Although intelligence has been widely examined in the literature, the correlation of emotional intelligence (EI) has with virtual leadership, work stress, work burnout, and job performance in the nursing profession needs further consideration. Prior studies have confirmed that leadership style and emotional intelligence massively contribute to better outcomes in the nursing profession. Based on these confirmations, this research intended to explore the impact of virtual leadership and EI on work stress, work burnout, and job performance among nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. A convenient sampling technique was adopted to select the data sample. To analyze our hypotheses, 274 self-reported surveys were distributed in five tertiary hospitals in Pakistan through a cross-sectional quantitative research design. The hypotheses were tested with SmartPLS-3.3.9. Our findings revealed that virtual leadership and EI have considerably influenced nurses' work stress, burnout level, and job performance. The study concludes that EI significantly moderates virtual leadership and psychological stress among nurses.
Keywords: emotional intelligence; job performance; virtual leadership; work burnout; work stress.