Abstract:

The role of a faculty member involves classroom interactions with students, mentoring, sharing administrative responsibilities and research. Apart from these, faculty members have numerous personal and social responsibilities as well. There are schemes for promoting student wellbeing and mental health not much attention is paid towards the faculty member’s emotional and mental health [1]. The significant pressure faced by faculty members often result in burnout faced by them [2]. Emotional Intelligence (EI) facilitates processing emotions, desirable behaviors and is inversely associated to burnout [3] [4].

The constructs mentioned above have remain largely unexplored in the Context of Indian Higher Education. Hence, the objective of the present study is to explore the impact of Emotional Intelligence in curbing the burnout faced by the faculty members belonging to the Higher Educational Institutes in India. The sample comprised of 114 Assistant Professors. Emotional Intelligence was measured through the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (Short Form) developed by Dr K.V Petrides whereas the Personal Burnout Scale of the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory was used to measure the Burnout being faced by the Faculty Members. The results demonstrated that EI is negatively associated with Burnout. Multiple regression was conducted to predict the impact of the factors of EI namely Emotionality, Wellbeing, Self-control and Sociability on burnout. These variables significantly predicted burnout, F (9,104) = p<.000, R2 =33.4%. Out of all the four factors of EI, wellbeing added significantly to the prediction.

The findings contribute towards understanding the role of Emotional intelligence in curbing the burnout faced by the faculty members due to the multiple responsibilities entrusted to them. Educational Institutions should invest towards training the faculty members to develop the ability to regulate their emotions and their Emotional intelligence levels. Developing the skills related to recognizing, perceiving and expressing of the emotions in the faculty members and its impact on reducing the burnout levels have been discussed. Implications for Policy Makers and People in Leadership roles in Academic Institutions have also been mentioned.

Keywords:

Emotional Intelligence, Burnout, Emotionality, Faculty Members, Higher Education.