Jail officers face a very challenging working environment where their resilience always needs to
be boosted and maintained. A quantitative causal research method and in generating the best fit
model, the structural equation model (SEM) was used in this research. Thus, this study aimed to
determine the best-fit structural model for the resilience of jail officers in Region XI, the Philippines,
using social support, emotional intelligence, and political skills as the exogenous variables. 428 jail
officers responded to the invitation to participate in the study. The findings revealed a significant
relationship between independent and dependent variables. It is also discovered that social support
and emotional intelligence influenced the resilience of jail officers by 81 percent. The best-fit model
for the resilience of jail officers is grounded on social competence, personal competency, and structure
style by social support highlighted by support from significant other/s and support from friends;
social support is influenced by emotional intelligence grounded by self-awareness and empathy; and
emotional inteligence predicted by political skills substantiated by social astuteness and apparent
sincerity.
Keywords :
Public administration, social support, emotional intelligence, political skills, resilience, structural equation modeling, jail officers, Philippines.