Emotional intelligence linked to career growth among nurses in Saudi Arabia

Nurses in Saudi Arabia who report higher emotional intelligence also report greater perceived career growth, according to a cross-sectional study of registered nurses in the Jazan Health Cluster published in BMC Nursing. The association held after statistical adjustment for covariates, but one notable exception emerged: emotional intelligence showed no relationship with perceived salary growth, suggesting that emotional competencies may matter more for developmental and relational aspects of nursing careers than for financial advancement.

The research team surveyed 295 registered nurses recruited through convenience sampling. Emotional intelligence was measured with the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test, while career growth was assessed with the Career Growth Scale. The sample was predominantly female (78.0%) and Saudi (67.1%), with 74.9% holding a Bachelor of Science in Nursing qualification. Participants had a mean age of 36.28 years (SD = 7.94). Mean total emotional intelligence was 127.98 (SD = 9.96), and mean total career growth was 53.73 (SD = 6.66).

The central finding was a positive correlation between total emotional intelligence and career growth (r = .351, 95% CI [0.246, 0.447], p < .001). Because the study used a cross-sectional correlational design, it cannot establish that emotional intelligence causes career growth; the data capture associations at a single point in time among a convenience sample from one health cluster, so the results may not generalize to all nurses in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere.

In exploratory analyses, total emotional intelligence was most strongly correlated with the Career Capacity domain (r = .438). Social Skills and Emotion Utilization showed broad positive patterns across the non-salary career-growth domains. In contrast, total emotional intelligence was not associated with Salary Increase (r = −.008, 95% CI [-0.122, 0.106]), an interval that spans zero and indicates no detectable relationship with perceived financial advancement.

To test whether the association was independent of other characteristics, the researchers ran a multiple linear regression with covariate adjustment. The association between total emotional intelligence and career growth remained (B = 0.213, standardized β = 0.319, HC3 p < .001), with the model explaining an adjusted R² of 0.220. The use of HC3 robust standard errors suggests attention to heteroscedasticity in the regression estimates.

The authors frame emotional intelligence as a relevant professional competency in nursing whose relationship with career growth had remained underexplored in the Saudi Arabian context. They suggest the findings may inform broader professional-development strategies aligned with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 healthcare workforce priorities, though the study itself measured perceptions of career growth rather than objective promotion or pay records.

As the authors note in their conclusions, total emotional intelligence was positively associated with perceived career growth after covariate adjustment but was not associated with perceived salary growth. The exploratory domain-level patterns point toward emotional competencies being more relevant to developmental and relational aspects of career progression than to financial ones. Because the career-growth measure relies on self-reported perception, and because the exploratory sub-analyses were not the primary analytical focus, these domain-specific patterns should be read as hypothesis-generating rather than definitive.

Future work with longitudinal designs, probability sampling across multiple health clusters, and objective career outcomes such as actual promotions or salary records would be needed to determine whether building emotional intelligence translates into tangible career advancement for nurses.

Subject of Research: The association between emotional intelligence and perceived career growth among nurses in Saudi Arabia

Article Title: Association between emotional intelligence and career growth among nurses in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study

Article References: Al Muharraq, E. H., Alallah, S. M., Hobani, F. O., Abdali, F. A., Makakam, A. I., Alshabi, M. A., Alasiri, S. A., Abu Jamilah, A. M., & Otudi, F. M. (2026). Association between emotional intelligence and career growth among nurses in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study. BMC Nursing. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-026-05554-3

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12912-026-05554-3

Keywords: emotional intelligence, nursing, career growth, Saudi Arabia, cross-sectional study, Jazan Health Cluster, Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test, salary growth, workforce development, Vision 2030, Association, between