Emotional Intelligence as a Predictor of Personal Effectiveness: A Study of Healthcare Professionals in New Delhi

As healthcare organizations become more complex, the way in which emotions are handled at work becomes one of the keys to success. The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of emotional intelligence (EI) of healthcare professionals (hcp) on their personal effectiveness. Cross-sectional data was collected from 314 healthcare professionals working in public and private hospitals in New Delhi, through self-report survey. The findings indicate that healthcare professionals in the two types of hospitals do not differ in their understanding of emotional intelligence. Personal effectiveness of hcp in public hospitals was found to be more on dimensions of self-efficacy, stress management and time efficiency. Three dimensions of emotional intelligence; emotional facilitation and goal orientedness, appraisal of positive emotion and appraisal of negative emotions significantly predict personal effectiveness. Emotional intelligence and its dimensions can be instrumental in providing insights to the healthcare professionals in improving their personal effectiveness.