (-0.059, 0.144). The conditional indirect effect of gender significantly moderated 16.1% of the mediating effect of emotional intelligence (β =0.161, P = 0.005), 95% CI (0.035, 0.273). The significant indirect effect was proved for the male gender only (β = 0.157, P = 0.004), 95% CI (0.072, 0.240). No significant gender differences concerning emotional intelligence ( P = 0.534) and academic outcomes ( P = 0.466) were detected. However, male students had significantly higher learning motivation than female students ( P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Emotional intelligence completely mediates the relationship between learning motivation and outcomes with a stronger mediating effect for male students. Thus, policymakers must focus on improving the students’ emotional intelligence skills to boost their learning motivation and academic outcomes.