MEDIATING ROLE OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE EFFECT OF SELF-EFFICACY BELIEFS ON JOB PERFORMANCE OF SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHERS IN PUBLIC SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS IN THE CENTRAL REGION OF GHANA: A STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELLING APPROACH

The unending controversies regarding the nature of the effect that self-efficacy beliefs and emotional intelligence have on teachers' job performance have become more profound among researchers and academics than ever before. As such, this study employed a positivist paradigm with a quantitative approach and casual-comparative research design to test the mediation role of emotional intelligence in the effect of self-efficacy beliefs on the job performance among Social Studies teachers in public senior high schools in the Central Region of Ghana. Census sampling was used to select 342 Social Studies teachers, with the main instrument being a questionnaire. Bandura's (1976) Social Cognitive Theory constituted the theoretical framework. Multivariate structural equation modelling (SEM) through SPSS and AMOS was employed to analyze the data. The findings revealed that there was a positive and statistically significant total effect of self-efficacy beliefs on teacher job performance. Additionally, the findings disclosed that the direct effect of self-efficacy beliefs, after controlling for the presence of the mediator (emotional intelligence), on teacher job performance was positive and statistically significant. Furthermore, it was realized that the indirect effect of self-efficacy beliefs through the mediator (emotional intelligence) on teacher job performance was positive and statistically significant. Therefore, the study concluded that there was a partial and positive significant mediation in the role of teachers’ emotional intelligence in the causal effect of self-efficacy beliefs on the job performance of Social Studies teachers. Finally, the study recommended that education practitioners and researchers should investigate other possible variables that could also mediate the causal link between self-efficacy beliefs and the job performance of teachers.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0447/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>