Trait emotional intelligence among hierarchical levels of leadership

Abstract

urpose. This study examined whether trait emotional intelligence (or emotional self-efficacy) can differentiate across leadership levels in a sample of senior, middle, and junior leaders, employed by a bank organization in Greece (N = 157). Method. For the objectives of this study, the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue) short form (Petrides, 2009) was sufficient. It includes 30 items from the full form (two items for each of the 15 facets) and can be used to measure the four components generated from the full form: emotionality, self-control, sociability, and well-being, as well as the global trait emotional intelligence. Age, gender, tenure, and education level were used as control variables. Traitemotional intelligence, age and education were significant predictors in a multinomial regression model. Findings. Regarding senior leaders, the odds were significantly higher for each unit increase in trait EI(5.58) than for middle leaders (1.92), with junior leaders as the reference category. Further, leadersscored significantly higher on trait emotional intelligence compared to the standardization sample of the TEIQue. Τhe difference is due to senior and middle leaders, though the effect size for the former was considerably larger than for the latter, whereas junior leaders did not show statistically significant differences. Trait emotional intelligence and four factors’ impacts (self-control, well-being, emotionality, and sociability) were investigated among the three hierarchical leadership levels. Value of results. The results support the notion that leadership positions require high trait emotional intelligence and that leadership needs are dependent on the leader’s level within the organization.