Emotional Intelligence in Organizations

Abstract

Emotional intelligence (EI) is a set of abilities that pertain to emotions and emotional information. EI has attracted considerable attention among organizational scholars, and research has clarified the definition of EI and illuminated its role in organizations. Here, I define EI and describe the abilities that constitute it. I evaluate two approaches to measuring EI: the performance-based and self-report approaches. I review the findings about how EI is associated with work criteria, organizing the findings according to three overarching models: the validity generalization, situation-specific, and moderator models. The support for the latter two models suggests that the organizational context and employee dispositions should be considered in order to fully explain how EI relates to criteria. I identify controversies in this area, describe how findings address some controversies, and propose future research to address those that remain. I conclude by listing best practices for future research on the role of EI in organizations.