Using structural equation modeling to examine the relationship between Ghanaian teachers' emotional intelligence, job satisfaction, professional identity, and work engagement

Abstract The purpose of the study was to examine the causal relationship between teachers' emotional intelligence, job satisfaction, professional identity, and work engagement. And to achieve this purpose, a questionnaire consisting of four scales was administered to 260 teachers selected from the Adentan Municipal in the Greater Accra Region. Exploratory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and univariate statistical analyses were employed to analyze the data. Results of the analyses established that job satisfaction mediated the relationship between teachers' emotional intelligence and work engagement. The findings also revealed that emotional intelligence positively affected professional identity directly and indirectly through job satisfaction. It was further revealed that female teachers exhibited more professional identity and were more satisfied than their male counterparts. The study concluded with the recommendation that for Ghanaian teachers to be actively engaged with their job, they should be provided with the opportunity to develop and improve their emotional intelligence. It was also recommended that a module on emotional intelligence be included in the curriculum for training pre‐service teachers.