Big Six Personality Traits and Work Engagement in Public and Private College Teachers: The Mediating Role of Emotional Intelligence

This research investigated the relationships between the Big Six personality traits and work engagement, focusing on the mediating role of emotional intelligence among college teachers in both public and private sectors. A cross-sectional correlational research design was utilized, and a purposive sampling technique was adopted to select a sample of 200 college educators (100 males and 100 females) from public and private colleges in Faisalabad. Data collection involved a demographic questionnaire, the HEXACO Personality Inventory, an Emotional Intelligence Test, and the Work Engagement Scale. Analyses were performed using Smart-PLS and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The results indicated significant positive associations of honesty-humility, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience with both work engagement and emotional intelligence, while emotionality as a personality trait exhibited a notable negative correlation with work engagement and emotional intelligence. Nevertheless, a positive relationship was observed between emotional intelligence and work engagement. The mediation analysis established that emotional intelligence acted as a partially significant positive mediator in the relationship between honesty-humility, conscientiousness, and openness to experience with work engagement.