De los "Workaholics" a los "worklovers": ¿Cuál es el papel de la inteligencia emocional?Dos workaholics aos worklovers: qual o papel da inteligência emocional?

Abstract

In the present investigation we intended to verify what role does emotional intelligence (EI) n profiles of workers who maintain a more positive and healthy relationship with work (Worklovers) and those that cannot (Workaholics). To this end, a sample of 674 workers (414 women) responded to the WIE Questionnaire, composed of five scales: Workaholism Battery (Spence & Robbins, 1992), Emotional Intelligence (Rego, Sousa, Cunha, Correia, & Saur-Amaral, 2007), Stress Levels, Affective Well-being at Work and Individual Productivity (all those extracted from Rego & Souto, 2004). The results indicated significant differences between the different workers profiles (Workaholics, Enthusiastic Workaholics, Work Enthusiasts, Unengaged Workers, Disenchanted Workers and Relaxed Workers) and the variables studied, whereas Worklovers fit to greater levels of EI, of affective well-being at work and of individual productivity (self-perceived), as well as the experience of lower levels of stress in the work context. These results suggest the EI as a differentiating element in building a more positive relationship between workers and their professional activities. Those and other results are analyzed in the present work, as well as their possible theoretical explanations and practical implications.