Emotional intelligence had its largest estimated association with job satisfaction, with a path coefficient of β = 0.366, followed by work engagement at β = 0.307. Its estimated relationship with work–life balance was also positive but smaller, at β = 0.251. All three associations were statistically significant at p < 0.001.

The researchers examined a sequential mediation model grounded in the job demands–resources framework and spillover theory. In the reported model, work–life balance and job satisfaction helped explain the relationship between emotional intelligence and work engagement. The estimated indirect effect through these two variables was β = 0.046, with p = 0.008.

The authors characterized the work–life balance and job satisfaction pathway as partial mediation of the relationship between emotional intelligence and work engagement. Their model therefore included both a pathway involving the two intermediate variables and a direct relationship between emotional intelligence and engagement. The findings provide statistical support for considering emotional intelligence as a personal resource alongside work–life balance as a contextual resource.

Emotional intelligence was associated with satisfaction and balance, while the indirect association with engagement also involved those two variables. The authors said these complementary roles may be relevant to the development of more effective and human-centered workplace policies that align employee needs with organizational goals. Its results show that the variables were related within the analyzed model, but they do not demonstrate that changing emotional intelligence, work–life balance or job satisfaction would necessarily produce a corresponding change in engagement.

The evidence comes from 244 employees in Lebanon, and the data were collected through self-reported online responses. As a single-country observational study, the research offers a focused view of how employee personal capacities and work conditions may be associated in one workforce. The clearest reported result is that higher emotional-intelligence scores corresponded with more favorable assessments of job satisfaction, work–life balance and work engagement, with a significant indirect pathway running through work–life balance and job satisfaction.

Subject of Research: Emotional intelligence, work–life balance, job satisfaction and work engagement among Lebanese employees

Article Title: Emotional intelligence and work engagement: the roles of work–life balance and job satisfaction

Article References: Canaan Messarra, L., Yassine, N., Dagher, G. K., & Azar, S. (2026). Emotional intelligence and work engagement: the roles of work–life balance and job satisfaction. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-09064-0

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1057/s41599-026-09064-0

Keywords: emotional intelligence, work engagement, job satisfaction, work–life balance, employee well-being, Lebanon, survey research, structural equation modeling, job demands–resources theory, Emotional, intelligence, work