Guidelines for Best Practice
These guidelines are based on an exhaustive review of the research literature in training and development, counseling and psychotherapy, and behavior change. The guidelines are additive and synergistic; to be effective, social and emotional learning experiences need not adhere to all of these guidelines, but the chances for success increase with each one that is followed. Read More» If you are interested in reading the full technical report on emotional intelligence in the workplace published by the Consortium on Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations, click here to download your free copy.
The Business Case for Emotional Intelligence
The following 19 points build a case for how emotional intelligence contributes to the bottom line in any work organization. Based on data from a variety of sources, it can be a valuable tool for HR practitioners and managers who need to make the case in their own organizations. The Consortium also invites submissions of other research for the Business Case. All submissions will be reviewed to determine their suitability. Read more»
Research Digest
This section of the EI Consortium web site is intended to keep you updated with the latest research findings. We will be summarizing the latest research in the area of emotional intelligence in the workplace by providing you with abstracts of the latest articles from the literature. We will be highlighting a different area from the scholarly literature on emotional intelligence. If you want research updates sent to you automatically, just sign up for our monthly newsletter.
Allen, J.S, Stevenson, R.M., O’Boyle, E.H., Seibert, S. (2021). What matters more for entrepreneurship success? A meta-analysis comparing general mental ability and emotional intelligence in entrepreneurial settings. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 15, 352–376.
Using meta-analysis, the authors investigated the extent to which General Mental Ability (GMA) and Emotional Intelligence (EI) predict entrepreneurial success, as measured by financial success, firm growth, firm size, or subjective success. This metanalysis leveraged findings from 40 studies that were conducted among 65,826 business owners and that included data on either GMA and/or EI. The results revealed that both GMA and EI matter for success, but that the size of the relationship is more than twice as large for EI. The findings imply that EI based training might also help leaders develop skills for entrepreneurial success such as networking, coaching, and adaptability. The main limitation of the study is its inability to account for the interaction between GMA and EI. It is possible that GMA has a stronger relationship to entrepreneurial success when EI is high. Individuals with high levels of cognitive resources perform better when experiencing less stress, suggesting EI could aid in the utilization of high cognitive ability.
Grobelny, J., Radke, P., Paniotova-Maczka, D. (2021). Emotional intelligence and job performance: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion, 12(1), 1-47.
This study employed a meta-analytic method to investigate the relationship between EI and job performance. Results showed a moderate correlation between EI and performance for both ability and trait models of EI. EI correlates most strongly with job performance measured by complex ratings (i.e., summary of several detailed ratings from multiple sources) which suggests that EI is associated with a wide range of behaviors and outcomes that build employee performance. Bankers, policemen and production workers are among groups in which the relation between EI and job performance is the strongest. The authors state that the meaningful relation between EI and performance support its use for recruitment purposes.
Blickle, G., Kranefeld, I., Wihler, A., Kückelhaus, B.P., & Menges, J.I. (2021). It works without words: A nonlinguistic ability test of perceiving emotions with job-related consequences. European Journal of Psychological Assessment.
Emotion recognition ability can be important for job performance, leadership, and career success. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate the Face-Based Emotion Matching Test (FEMT), a nonlinguistic objective test based on a set of images featuring different emotions. Participants were shown a set of pair images (e.g., surprise vs. fear, anger vs. neutral) and were asked to assess whether the two images featured: the same emotion, somewhat the same emotion, somewhat different emotions, or different emotions. The instrument showed validity with psychological constructs (emotional intelligence - MSCEIT, Big Five personality traits) as well as a relationship with social astuteness and adaptive performance in the workplace. This measure can help researchers develop a more comprehensive understanding of the perception of emotions in others.
Miao C, Humphrey RH, Qian S. Emotional intelligence and servant leadership: A metaanalytic review. Business Ethics: A Eur Rev . 2021;00:1– 13. https://doi.org/10.1111/beer.12332
Servant leadership is an effective leadership style that focuses on ethics and morality. Emotional intelligence (EI) is also associated with effective leadership and ethical behavior; thus, there has been a surge in studies that assessed the link between EI and servant leadership. Nevertheless, the empirical landscape of this relationship is mixed and fragmented. We undertook a meta‐analysis to clarify this literature and found that (a) EI has a significant positive relationship with servant leadership (ρ̅̂ = .57); (b) the relationship between EI and servant leadership is stronger in studies having a lower percentage of well‐educated subjects, in low power distance cultures, and in high institutional collectivism cultures; and (c) We were unable to find sufficient evidence to support moderating effects of the relationship between EI and servant leadership for gender (male‐dominated and female‐dominated studies), age (between young and old subjects), for self‐report versus follower‐report of servant leadership, and across different scales of servant leadership.
