Faculty Emotional Intelligence and Student-Faculty Interactions: Implications for Student Retention

This article examines the relationship between student-faculty interactions and student dropout intentions. It develops an integrative model that posits that the association between the frequency of student-faculty interactions and a student's intent to stay in college is positive, and becomes more positive as faculty emotional intelligence increases. Patterns of student attrition intentions are observed across different levels of faculty engagement and within and between high and low emotionally intelligent faculty groups. Findings revealed that frequent student-faculty exchanges significantly impact a student's desire to stay in college and that student faculty interactions predict student attrition intentions more strongly for those students assigned to faculty mentors who possess higher levels of emotional intelligence than for those assigned to faculty with lower emotional intelligence scores. Results are discussed in connection with research on student retention and for conceptual commentary on issues related to the examination of mentoring practices.