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Received: 4 August 2019    Revised: 6 December 2019    Accepted: 12 December 2019

DOI: 10.1111/jonm.12932

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Emotional intelligence and intent to stay among nurses

employed in Jordanian hospitals

Zaid M. Al-Hamdan RN, PhD, Associate Professor1  | Anas Muhsen RN, MSN,

Senior staff nurse2  | Mohammad Alhamdan MDc, Medical student3 |
Ahmad Rayan RN, PhD, Assistant Professor4  | Khaled Banyhamdan PhD,
Associate professor5 | Hala Bawadi RN, RM, PhD, Associate professor6

1
Faculty of Nursing, Jordan University of
Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan Abstract
2
Faculty of Nursing, Jordan University of Aims: This study aimed to examine the relationship between Emotional intelligence
Science and Technology & RN King Hussein
(EI) and intent to stay and to identify their correlates among nurses.
cancer Center, Irbid, Jordan
3
School of Medicine, The University of
Background: EI plays a significant role in nurses’ practice, relationships, behaviours
Jordan, Amman, Jordan and decisions.
4
Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of 280
Zarqa University, Zarqa, Jordan
5 registered nurses working in a public, a private and a university hospital in Jordan. A
Faculty of Business, Amman Arab
University, Amman, Jordan self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from the participants.
6
School of Nursing, The University of Results: EI was significantly correlated with nurses’ intent to stay (r = .427, p < .01).
Jordan, Amman, Jordan
Some of the nurses’ socio-demographic and work-related characteristics were found
Correspondence to predict EI and intent to stay.
Zaid M. Al-Hamdan, Faculty of Nursing,
Jordan University of Science and Conclusion: The findings of the study came with a supportive knowledge about the
Technology, P.O.Box 3030, Irbid 22110, positive impacts of EI on nurses’ intent to stay. Improving both EI and intent to stay
Jordan.
Emails: zaid_hamdan@hotmail.com, among nurses is important because it could have positive effects on organisations’ de-
zmhamdan@just.edu.jo cisions, policymaking process, quality of care, employee commitment and satisfaction.
Implications for Nursing Management: Nurse managers should pay attention to the
EI of nurses during recruitment considering various determinants of EI identified in
the current study. Additionally, nurse managers might want to strengthen factors as-
sociated with more stay intent among their staff.

KEYWORDS

emotional intelligence, intent to stay, job satisfaction, jordan, nurses, nursing

1 |  BAC KG RO U N D
Emotional Intelligence (EI) is defined as “the subset of social intel-
ligence that involves the ability to monitor one's own and others’
feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this
information to guide one's thinking and actions” (Salovey & Mayer,
1990) (p. 189). The EI has four dimensions or skills; Self-awareness,
Self-management, Social awareness and Relationship Management
(Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee, 2013). These dimensions have sig-
nificant effects on nurses’ practice, behaviours and outcomes.
Nurses with higher levels of EI can deliver higher quality care and
achieve organisational goals (Ezzatabadi et al., 2012). In addition,
nurses with high EI usually report better job satisfaction (Clancy,
2014). Furthermore, higher levels of EI are strongly associated with
lower burnout and stress levels among nurses (Görgens-Ekermans &
Brand, 2012).

