Abstract
Prior research on emotional intelligence (EI) has emphasized the use of additive models that assume EI and general intelligence (or g) make independent contributions to performance. Questioning this assumption, we study EI’s moderation power over the relationship between g and individual performance, by designing and testing a task-dependent interaction model. Reconciling divergent findings in previous studies, we propose that whenever social tasks are at stake, g becomes more important to performance as EI increases. By contrast, in analytic tasks, a negative interaction between EI and g is expected. Based on a behavioral approach to EI using 360º assessments of EI competencies, our findings show that EI moderates the effect of g on the classroom performance of 864 MBA business executives. Whilst in analytic tasks g has a stronger effect on performance at lower levels of EI competencies, our data comes short to show a positive interaction of EI and g for social tasks. Contributions and implications to research and practice are discussed.
Highlights
IntroductionG, has been the most studied and well-established predictor of professional and academic achievement
General intelligence, or g, has been the most studied and well-established predictor of professional and academic achievement
When individuals engage in social tasks, what is the interactive nature of the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and g on performance? We propose that when individuals have low levels of EI competencies, such that they can’t get along with others, they will have poor performances, regardless of their level of intelligence
Summary
G, has been the most studied and well-established predictor of professional and academic achievement. A recent source of controversy in the field concerns the increasing number of studies and meta-analyses attesting to mixed results (Van Rooy and Viswesvaran, 2004; Amelang and Steinmayr, 2006; Christiansen et al, 2010; Brackett et al, 2011) We contend that this lack of consistency across findings may be due, in part, to the predominance of models that measure the direct effect of EI on individual performance, The Power of EI Over g and Performance above and beyond cognitive intelligence (known as incremental or additive models)—despite the fact that the scientific concept of emotional intelligence implies the integration of emotion and cognitive processes. It is clear that those who score high in both EI and g achieve top performances, little is known about predicting the performance of individuals with high levels of one ability and low of the other
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