The study focused on the moderating role of age on the relationship between emotional intelligence and hotel employee work behaviour. To achieve the objective of the study, survey research design was adopted. Empathy and social skills were used to measure emotional intelligence which represent the independent variable while employee behaviour was used as the dependent variable. The researcher adopted primary data in getting the required information through the use of structured questionnaire. The population of the study is made up of 431 male and female hotel staff. The sample size of the study is 274 after adopting Taro Yamane formula. In analysis the data, moderated regression analysis was used. The findings revealed that empathy and social skills have significant influence on employee work behaviour. The findings also revealed that age moderates the relationship between emotional intelligence and employee work behaviour in hotels. Based on the findings, the study recommends that organization should institute a reward system where employees that exhibit outstanding empathy are recognized as this will engender group cohesion and understanding. Also, organizations should increase emotional intelligence and employee performance by increasing skill training to help in developing mental abilities of individual employees. The study also recommends that employees should be encouraged to develop their social skills which would lead to their greater acceptance among their colleagues and subordinates thereby enhancing the work process leading to success in the organization.
Keywords: Emotional Intelligence, Empathy, Social Skills, employee work behaviour and employee performance.