J Nurs Manag. 2020;28:351–358. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jonm© 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd     351 |
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352       AL-HAMDAN et al.
Nurses’ EI was found to be significantly and positively correlated
with coping, nurses’ well-being, nurses’ self-efficacy and negatively
correlated with stress (El-Sayed, El-Zeiny, & Adeyemo, 2014; Karimi,
Cheng, Bartram, Leggat, & Sarkeshik, 2015; Park, Ha, Lee, & Lee,
2014). Nurses who pose EI qualities experience less stress in their
work, less burnout experience and high level of organisational com-
mitment and intention to stay (Hong & Lee, 2016). Furthermore, EI
was found to have a strong relationship with self-leadership (van Zyl,
Mokuoane, & Nel, 2017). Research has shown that nurse managers
with EI capabilities have the precedence to discover and manage neg-
ative attitudes and behaviours such as bullying which ensures a safer
and better workplace environment (Bennett & Sawatzky, 2013).
The American Nurses Association (2016) reported that the larg-
est proportion of clinical care providers are nurses. The nursing
shortage and nurses’ turnover are problems facing health care sys-
tems around the world (Flinkman, Leino-Kilpi, & Salanterä, 2010).
As nurses act as a monitoring system for the patients, assessing,
intervening and detecting adverse events or complications, it is im-
portant to have well-trained and highly educated nurses who are
able to deliver high-quality care to the patients and reduce mortal-
ity rates (Kuo, Lin, & Li, 2014; Kutney-Lee & Aiken, 2008). According
to Mariani (2012), a nurse's intent to stay is defined as “the nurse's
plan in projected number of years to remain active in the nursing
profession in practice, education, administration, or research” (p. 3).
A nurse's intention to leave is defined as nurse's decision to likely
leave the current job in the nursing field and looking for another ca-
reer opportunity (El-Jardali, Dimassi, Dumit, Jamal, & Mouro, 2009).
Nursing stay intention and turnover have been found associated
with many factors; such as length of working hours (Dall'Ora, Griffiths,
Ball, Simon, & Aiken, 2016), demographic variables; gender, having a
childbearing responsibilities, job satisfaction levels, workload and or-
ganisational attitudes (Flinkman et al., 2010), work environment, staff
empowerment and support (Karimi et al., 2015), nurse-physician rela-
tionship, age, nurses’ participation in hospitals activities and tasks, and
burnout (Heinen et al., 2013). EI is recognized as a factor that could
contribute to collaboration and increases staff well-being and intent
to stay, and this is because individuals who own strong social aware-
ness are able to act properly in different social situations (Karimi et al.,
2015).
Nursing turnover has significant negative economic impacts on
health care organisations. Several studies have been conducted to es-
timate the cost of nurses’ turnover (Li & Jones, 2013; Roche, Duffield,
Homer, Buchan, & Dimitrelis, 2015). According to Nursing Solution
Incorporated (NSI) survey (2016), the estimated cost of nursing turnover
in 2015 was $38,000–$59,000 for each registered nurse, with average
hospital loss of 5 Million Dollar- 8 Million Dollar. Jordanian health care
sectors face challenges in terms of the continuous nursing shortage and
attrition of nurses. Between 2003 and 2007, the turnover (moving out-
side Jordan) rate among Jordanian nurses was 32.1% (n = 5,737).
Up to the researcher's knowledge, there are only two studies in
Jordan highlighted EI among nurses. The first one investigated its
impact on nursing performance (Al-Hamdan, Nussera, & Masa'deh,
2016), while the another study investigated the impact of EI training
on nurses’ job satisfaction (Al-Faouri, Al-Ali, & Al-Shorman, 2014).
However, no previous study examined the relationship between EI and
intent to stay among Jordanian nurses. In addition, no previous study
identified the correlates of EI and intent to stay among nurses working
in Jordanian hospitals.
Nel, Jonker, and Rabies (2013) suggest that poor EI is associated
with difficulty in responding to job demands, burnout and reduced
commitment. Also, Trivellas, Gerogiannis, and Svarna (2013) found
that only self-emotion appraisal (SEA) and one's use of personal emo-
tions (UOE) have a direct impact on nurses’ intention to stay in their
jobs. However, in a more recent study by Lee and Woo (2015), all EI
dimensions, UOE, SEA, AEA and UOE, were positively correlated with
registered nurses' intention to stay in their career (Lee and Woo, 2015).
However, male nurses who have higher EI scores were more likely to
leave their jobs. Hong and Lee (2016) found that EI had a minimal not
significant effect of EI on nursing stay intention but in a positive direc-
tion. It was also found that EI of registered nurses and their intention
to stay in their jobs are positively correlated; once nurses have a high EI
score, their intention to stay in their jobs is highly expected (Suneyna &
Sasikala, 2014). This gap in knowledge is clear as the literature review
revealed no consensus on these relationships. The aim of this study
was to examine the relationship between EI and intent to stay and
to identify their correlates among Jordanian nurses. The outcomes of
the current study would help health care sectors to put strategies to
increase stay intention rates among nurses. Increasing stay intention
rates would enhance the quality of care, cost, and nurses’ and clients’
satisfaction. In addition, the outcomes of this study could help nurse
managers in the recruitment process by hiring nurses who are able to
meet the organisational goals.
2 | M E TH O DS
2.1 | Study design
A quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional and correlational study
design was used.
2.2 | Settings
Data were collected from a university, a governmental and a private