Michinov, E., & Michinon. N. (2020). When emotional intelligence predicts team performance: Further validation of the short version of the Workgroup Emotional Intelligence Profile. Current Psychology.
The purpose of this research was to extend the validation of the short version of the Workgroup Emotional Intelligence Profile (WEIP-S), notably by examining its predictive validity for team performance. Six studies were conducted to achieve this objective. The results indicate that the WEIP-S has a four-factor structure and can be reliably measured with 16 items. Moreover, it can be used as a predictive measure of team performance: groups with higher average levels of EI performed better than those with lower levels. The results confirm that team EI can influence performance and cognitive processes such as the ability to identify the expertise of each team member and solve challenges. The authors state that the WEIPS may be used in education and stress prevention programs because it provides a way of learning how to regulate one's own emotions and those of others when working in teams.
Miao, C., Humphrey, R. H., & Qian, S. (2017). A meta-analysis of emotional intelligence effects on job satisfaction mediated by job resources, and a test of moderators. Personality and Individual Differences. 116, 281–288.
This paper examines whether job resources act as a mediator in the emotional intelligence (EI)—job satisfaction relationship, and examines possible moderators, including gender, age, tenure, and job level. We conducted a meta-analysis to explore these relationships. The meta-analysis demonstrated that: First, EI is positively related to job resources (k =15,N = 4151; overall EI: ^ρ= 0.27; ability EI: ^ρ= 0.24; self-report EI: ^ρ= 0.27; mixed EI: ^ρ= 0.28). Second, job resources mediate the relationship between EI and job satisfaction. Third, the relationship be-tween EI and job satisfaction does not differ across gender, age, and tenure, meaning that regardless of whether an employee is male or female, young or old, or having short or long tenure, they equally benefit from EI. The moderator effect of job level is only significant for self-report EI—job satisfaction and this relationship is stronger in non-managerial jobs than in managerial jobs. Yet, the moderator effect of job level is not significant for ability EI—job satisfaction and mixed EI—job satisfaction meta-analytic distributions. These results indicate that EI aids employees by helping them obtain job resources, and that both job resources and EI have practical implications in terms of employee job satisfaction.
Miao, C., Humphrey, R. H., & Qian, S. (2017). Are the emotionally intelligent good citizens or counterproductive? A
meta-analysis of emotional intelligence and its relationships with
organizational citizenship behavior and counterproductive work behavior. Personality and Individual Differences, 116, 144-156.
This research project examines whether emotional intelligence (EI) is related to organizational citizenship behavior
(OCB) and counterproductive work behavior (CWB). A key question concerns the degree to which EI is related
to OCB and CWB after controlling for other established predictors. The study uses meta-analytical
summaries of existing research (for EI-OCB, k=68, N = 16,386; for EI-CWB, k= 17, N = 3914). It uses meta-analytical
controls to obtain the best estimates of effect sizes, incremental validity, and relative importance.
This meta-analysis found that EI is positively associated with OCB and negatively related to CWB. When controlling
for ability measures of EI, the Big Five personality measures, general self-efficacy, cognitive intelligence, and
self-rated performance, both self-report measures of EI and mixed competency measures of EI show incremental
validity and relative importance in predicting OCB and CWB. An analysis of self-report EI found that the effects of
EI on OCB and CWB are stronger in health care and service industries than in industries where emotional labor
demands are lower. The results imply that organizations can increase OCB and reduce CWB by recruiting employees
high in EI and by training employees in emotional competencies.
Miao, C., Humphrey, R. H., & Qian, S. (2016). Leader emotional intelligence and subordinate job satisfaction: A
meta-analysis of main, mediator, and moderator effects. Personality and Individual Differences, 102, 13–24.
Based on a meta-analysis, leaders' emotional intelligence (EI) positively relates to subordinates' job satisfaction. . All three EI streams (ability, self-report, mixed) exhibit significant incremental validity and relative importance (RW) in the presence of personality and cognitive ability in predicting subordinates' job satisfaction. Leaders' EI demonstrates significant incremental validity and RW in the presence of subordinates' EI in predicting subordinates' job satisfaction. Subordinates' EI positively relates to leaders' EI and mediates the relationship between leaders' EI and subordinates' job satisfaction. Modera-tor analyses indicate that (1) ability EI has a lower association with subordinates' job satisfaction than self-report EI and mixed EI; and (2) leaders' EI more positively relates to subordinates' job satisfaction in low in-group col-lectivistic or low humane oriented cultures.
