The role of emotions in the educational milieu has attracted substantial research interest in recent years [1, 2, 3]. The interweaving of individual feelings and thoughts emphasizes emotions’ considerable role in effective thought processes and wise decisions [2, 4]. This emotion-cognition interaction is widely studied from a psychological perspective through modern psychosocial theories or from a biological perspective to examine the neural basis of the bidirectional interaction between cognition and emotions. This has resulted in significant scientific advances in affective neuroscience, specifically in the emotional intelligence (EI) field [5, 6]. Evidence shows that intellectual ability alone is insufficient to guarantee an individual’s success in diverse life spheres. They represent 20% of the determining factors of an individual’s life success; this sets aside space for 80% of additional factors, the greatest of which is the EI. They are critically developed during childhood but are not fixed based on the surrounding sociocultural contexts and emotionally oriented caregivers in building emotionally intelligent children, which is considered the best news. Thus, emotional literacy and EI skills can be nurtured and reinforced throughout life, benefiting health, relationships, educational achievement, and career development [7, 8].

EI skills are paramount during university life, which is full of challenges, social interactions, explorations of one’s and others’ feelings, friendships, and personality development. Thus, EI is one of the leading forces in managing this challenging educational context and guaranteeing better students’ learning performance and success [7, 8, 9]. Moreover, Khan [9] (2019) proved the narrow contribution of cognitive intelligence to the academic life of Saudi University students, which does not expand the horizon of their lifelong learning in addition to proving that EI is vital and plays an outstanding role in strengthening their cognitive intelligence and shaping their future career achievements. Therefore, most employers evaluate graduate applicants from several perspectives, including cognitive intelligence, emotional stability, EI skills, and operational competencies [9].

Salovey and Mayer [4] introduced the EI concept in 1990. It is described as an individual’s ability to monitor and appraise their own emotions and those of others (either verbal or nonverbal), discriminate between them, and effectively utilize emotion-related information to guide creative thinking and cognitive behaviors (e.g., problem-solving, communication, managing stress), flexible planning, redirecting attention, and facilitating motivation [4]. Thus, EI is a continuous process that boosts personal competencies as a vital element of life empowerment and development [10]. Recently, many studies have examined the role of emotional skills in academic performance, such as resilience, self-regulation, emotional and social skills, personality traits, attitudes, and motivation [11, 12, 13]. Evidence has shown that individuals with high EI skills are better able to build strong and long-lasting relationships, which has a general positive influence on their intellectual development. Moreover, the intrapersonal side of EI is linked to self-motivation and regulation, which boosts many behavioral traits, promotes emotional well-being, and reduces stress levels, which might enhance academic performance [14, 15].

EI has a significant influence on the quality of learning and the practical application of the learned knowledge. Its usage is now being identified as an essential requirement in providing healthcare to patients. Health sciences colleges are well-known as demanding and stressful and require effective student coping to facilitate academic achievement. They also must manage several clinical situations, cope with various instructors’ teaching styles and expectations, work independently, and manage conflicts. Aside from facing special aspects of academic work, such as practicing health care procedures and taking tests in the care settings, that may be highly stressful, requiring effective emotional management. They are also expected to realize and value the patients’ emotions, assess their needs, and provide interventions that communicate caring attitudes toward patients and their families. Hence, they should be able to recognize, use, and manage emotions in themselves and others. Thus, EI is a powerful factor among health sciences students to deal with these stressful situations, facilitate effective decision-making skills, and enhance clinical and academic achievement. Evidence has consistently demonstrated that EI is associated with better coping and well-being and is a protective factor against stress [8, 10].

Motivation is a dynamic, multidimensional process mainly based on the presence of a motive or purpose that drives an individual to initiate and complete a behavior. Individual biological, sociocultural, cognitive, and learning factors typically shape it. Thus, it varies within and between individuals, creating different behavioral responses. These deduce the existence of different types of motivations in self-determination theory (SDT). It is a motivation theory that predicts health behaviors and facilitates behavioral change [16, 17]. It has a wide application in various contexts such as physical health, lifestyle, workplace, education, and counseling, proving a remarkable effect on self-motivation of the respective domains of success and achievement [18, 19, 20]. SDT assumes that motivation indicates an intention to act and is constructed on a continuum of motivation regulation from intrinsic or autonomous to extrinsic or controlled, to amotivation, or from the highest to lowest self-determined behavior. Intrinsically motivated individuals engage in a particular behavior for enjoyment and interest, whereas extrinsically motivated individuals do so to gain positive outcomes or avoid negative ones. However, amotivation reflects the absence of an act or intention to act, possibly due to internal or external factors [16, 17]. Recent evidence has shown a positive association between EI and learning motivation, strongly predicting students’ academic performance [2, 21]. Evidence also reveals that intrinsic and extrinsic motivations positively impact Saudi University students’ academic performance [22].