tertiary hospital in Jordan. Hospitals were selected randomly from
Jordanian hospitals that have at least 300 registered nurses and a
bed census of 200 or more.
2.3 | Sampling technique
The sample size was calculated by using G*power statistical test pro-
gram (MS Windows version) (Faul, Erdfelder, Lang, & Buchner, 2007).
Using a power of 0.95, α of .05, moderate effect size (Al-Hamdan, Al-
Ta'amneh, Rayan, & Bawadi, 2019) and 8 predictors to be tested, the
AL-HAMDAN et al.
minimum required sample size was 160. The sample size was increased
to 300 to avoid the risk of attrition and drop out during the study.
2.4 | Instruments
2.4.1 | The Socio-demographic Questionnaire
In this questionnaire, participants were asked to identify their gen-
der, age, marital status, educational level, experience in nursing and
the working area.
2.4.2 | Wong's and Lee Emotional Intelligence Scale
(WLEIS)
WLEIS is a 16-item scale that is commonly used to measure EI compo-
nents: Self-Emotion Appraisal (SEA), Others’ Emotion Appraisal (OEA),
Use of Emotion (UOE) and Regulation of Emotions (ROE). Each subscale
has four items. The internal consistency reliability was 0.86, 0.79, 0.85
and 0.82 for SEA, ROE, UOE and OEA, respectively (Law, Wong, &
Song, 2004). In Eastern and European countries, the scale has internal
consistency reliability of 81, 0.88, 0.82 and 0.87 for SEA, OEA, UOE
and ROE, respectively (27). The scale has a four-point Likert scale, rang-
ing from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree). In the current study,
the Cronbach's alpha tests showed that the 16-item EI questionnaire
(WELS) had a good internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's α = .79),
with internal consistency reliability of 65, 0.67, 0.62 and 0.69 for SEA,
OEA, UOE and ROE, respectively. The permission to use Wong and Law
Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS) was officially obtained from the
author of the scale, Mr. Wong Chi Sum. The scale was not translated
from English to Arabic, since the study participants graduated from
nursing programmes that use the English language for education and
use textbooks written in English (Shuriquie, While, & Fitzpatrick, 2008).
2.4.3 | McCain's intent to stay scale
Intention to stay was examined by McCain's Intent to Stay Scale
(McCloskey & McCain, 1987), which is a 5-items measure, rated on
five-point Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).
The scale has very good Cronbach's internal consistency reliability
(Cronbach's α  =  .86) (McCloskey & McCain, 1987). In the current
study, the 5-item McCain's Intent to Stay Questionnaire had very
good internal consistency reliability, Cronbach's α = .87. The permis-
sion to use the McCain Intent to Stay questionnaire was officially
obtained from the author of the scale, Mr. Bruce McCain.
2.5 | Ethical considerations
Ethical approval to conduct this study was obtained from the re-
search and ethics committee at the (Jordan) university of science and
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Technology (IRB No. 2017/0068) and the Institutional Review Board
(IRB) of the participating hospitals. Taking part in the study was vol-
untary; the participants had the right to withdraw from the study at
any time without accountability. Participants’ socio-demographic data
and personal information were confidential; data were kept in a closed
cabinet in a closed office. Participants obtained the researcher's con-
tact information for any question or explanation. Before starting filling
the questionnaire, participants were consented to be part of the study
by signing a written consent form. Approvals to use study instruments
were obtained from instruments’ authors before collecting data.
2.6 | Data collection procedure
After obtaining IRB approvals and permissions to start data collection
from the selected hospitals, meetings with administrative buddies in
nursing departments were conducted. The purposes of these meet-
ings were to explain the purposes of the study, get their support and
help in data collection procedure, and to encourage the nursing team
to participate in the study during different shifts and duties. Data col-
lection procedure took place by distributing self-administered ques-
tionnaires to the eligible participants who met the inclusion. Data
collection procedure took place during participants' break time with-
out interrupting their busy work time. To assure confidentiality, partic-
ipants were asked to fill the questionnaire in a private room away from
their direct supervisor. Two well-trained research assistants holding a
Master's degree in nursing helped in distributing questionnaires, col-
lecting data and answering or explaining participant's inquiries.
2.7 | Statistical analysis
Data analysis was done using IBM SPSS (v.22). The level of significance
(p) was .05 (Al-Hamdan et al., 2019). Missing data and incomplete ques-
tionnaires were excluded. Analysing participant's socio-demographic
characteristics was done by descriptive statistics: frequencies and
percentages. Means, standard deviation, frequencies and percentages
were reported for EI and the intent to stay. Pearson's r test was used
to examine the relationship between EI and intent to stay. Multiple
regression analyses were used to identify the most socio-demographic
and work-related characteristics affecting nurses’ intent to stay and EI.
3 | R E S U LT S
3.1 | Characteristics of the participants
Out of the three hundred questionnaires distributed to nurses in the
three hospitals, two hundred and eighty nurses agreed to partici-
pate in the study and returned completed questionnaires, represent-
ing a response rate of 93.3%. Socio-demographic and work-related
characteristics of the sample are presented in Table 1. Participants’
gender evenly divided into the sample. The majority of nurses were
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354       AL-HAMDAN et al.

