Role of Emotional Intelligence and Work-Life Balance in Relationship between Workplace Happiness and Perceived Performance in Academic Setting

Abstract

This study was conducted to confirm the thesis of “happy employee=productive employee” in an academic setting in which the working hours and workplace is not as clear as in other workplace settings that the aforementioned thesis was handled in. Thus, the pioneer aim was to investigate the relationship between workplace happiness and perceived academic performance. Based on the possible relationship, it was to analyze the moderator effect of emotional intelligence and mediator effect of work-life balance with sub-dimensions respectively. The study was conducted in 42 universities locating in Central Anatolia Region of Turkey with 1136 academicians. In analyzing data, hierarchical regression analysis was conducted. The results showed that workplace happiness positively affected perceived academic performance directly. Moreover, this effect became stronger with emotional intelligence and its three sub-dimensions. Besides, three sub-dimensions of worklife balance partially mediated this relationship. This research make theoretical contributions to literature by validating the thesis also in academic setting and the mediating role of work-life balance, opposite to that of the literature. It also has some practical contributions to universities by showing how to improve performance.

Keywords

• Workplace Happiness
• Perceived Academic Performance
• Emotional Intelligence
• Work-Life Balance

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