Inteligencia Emocional y su influencia en el desempeño laboral en el Sector Público de la ciudad Cañar

Abstract

Emotional intelligence (EI) is an important construct for understanding its relationship with various aspects of job performance in public organizations. The objective was to determine the relationship between emotional intelligence and job performance among public employees in the city of Cañar. A quantitative, descriptive-correlational, non-experimental, cross-sectional study was conducted. The population consisted of 936 public employees, and the sample consisted of 273 participants, distributed proportionally among the institutions with individual random selection. Contextualized 12-item versions based on the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS) and the Individual Work Performance Questionnaire (IWPQ) were administered. Internal consistency was estimated; the measurement structure was examined using confirmatory factor analysis, and associations were analyzed using Spearman’s rho, 5,000 bootstrap resamples, and multivariate models adjusted for sociodemographic variables. Overall EI was positively associated with corrected overall performance (ρ = 0.631; p < 0.001; 95% CI: 0.538–0.710), and the association remained after multivariate adjustment (β = 0.603; p < 0.001). Multidimensional factor models showed better fit than unidimensional solutions. The dimensional pattern revealed distinct associations between emotional abilities and performance facets. In conclusion, EI is significantly associated with job performance in the study population, and that relationship has a multidimensional configuration, although the study design does not allow for the establishment of causality. Keywords: emotional intelligence, job performance, contextual performance, counterproductive behaviors, public administration.