TA B L E 1   Sample characteristics (N = 280) TA B L E 2   Descriptive statistics for nurses’ emotional intelligence

and intent to stay
Characteristic Frequency (%)
Item Mean (SD)
Sex
Male 139 49.6 Self-Emotion Appraisal (SEA) 3.1 (0.5)
Female 141 50.4 Other's-Emotion Appraisal (OEA) 3.0 (0.5)
Age Use Of Emotion (UOE) 3.1 (0.6)
20–25 years 88 31.4 Regulation Of Emotions (ROE) 3.0 (0.6)
26–30 years 118 42.2 Intent to Stay 3.4 (0.9)
31–35 years 42 15
36–40 years 32 11.4
Use of Emotion (UOE) and Regulation of Emotions (ROE). The mean
Marital status
score of SEA subscale was 3.1 (SD = 0.5) out of 4 points, OEA was 3.0
Never married 111 39.6
(SD = 0.5) out of 4, while the average response to UOE subscale was
Ever married 169 60.4
3.1 (SD = 0.6) out of 4, and ROE was 3.0 (SD = 0.6) out of 4. The mean
Education
score of nurses’ stay intention in the job was 3.36 (SD = 0.9) out of 5,
Bachelor's degree 235 83.9
indicating that nurses were between neutral to agreeing to whether
Master's degree 45 16.1
they plan to stay in their present job as long as possible or not.
University
Governmental 219 78.2
Private 61 21.8
3.3 | The association between nurses’ EI and intent
Hospital type
to stay
Governmental 95 33.9
Private 90 32.2
The relationship between nurses’ EI and intent to stay was inves-
University 95 33.9
tigated using Person's r. There was a positive correlation between
Total experience years
the two variables (r  = .427, p < .01), with increased level of EI as-
1–5 years 124 44.3
sociated with stronger nurse intention to remain employed. There
6–10 years 98 35
were strong positive correlations between all EI domains and nurses’
11–15 years 38 13.6
intent to stay, but ROE domain was the most significant domain cor-
16–20 years or more 20 7.1
related with stay intent (r = .378, p < .01), as nurses who were more
Current hospital experience
able to handle and regulate their emotions had higher stay intent in
1–5 years 154 55
their jobs.
6–10 years 79 28.2
11–15 years 27 9.7
16–20 or more years 20 7.1
3.4 | Predictors of nurses’ EI
Working unit
Medical 63 22.5
The multivariate linear regression model was used to assess the
Surgical 49 17.5
combined and individual effect of each of the nurses’ socio-demo-
ICU and CCU 80 28.6
graphic and work-related characteristics on their overall self-rated
ER 37 13.2
EI (Table 3). The model suggested that the included variables had a
Maternity 28 10
significant relationship with the nurses’ EI, F (9,274) = 3.84, p < .001.
Paediatric 23 8.2
The model also showed that these variables collectively explained
11.5% of the variations in the nurses’ self-rated EI.
young, and 42.2% of them were 26- to 30-year-old, 169 (60.4%) of The multivariate technique suggested that nurses working in
the sample are single, and 235 (83.9%) had a bachelor's degree in the private hospital reported significantly greater EI (M  =  3.16,
nursing. 44.3% have 1–5  years of experience as nurses and 28.6% SD  = 0.38) than nurses working in the governmental hospital
currently working in intensive care units. (M = 3.03, SD  = 0.34), when keeping everything else in the model
equal, p  = .004. Too, nurses holding a bachelor's degree reported
significantly less EI (M = 3, SD = 0.41) than those with master's de-
3.2 | Nurses’ EI and intent to stay gree (M = 3.2, SD  = 0.37), also by keeping all other variables simi-
lar, p = .030. However, self-rated EI was not significantly correlated
Table 2 displays nurses’ responses to EI questionnaire and Intent to with sex (β = .057, t = 0.795, p = .427), gender (β = .069, t = 1.065,
Stay Questionnaire. EI questionnaire includes four main subscales: p  = .288), marital status (β = .125, t = 1.941, p  = .053), education
Self-Emotion Appraisal (SEA), Others’ Emotion Appraisal (OEA), (β = .055, t  = 0.911, p  =  .363), private hospital type (β  =  −.086,
AL-HAMDAN et al.       355|
TA B L E 3   Multivariate linear regression
  B SE Standardized Beta t-value p
model explaining the joint and individual
effects of nurses’ demographic and (Constant) 2.935 0.119   24.690 <.001
work-related characteristics on their self- Age: >30 years old .054 0.067 0.057 0.795 .427
reported EI
Sex: Male .056 0.053 0.069 1.065 .288
Marital status: Ever .104 0.054 0.125 1.941 .053
married
Degree: BSN −.141 0.064 −0.128 −2.185 .030
Education: .055 0.060 0.055 0.911 .363
Governmental
University
Hospital type: Private .176 0.060 0.199 2.908 .004
Hospital type: −.074 0.058 −0.086 −1.274 .204
University
Experience .137 0.113 0.081 1.204 .230
years > 11
Nursing station .017 0.035 0.030 0.485 .628

