Examining the Relationships Between Emotional Intelligence, Role Overload, and Intent to Leave the Profession Among Elementary School Teachers

District and school leaders experience significant challenges in recruiting, supporting, and retaining teachers, year-to-year. This non-experimental quantitative correlational study examined relationships between components of teacher role overload and intent to leave the profession among elementary school teachers. The study also examined emotional intelligence as a moderator variable on the relationship between teacher role overload and teachers’ intent to leave the profession. A total of 106 eligible teacher participants were recruited to complete an anonymous online survey. Demographics data, as well as emotional intelligence and occupational stress data, using the BEIS-10 and TOSFQ were collected (Davies et al., 2010; Foxworth et al., 1984). Retention and teacher role overload data were analyzed using Pearson’s r coefficients. Emotional intelligence data was analyzed using PROCESS macro in SSPS as a moderator variable (Hayes, 2022). A significant, but weak, relationship was found between intent to leave the profession and one factor of role overload, work and compensation, r (93) = .248, p = .015 (two-tailed); R2 = .062, indicating that 6.2% of the variance in intent to leave the profession was attributed to work and compensation. Emotional intelligence was not found to moderate the relationship between teacher role overload and intent to leave the profession. Findings of this study increased understanding of why some teachers are leaving the profession and identified areas of opportunity for educational stakeholders to prioritize support for teachers’ physical, emotional, and financial well-being.