Purpose – Success in an ever-changing business environment requires employees not only to have knowledge and experience, but also to have the ability to predict their proactive behavior, and to have the ability to use their emotional intelligence to manage people in and around the workplace. In this study, the moderating effect of proactive personality on the relationship between emotional intelligence and burnout syndrome is investigated. Design/methodology/approach – In this concept, data obtained from 162 academic staff working for public universities in Aegean and Central Anatolia regions of Turkey are analysed. SPSS 21.0 program is utilized to analyse data accessed by snowball sampling method. Findings – The results show that there is moderate negative relationship between emotional intelligence and burnout syndrome. On the other hand, there is not found that statistically significant moderating effect of proactive personality on the relationship between emotional intelligence and burnout syndrome for the sample. Discussion – Future studies may be contributed to the literature by expanding the sample, comparing public-private universities, or examining related phenomena in different sectors.