Note: Reference comparison groups: Sex: Female, Marital status: Single, Age: ≤30 years,
Experience: ≤11 years, Education: Master's degree, University type: Private, Hospital type:
Governmental hospital.

TA B L E 4   Multiple linear regression

  B SE Standardized Beta t-value p
model explaining the joint and individual
effects of nurse socio-demographics (Constant) 3.871 0.257   15.065 <.001
and work-related characteristics on their Gender: Male −.046 0.112 −0.024 −0.406 .685
intent to stay within the nursing career
Age > 30 years .370 0.142 0.169 2.596 .010
Marital status: Ever .298 0.115 0.155 2.594 .010
married
Degree: BSN. −.207 0.140 −0.081 −1.485 .139
Education: Govt. −.065 0.129 −0.029 −0.504 .615
University
Hospital type: −.372 0.129 −0.185 −2.877 .004
Private
Hospital type: −.791 0.126 −0.399 −6.289 <.001
University
Nursing experience: .031 0.222 0.008 0.139 .889
>11 years
Nurse station −.082 0.075 −0.064 −1.097 .274

Note: Reference comparison groups: Sex: Female, Marital status: Single, Age: ≤30 years,
experience: ≤11 years, Education: Master's degree, University type: Private, Hospital type:
Governmental hospitals.

