Probing the interactive effects of career commitment and emotional intelligence on perceived objective/subjective career success

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to find out the moderating role of emotional intelligence (EI) in the relationship between career commitment and career success of the bank employees working in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach – The study used ex post facto method where 200 middle-level managerial bank employees were surveyed by means of a close-ended questionnaire. Moderated multiple regression was run to test the hypotheses. Findings – As expected, the research findings confirmed the expectation of significant relationship between career commitment and objective/subjective career success. Further, the research findings bolstered one of the research postulates that EI will moderate career commitment-objective career success relationship. However the argument of EI’s moderation between career commitment-subjective career success relationship was not supported by the findings. Originality/value – This paper adds value to the existing body of knowledge by augmenting the need of understanding the distinctiveness of objective and subjective career success. The study unveils the importance of devising separate mechanisms to cater both the objective and subjective career success needs of the employees and enhances the scope of career literature in South Asian settings.