Association of emotional intelligence with resilience and work engagement in sports coaches

Abstract

Problem statement. Sports coaching is recognized as a stressful and challenging profession due to several different aspects such as organizational, performance, contextual, interpersonal, and intrapersonal stressors that coaches face. High level of work stress is a risk factor for decreased well-being at work. Sports coaches’ wellbeing not only matters to coaches themselves but plays a significant role in athlete performance and well-being as well. Approach. There is research evidence on sports coaches’ stress and burnout. There is, however, little knowledge on personal resources that enhance sports coach’s well-being at work. Therefore, studies that examine personal resource factors that facilitate the well-being of sports coaches are needed. We explored whether emotional intelligence (EI) is associated with resilience and work engagement in sports coaches. Methods. The participants were 51 sports coaches (19 women) who reported their EI, resilience and work engagement. We analyzed data with Spearman’s rank correlation and regression analysis. Results. Our results showed that women reported higher EI. Regression analysis revealed that EI was associated with resilience and work engagement independently of age and gender. EI in sports coaches was associated with higher resilience, reflecting better recovery from stress, and higher work engagement, reflecting higher well-being at work. Discussion. Personal resources seem to be related to sports coaches’ well-being at work. The well-being studies among sports coaches is still scarce and therefore further studies are needed. Conclusion. We suggest that emotional intelligence and emotional skills should be considered in developing interventions targeted at enhancing sports coaches’ occupational well-being and in the training of sports coaches.