t = −1.274, p = .204), experience (β = .081, t = 1.204, p = .230) and
nursing station (β = .030, t = 0.485, p = .628).
3.5 | Predictors of intent to stay
The multivariate linear regression model suggested that there was
a significant relationship between the collective set of variables
and the nurses’ intent to stay F (9,279) = 8.01, p < .001. The model
suggested that these variables collectively explained a total of
21.1% of the variations in the nurses’ perceived intent to stay in
their nursing career. The model showed that nurses working in uni-
versity hospital reported less stay intention in job (M = 2.9, SD = 1)
than those working in governmental hospital (M = 3.6, SD = 0.46),
p  ≤  .001. Likewise, those nurses who work in private hospital
reported significantly less intent to stay in their job (M  =  3.6,
SD = 0.63) compared to those who are working in the governmen-
tal hospitals, p = .004. Conversely, the ever married nurses (mar-
ried and divorced) had significantly greater intent to stay in their
job (M = 3.5, SD = 0.92) than their single peers (M = 3.1, SD = 0.92),
p  = .010. In the same manner, those nurses aged above 30 years
tended to report greater intent to stay (M = 3.8, SD = 0.58) than
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356       AL-HAMDAN et al.
their peers who were younger than 30 years (M = 3.2, SD = 0.97),
p = .01. However, sex (β = −.024, t = −0.406, p = .685), education
(β = −0.029, t = −0.504, p = .615), experience (β = .008, t = 0.139,
p = .889) and nursing station (β = −.064, t = −1.097, p = .274) did not
converge significantly on intent to stay (Table 4).
4 |  D I S CU S S I O N
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship be-
tween EI and intent to stay and to identify their correlates among
Jordanian nurses. Worldwide, health care organisations struggle
to empower nurses and increase their productivity and retention
(Healy, El-Atroush, Abol-Enein, & El-Sayed, 2013). The findings of
the current study revealed that EI has a significant correlation with
nurses’ intent to stay in nursing and/or their current jobs. This out-
come is congruent with a study conducted in Greece which found
that EI is negatively associated with nurses’ intention to quit their
jobs (Trivellas et al., 2013). EI was negatively associated with leav-
ing intention among nurses (Kang & Kim, 2016). The Regulation of
Emotion (ROE) had the strongest positive relationship with inten-
tion to stay. This is congruent with the findings of some studies
(Güleryüz, Güney, Aydın, & Aşan, 2008; Ko & Kim, 2014), but in
contrary to the study of Trivellas et al., (2013) who found that only
Self-Emotion Appraisal (SEA) and Use of Emotion (UOE) had a sig-
nificant positive impact on nurses’ job satisfaction and intention
to stay.
EI is a set of skills and abilities that the individual gains by learn-
ing from experiences and events (Goleman, 2006). However, many
studies looked for individual traits that may affect EI levels or capa-
bilities. Our study found that level of education (Master's degree)
and hospital type (a private one) were the most and significantly
characteristics affecting Jordanian nurses EI scores, which was con-
gruent with only one study (Kalyoncu, Güney, Arslan, & Ayranci,
2012). However, the study of Kalyoncu et al. (2012) found that EI
increases with ageing. Furthermore, previous studies revealed vari-
ous factors associated with EI including years of experience, nurses’
gender and level of education (Humpel & Caputi, 2001; Nikolaou &
Tsaousis, 2002; Oginska-Bulik, 2005). However, none of these stud-
ies were conducted in the Arab world, indicating that cultural factors
might play a role in determining the factors associated with EI.
In this study, Jordanian nurses’ intent to stay in their jobs and
careers was predicted by hospital type (governmental), marital sta-
tus (married), age (older than 30 years) and level of education (mas-
ter's degree). Many studies were congruent with these findings,
while others were not. For example, a previous study revealed that
Jordanian nurses who work for the public sector in the governmen-
tal hospitals showed higher intent to stay rates than those work for
