New-collar workers’ life satisfaction: Serial mediation of cognitive flexibility and perceived stress in the emotional intelligence pathway
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Abstract
Background. New-collar workers are an expanding workforce group who acquire technical and digital skills through nontraditional education pathways such as vocational training, certifications, and online learning rather than formal university degrees. They are commonly employed in technology-driven roles and play a key role in the digital economy.
Aim. This study explores the mediating roles of cognitive flexibility and perceived stress in the relationship between emotional intelligence and life satisfaction, with a unique focus on new-collar workers.
Method. The participants consist of 271 new-collar employees in Turkey. A relational screening design was used. Data collection involved personal information form and scales assessing emotional intelligence, cognitive flexibility, perceived stress, and life satisfaction. Confirmatory factor analysis, reliability testing, correlation analyses, and mediation analyses were conducted using AMOS, SPSS 24, and the PROCESS Macro Model 6.
Findings. The results of the mediation analysis showed that emotional intelligence has a significant indirect effect on life satisfaction by influencing cognitive flexibility and perceived stress. An increase in emotional intelligence positively affects cognitive flexibility, which in turn helps reduce perceived stress and contributes to an increase in life satisfaction.
Conclusion. The results emphasize the importance of emotional intelligence and cognitive flexibility in enhancing well-being among new-collar workers in digitally intensive work environments and contribute to the literature by focusing on an understudied population.
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