Momm, T., Blickle, G., Liu, Y., Wihler, A., Kholin, M., & Menges, J. I. (2015). It pays to have an eye for emotions: Emotion recognition ability indirectly predicts annual income. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36, 147-163
This study examines how the emotion recognition ability relates to annual income. Participants were 142 employees working in various jobs and organizations in Germany. Emotion recognition was assessed with the Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy 2, a self-report measure which asks participants to identify facial and vocal emotional expressions. Results revealed that the relationship between emotion recognition ability and annual income is mediated by political and interpersonal skills. This means that the better people are at recognizing emotions, the better they handle the politics in organizations and the interpersonal aspects of work life, and thus the more they earn in their jobs. The findings imply that emotional abilities enable people to be more successful at work.
Parke, M.R., Seo, M.G., & Sherf, E.N. (2015). Regulating and facilitating: The role of emotional intelligence in maintaining and using positive affect for creativity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(3), 917-934.
This study examined how two facets of EI - emotion regulation and emotion facilitation - can shape employee creativity, an important element to driving innovation at work. The study used a multimethod (MSCEIT, experience sampling, survey) and multisource (archival, self-reported, supervisor-reported) research design of early career managers in the U.S. across a wide range of jobs. The study found that emotion regulation ability enables employees to maintain higher positive affect (e.g., excitement and enthusiasm) while emotion facilitation ability enables employees to use their positive affect to enhance their creativity, as measured by their supervisors. A sample item for creativity was: "This person comes up with new and practical ideas to improve performance." The findings indicate that EI is an important variable to consider when hiring knowledge workers to produce creativity in jobs. Because EI tests exist, organizations could include these tests with other personality measures for screening purposes. Employees can also be trained to increase their abilities at managing their emotional states and responses to work requirements.
Koveshnikov, A., Wechtler, H., & Dejoux, C. (2014). Cross-cultural adjustment of expatriates: The role of emotional intelligence and gender. Journal of World Business, 49, 362-371.
The study examines the role of EI in cross-cultural adjustment of expatriates on international assignments. Participants were 269 expatriates from a French company working in 133 countries. The independent variable, EI, was measured using SSEIT, a self-report instrument measuring appraisal, expression, regulation and utilization of emotion. The dependent variable, cross-cultural adjustment, was measured from the point of view of the expatriate based on three factors (general adjustment, interaction adjustment, and work adjustment). Cultural similarity and prior international experience were used as control variables. The results revealed a significant and positive relationship between EI and expatriates' cultural adjustment after controlling for cultural similarity and international experience. This finding suggests that it may be beneficial for organizations to leverage EI as a factor when selecting employees to go on expensive international assignments.
Mahon, E.G., Taylor, S.N., & Boyatzis, R.E. (2014). Antecedents of organizational engagement: exploring vision, mood and perceived organizational support with emotional intelligence as a moderator. Frontiers in Psychology. Link to full-text article: http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01322/abstract
As organizational leaders worry about the appalling low percentage of people who feel engaged in their work, academics are trying to understand what causes an increase in engagement. We collected survey data from 231 team members from two organizations. We examined the impact of team members’ emotional intelligence (EI) and their perception of shared personal vision, shared positive mood, and perceived organizational support (POS) on the members’ degree of organizational engagement. We found shared vision, shared mood, and POS have a direct, positive association with engagement. In addition, shared vision and POS interact with EI to positively influence engagement. Besides highlighting the importance of shared personal vision, positive mood, and POS, our study contributes to the emergent understanding of EI by revealing EI’s amplifying effect on shared vision and POS in relation to engagement. We conclude by discussing the research and practical implications of this study.
O'Boyle, E. H., Jr., R. H. Humphrey, et al. (2011). The relation between emotional intelligence and job performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 32(5), 788-818.
This meta-analysis builds upon a previous meta-analysis by (1) including 65 per cent more studies that have over twice the sample size to estimate the relationships between emotional intelligence (EI) and job performance; (2) using more current meta-analytical studies for estimates of relationships among personality variables and for cognitive ability and job performance; (3) using the three-stream approach for classifying EI research; (4) performing tests for differences among streams of EI research and their relationships with personality and cognitive intelligence; (5) using latest statistical procedures such as dominance analysis; and (6) testing for publication bias. We classified EI studies into three streams: (1) ability-based models that use objective test items; (2) self-report or peer-report measures based on the four-branch model of EI; and (3) ''mixed models'' of emotional competencies. The three streams have corrected correlations ranging from 0.24 to 0.30 with job performance. The three streams correlated differently with cognitive ability and with neuroticism, extroversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Streams 2 and 3 have the largest incremental validity beyond cognitive ability and the Five Factor Model (FFM). Dominance analysis demonstrated that all three streams of EI exhibited substantial relative importance in the presence of FFM and intelligence when predicting job performance. Publication bias had negligible influence on observed effect sizes. The results support the overall validity of EI. |
