Emotional Intelligence as A Pathway to Job Satisfaction:Navigating Stress among College Teachers in Self-Financing Institutions

Teaching in self-financing colleges frequently involves high levels of job stress due to ‎administrative duties, academic demands, and a lack of institutional support, all of which can ‎affect overall job satisfaction. This study investigates the relationship between job stress and ‎job satisfaction among self-financing college teachers in Kerala, with emotional intelligence ‎serving as a moderator. Standardized tools were used to survey a sample of 377 college teachers. ‎Data analysis was performed through Smart PLS to model the complex relationship between the ‎constructs. The findings indicated a substantial inverse correlation between job stress and job ‎satisfaction, supporting the literature that teachers who experience elevated levels of stress also ‎report reduced levels of satisfaction. Additionally, the relationship was significantly moderated ‎by emotional intelligence, indicating that people with higher emotional intelligence were better ‎able to sustain job satisfaction even in stressful situations. The study suggests that in order to ‎improve teacher performance, retention, and well-being in self-financing colleges, emotional ‎intelligence training can be included in professional development programs‎.