Evidence indicates that students must obtain knowledge and cultivate emotional and social capabilities to facilitate academic performance and achievement. This study provides valuable knowledge about the relationship between EI, academic motivation (AM), and academic achievement. This can aid in establishing targeted educational interventions to improve students’ EI skills for appraising, regulating, and efficiently using emotions for stress management, communication, problem-solving, and self-motivation. Consequently, they enhance their academic performance and achievement [2, 21, 22]. Furthermore, the results of this study can help policymakers and managers to provide resources and direct efforts to strengthen their EI skills and motivation. This can further enhance the image of the higher education potential in Saudi Arabia, especially in the health sciences, by investing in future generations. Hence, this study aimed to examine the relationship between EI, AM, and academic achievement among health science students using a self-deterministic approach by answering the following research questions: (1) What are the EI, AM, and grade point average (GPA) levels of the students? and (2) Are there associations between AM, EI, and GPA mean scores and participants’ characteristics? (3) What is the nature of the relationship between EI, AM, and GPA? (4) Are there effects of EI domains on AM and GPA? (5) Do different types of AM affect GPA and EI?

The present study revealed a moderate overall EI level and its emotional appraisal and expression, regulation, and utilization domains. Mean EI scores were significantly higher among older students, those from varied residential areas, and working students. These findings indicate that increasing age, diverse cultures, and social network interactions in the work environment can boost the students’ EI. This study also explored moderate overall AM levels, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, and low amotivation. AM level was significantly higher among women, working students, and those at a higher academic level and perceived higher income. This may be attributed to their desire to complete bachelor’s degrees to continue their careers. Moreover, this study revealed that more than half of the studied students had a moderate GPA, significantly higher among women, married individuals, working students, those at a high academic level, and those having varied residences. This may be explained by the proven higher women’s AM level, with more experience at a higher academic level and being married, which could increase their sense of family responsibility. Moreover, the GPA variation by residence can be explained by the educational institutions’ available educational resources and quality.

In line with the present study, Koyuncuoglu [27] found moderate levels of AM and academic achievement among Turkish University students. These AM levels were significantly higher among woman students than man students and those in higher academic years. Yulika et al. [28] also found that most Indonesian students had moderate EI skills, learning motivation, and achievement. A Saudi study by Altwijri et al. [15] showed no significant differences in EI scores among medical university students by gender and academic year, while motivation increased with academic level. Two recent studies also reported a higher academic performance among woman students than man students: Alabdulkarem et al. [29] in Saudi Arabia and Amador-Licona et al. [11] in Mexico. Moreover, Hamdan-Mansour et al. [30] detected moderate intrinsic motivation levels among Jordanian University students, which differed according to their work status, academic level, and age group, consistent with the present study’s findings.

Conversely, gender differences in EI scores in favor of woman university students were proven by Shrestha et al. [31] and Zeidner and Matthews [32]. This may be attributed to the higher percentage of woman students in these conflicting studies (62.0%, 57.1%) and the smaller sample size (185, 280) than the current study. Moreover, Banat and Rimawi [33] established that Palestinian University students had high EI scores significantly higher for man students than woman students. This may be attributed to the varied EI measurement scale, smaller sample size, religion, college types, and other background characteristics of this conflicting study. Furthermore, the most dominant reason for cultural diversity is its strong influence on emotions and EI abilities depending on the value of the emotions and the way of dealing with them in each culture. Emotional experience has three elements: a subjective experience or stimulus, a physiological response by the autonomic nervous system, and an expressive or behavioral response determined based on sociocultural norms and personality. Consequently, social norms govern the meaning of how emotions are controlled or communicated. Thus, emotions are biologically determined and significantly affected by environmental, cultural, and social contexts [34, 35, 36]. Similarly, the present study showed significant variations in EI levels by student residence, even in the same country.

