Emotional Intelligence as a Differentiated Personal Resource: Component-Level Associations with Burnout Among Higher-Education Teachers

Drawing on the personal-resource logic of the Job Demands–Resources (JD–R) model, this study examines emotional intelligence (EI) not as a single global trait but as a differentiated set of self-regulatory resources associated with distinct burnout dimensions. Using cross-sectional, self-report data from higher-education instructors (N = 292 complete cases; N = 161–185 for the multivariable models), EI was assessed with the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory and burnout with the BO-SE Burnout Screening Scales (mental, emotional, physical, and social exhaustion, plus an aggregated index); hierarchical regression, relative-importance analysis, and bootstrapped indirect-effect models were estimated. Overall EI was negatively associated with all burnout dimensions. At the component level, intrapersonal skills and stress management (stress tolerance and impulse control) were the two most consistent correlates, with complementary coverage—stress management most consistent for mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion, and intrapersonal skills strongest for mental and emotional exhaustion—while general mood was specific to physical exhaustion; associations survived false discovery rate correction. General mood and stress-management capacity statistically accounted for part of these associations in exploratory indirect-effect models. Because the design is cross-sectional and based on a single self-report method, findings are interpreted as associations and statistical indirect effects rather than causal mechanisms. The findings are consistent with a differentiated resource interpretation of EI in emotionally demanding work, but they do not establish causal mechanisms or temporal ordering.