The Influence of Employee Emotional Intelligence on Coping with Supervisor Abuse in a Banking Context

Employee emotional intelligence (EI) was examined in relation to how it influences perceptions of abusive supervision (ASP), psychological distress (PD), and emotional labor burden (ELB). The sample consisted of 372 frontline bank employees in Taiwan. It was found that PD fully mediated the relationship between ASP and ELB, and EI moderated the relationship between ASP and ELB, weakening the relationship between ASP and ELB for employees with higher EI. PD also partially mediated the interaction of ASP and EI in the prediction of ELB. Practical implications, limitations, and directions for future research are identified and discussed.