Trait Emotional Intelligence & Leadership: A study of managers and employees

Abstract

Over the past 30 years, Emotional Intelligence has been gaining ground in the field of business and management. Much has been written about the importance of Emotional Intelligence (EI) in leadership, which overlaps with the concept of management (Young & Dulewicz, 2008). Although, there are many researches into the connection between leadership and emotional intelligence, there seems to be a research gap between Trait Emotional Intelligence and Transformational Leadership (TL). This study examines the effects of the factors of Trait EI (emotionality, self–control, sociability, well–being, adaptability and motivation) (TraitEI, 2021; Petrides, 2009) on the dimensions of Transformational Leadership (vision, inspirational communication, supportive leadership, intellectual stimulation, personal recognition) (Rafferty and Griffin, 2004). Two groups were surveyed for this study. One (with 74 participants) consisted of managers who work in public or private sector’ organizations. The other sample (with 120 participants) consisted of employees who work in public or private sector’ organizations. The aim of the study was to investigate the connection between Trait EI and Transformational Leadership from the manager’s point of view, and from the employees’ point of view. Are there any differences between those two points of view? Are there any differences between Trait EI and Transformational Leadership due to the sectors (private – public) of the organizations? The tools used in this research include the following: a) Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEI-QUE SF) by Petrides (2009) and b) Rafferty’s and Griffin’s (2004) Five Dimensions of Transformational Leadership Test. The current paper hopes to contribute to the comprehension of the linkage among Trait EI and TL on Greek organizations managers’, and trigger future empirical research in the area.