Exploring the relationship among teachers' emotional intelligence, emotional labor strategies and teaching satisfaction

• A second-order factor structure of teachers' emotional intelligence is supported.
• Emotional intelligence impacts deep acting and expression of naturally felt emotion.
• Emotional intelligence has a positive impact on teaching satisfaction.
• Expression of naturally felt emotion is the most adaptive emotional labor strategy.
• The nature of emotional labor strategy mediates the role of emotional intelligence.

The results of a survey of 1281 Chinese school teachers support a second-order factor structure of emotional intelligence. It is found that teachers' emotional intelligence has a significant impact on teaching satisfaction and their use of two emotional labor strategies, i.e., deep acting and expression of naturally felt emotions, but it is not a significant predictor of surface acting. Among the three emotional labor strategies, only expression of naturally felt emotion significantly influences teaching satisfaction. These findings could be explained by differences in the nature of various emotional labor strategies. Implications for teaching and teacher education are put forward.