A Meta-Analytic Review of Quantitative Studies on Emotional Intelligence and Leadership

Abstract

Ever since Daniel Goleman (1998) maintained that emotional intelligence is the “sine qua non” of leadership, the link between emotional intelligence and leadership has become a topic of widespread interest in leadership research. The overriding focus of the leadership literature has been on emotional intelligence as hypothesized competencies or traits of individual leaders to affect leadership behaviors, effectiveness or emergence (e.g., Leban and Zulauf, 2004; Hawkins and Dulewicz, 2007; Rego et al., 2007). Many studies have found that leaders’ emotional intelligence explains a high proportion of variance in leadership effectiveness and a variety of organizational outcomes (e.g., Carmeli, 2003; Ozcelik et al., 2008). A significant range of literature also provides empirical evidence to support the notion that emotional intelligence is a predictor of transformational leadership (Barbuto and Burbach, 2006; Leban and Zulauf, 2004; Mandell and Pherwani, 2003; Duckett and Macfarlane, 2003). Despite all the evidence supporting the positive value of emotional intelligence on leadership, several studies have produced contradictions regarding the necessity of emotional intelligence for leadership behavior, practices or effectiveness by arguing that more data based on defensible methodologies are needed to prove the validity of the EI/leadership link (Antonakis, 2003; Antonakis et al., 2009; Locke, 2005).