Emotional intelligence and academic achievement among Ethiopian university students: The mediating role of meta-cognition and moderating role of academic resilience

Abstract

BACKGROUND: This study examined whether meta-cognition mediates the relationship between emotional intelligence and academic achievement, and whether academic resilience moderates this mediated pathway, among Ethiopian graduating university students. METHODS: A cross-sectional sample of 503 graduating students from two Ethiopian universities completed measures of emotional intelligence, meta-cognition, and academic resilience. Academic achievement was obtained from official university records (CGPA). Moderated mediation analysis was conducted using PROCESS Model 59 (Hayes, 2022) with 5000 bootstrap resamples. RESULTS: Emotional intelligence was positively correlated with meta-cognition, academic resilience, and academic achievement. Meta-cognition partially mediated the emotional intelligence-achievement relationship. Academic resilience moderated the emotional intelligence-meta-cognition pathway, with the conditional effect of emotional intelligence on meta-cognition significant at moderate and high resilience levels, but not at low resilience. The conditional indirect effect was significant only at moderate resilience. A compensatory pattern emerged: meta-cognition most strongly predicted academic achievement among low-resilience students. CONCLUSIONS: Meta-cognition explains how emotional intelligence translates into academic achievement, but this pathway is most relevant for students with moderate resilience. For low-resilience students, meta-cognition serves as a compensatory mechanism; for high-resilience students, alternative pathways take precedence. Interventions targeting emotional intelligence, meta-cognitive skills, and academic resilience simultaneously may benefit Ethiopian graduating students facing national exit examinations.