Emotional intelligence, leadership style and organizational climate

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the effect of emotional intelligence (EI) on the leader’s applied leadership style (mediator) and the effect of this style on the employees’ organizational citizenship (responsibility, reward and warmth and support). Design/methodology/approach The researchers are proposing a model that highlights the mediating role of leadership style on the relationship between leaders’ EI and employees’ feeling of organizational climate. The study follows the quantitative process. A survey is prepared for data collection and for statistically testing the proposed model. Findings The results show that the leaders’ EI does affect his/her leadership style. Moreover, the leaders’ style affects directly the respective employees’ feeling of organizational climate to varying levels. The variance between different styles is found to be small. Research limitations/implications The limitations of this study include the minimal cross-check interviews. The sample size’s limitation resulted in the researchers’ inability to compare the different sub-sectors of the economy (labelled as the type of work of the firm) to derive deeper conclusions by economic/business sector. Practical implications The study reveals a number of practical implications affecting communication, performance, stability and tenure, and thereby lower turnover. Social implications The social implications of this study include the social relationships within the work-setting, higher empathy and higher levels of norming as a direct result of improving the leader’s EI level. Originality/value The paper is based on a sample of respondents with a new model suggested and tested scientifically, following a rigorous process. It assesses the impact of both EI and organizational climate with leadership style.