Emotional intelligence and its impact on Burnout and Happiness: A study on Police Officers of Chandigarh Police, India

Purpose: The research was carried out to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence, burnout, and happiness on police officers of Chandigarh police, India. The difference between socio-demographic variables in retain to emotional intelligence of Chandigarh police officers was also studied. The human in “Khaki” is the one who toils for 24/7, just to maintain law and order and helps in making the citizen responsible toward their society. It is our duty to save the lives of the one who save us all. DesignMethodologyApproach: By judgemental sampling method, 120 police officers who were currently posted in Chandigarh, India, were selected for the study. The data was collected from survey method through standardised scale of different variables i.e., Wong and Law‟s (2002) scale of Emotional intelligence, Burnout by Maslach Burnout Inventory-GS, and Happiness by The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (2002).Socio-demographic variables were analyzed by ANOVA and t-test. For relationship and impact among variables, Pearson correlation and Regression analysis were carried out. Findings: The results showed a significant positive relationship between emotional intelligence and happiness (r=.525)and a significant negative relationship between emotional intelligence and burnout (r=-.322). The study also finds out the significant difference between age and EI and experience of police officers and EI. Research limitations: The research is limited to only one union territory with limited sample size (n=120), so the results cannot be generalized to a larger extent. Practical implications: Achieving a high score in EI may hold a key to a greater happiness and helps in diminishing burnout level in police officers. Police departments should invest in promoting EI by implementing developmental programmes. Encourage employees to celebrate their free time with family and friends so that stress can be reduced. Originality value: The study offers value to police organization as it focuses on police officials, and explores their EI level and its subsequent effect on Burnout and on happiness.