private or university hospitals which was congruent with our find-
ings (Al-Hamdan, Manojlovich, & Tanima, 2017). In addition, similar
to our findings, Mrayyan (2005) revealed that married nurses and
those older than 30 years had higher rates of retention and stay in
their jobs. In opposing to our findings, Mrayyan (2005) reported that
nurses with higher levels of academic education had less stay intents
and higher turnover rates. However, the study of Mrayyan (2005)
was conducted since more than 10 years where nurses with higher
education levels were highly dissatisfied and seeking higher job po-
sitions and career development.
The outcomes of the current study should be interpreted con-
sidering some limitations. Including nurses in only three hospitals in
Jordan may limit the generalization of study results and findings. In
addition, the bias and the possibility of subjectivity in responding
to research instruments by the participants may negatively affect
study findings.
4.1 | Limitation
There are some limitations in this study. The study used self-report
questionnaires, which introduces bias and limits our ability to deter-
mine actual relationships among concepts of interest. In addition, as
this is a cross-sectional study, it is not possible to make cause-and-
effect statements.
4.2 | Implications for nursing management
The findings of the current study have important implications
and recommendations for nurses and nursing managers. Nurses’
EI helps nurses to effectively handle their emotions and behav-
iours and respond to various situations smoothly and effectively.
In addition, it improves nurses’ self-awareness and recognition of
other emotions and promotes the relationships between nurses.
This could also improve the workplace environment and achieve
nursing goals and organisational aims. Nurse managers should pay
attention to EI of nurses during recruitment considering various de-
terminants of EI identified in the current study. Additionally, nurse
managers might want to strengthen factors associated with more
stay intent among their staff. EI should be considered in nursing
courses, schools and academic settings. Nursing students should
be trained and educated about EI and its effectiveness in dealing
with themselves and others during their early academic journey.
Continuous education, workshops and activities within educa-
tional facilities should be held to improve nurses' EI. Furthermore,
understanding of EI and its impacts on nursing and organisational
outcomes helps administrators to adopt action plans and strategies
to involve and promote EI practice in all nursing departments and
sections.
5 | CO N C LU S I O N
The findings of the study came with a supportive knowledge about
the positive impacts of EI on nurses’ intent to stay. Improving in-
tent to stay could have positive effects on organisations’ decisions,
policymaking processes, quality of care, employee commitment and
AL-HAMDAN et al.
satisfaction. Nurse managers should pay attention to EI of nurses
during recruitment considering various determinants of EI identified
in the current study. Executives and decision makers in the health
care organisation have the responsibility to adopt EI theories and
approaches in order to increase nurses’ retention and commitment
to their organisation.
AC K N OW L E D G E M E N T S
We are grateful to all the Jordanian nurses who participated in this
study.
E T H I C A L A P P R OVA L
Ethical approval was obtained from the research and ethics com-
mittee at the Jordan university of Science and Technology, number
20170068.
ORCID
Zaid M. Al-Hamdan  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6086-2428
Anas Muhsen  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4046-5799
Ahmad Rayan  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8377-2297
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How to cite this article: Al-Hamdan ZM, Muhsen A, Alhamdan
M, Rayan A, Banyhamdan K, Bawadi H. Emotional intelligence
and intent to stay among nurses employed in Jordanian
hospitals. J Nurs Manag. 2020;28:351–358. https​://doi.
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