This study confirmed a positive correlation between total EI and its domains (emotional appraisal and expression, regulation, and utilization) with GPA and total AM, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Regression analysis proved that the EI domains predicted 5.0% of the total variance in GPA. Specifically, emotional utilization had the most potent positive effect on GPA, followed by emotional regulation and emotional appraisal and expression domains. It also revealed that the EI domains predicted 26.0% of the variance in AM. Specifically, the emotion regulation domain had the most substantial positive effect on AM, followed by emotional utilization, appraisal, and expression. This indicates that the individual’s awareness of one’s own and other’s emotions and the proper utilization and management of these emotions offers an essential base for learning as an influencing resource in the motivation and adaptation process to the learning environment. Evidence has shown that EI plays a dual role through intrapersonal influences on academic performance through motivation and self-regulation. In addition to increasing interpersonal skills that widen academic and social networks, fostering teamwork is paramount in university education [10, 32].

Moreover, the present study proved that AM predicted 4.0% of the variance in GPA, where intrinsic motivation had a more substantial positive effect than extrinsic motivation. It also proved that AM predicted 25.0% of the variance in EI, where intrinsic motivation had a more significant positive effect than extrinsic motivation. This indicates that those with an internal motive to learn have a significant positive power to achieve their academic goals [37] and have better self-regulation, emotional control, and regulation [38]. Extrinsic motivation improves academic performance in those with low intrinsic motivation. Thus, this aids in allocating resources for students’ motivation [39]. Therefore, both can be present in the same individual based on context. However, amotivation was negatively correlated with both and was not a significant predictor of GPA or EI.

Various studies have reported consistent findings concerning the importance of EI and AM in shaping students’ academic performance and achievement. EI had a significantly positive effect on academic performance and success [12, 13, 15, 31]. Evidence proved that EI positively impacted the students’ AM [2, 21, 28] and acted as a mediator between AM and academic achievement [2]. AM positively impacted medical university students’ academic performance [22] and predicted academic performance and class participation [21]. EI also positively impacted students’ academic self-efficacy [2], resilience [21], clinical ability by managing emotions and facilitating thought among nursing students [40], interpersonal relationships, and empowerment in clinical settings [41]. However, EI has a significant effect on reducing medical students’ burnout and stress [42] and clinical practice stress among nursing students; thus, it may have a role in coping with stress and preventing burnout [41]. These findings highlight the pressing need to improve EI among health sciences students due to the growing diversity of the healthcare environment and rising expectations of clients, which require health professionals with a higher level of emotion control and EI skills [43]. These findings highlight the importance of EI and AM in shaping the students’ academic performance and achievement.

Conversely, Mohd Noor et al. [13] found no relationship between extrinsic motivation and academic achievement among Malaysian University students. This contradiction may be due to the smaller sample size and a higher level of intrinsic motivation among the participants in this conflicting study than in the present study, where moderate levels of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were observed. Shah et al. [44] showed a negative relationship between EI and academic achievement among Indian medical university students. The small sample size could explain this contradiction in the conflicting study (75 men and women) compared with the present study (450 students). Additionally, using a different EI measurement scale, which was recently validated and classified EI into five levels, the significance of the association may have been lost. Furthermore, it focused on the data analysis of only the correlation coefficient, with no in-depth analysis.

In summary, evidence of the importance of emotional intelligence and motivation for academic outcomes is consistent. However, careful consideration is required concerning the study context, sampling technique, sample size, and student characteristics to ensure effective interpretation and generalization of the findings.

This study showed that health science college students had moderate EI, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, and GPA. It also showed significant positive correlations between EI, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, and GPA. EI positively predicted AM and GPA. Intrinsic motivation significantly affected GPA and EI more than extrinsic motivation. This study found consistent findings regarding the importance of EI and AM in academic achievement. However, variances were detected in the associated factors based on the participants’ background characteristics and sociocultural context. Accordingly, these complex and multifactorial variables need to be analyzed in depth in similar studies. Thus, the following are recommended: integrating EI skills into college curricula, designing EI skills education and training sessions for college students, updating teaching methods and strategies to boost students’ motivation and EI skills, and raising awareness among the faculty about the importance of EI and AM for the students’ achievement.