Emotional intelligence and career-related outcomes: A meta-analysis

The concept of emotional intelligence has spanned researchers' interest to a considerable extent over the last decades and is now considered as a critical resource that helps individuals to deal with career challenges. However, no empirical effort to integrate these studies has been carried out yet. The current research addresses this gap by proposing an integrated theoretical model and conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of emotional intelligence and its associations with career-related outcomes. Out of a total of 150 independent samples from published and unpublished studies representing N = 50,894 participants, our random-effects meta-analysis showed that emotional intelligence was significantly related to career adaptability, career decision-making self-efficacy, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, salary, career commitment, career decision-making difficulties, career satisfaction, entrepreneurial intentions, and turnover intentions. However, no significant correlations were found with job search self-efficacy and self-perceived employability. Overall, our work conveys important theoretical contributions but also provides recommendations and an agenda for future research.