You abuse but I will stay

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the combined effects of customer aggression, job stress, and emotional intelligence (EI) on job satisfaction and organizational turnover among managers from a developing country, i.e. Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach Data are collected from 230 respondents working as bank managers in Pakistan by means of a cross-sectional survey. The collected data are analyzed by employing a structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. Findings The employees perceive that job stress positively influences emotional exhaustion among employees. Furthermore, EI negatively influences job exhaustion to minimize the potential to lead it through to organizational turnover. Originality/value The combined effects of customer- and organization-related elements have been scarcely investigated – the heart and soul of contribution regarding this research. The moderation of EI to lessen the emotional exhaustion is a significant contribution to this study. Finally, the context of Pakistan’s banking sector is also unique to this study.