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Does emotional intelligence moderate the
relationship between mental health and job
performance? An exploratory study
Dirk Lindebaum *
The University of Liverpool Management School, Chatham Street, L69 7ZH Liverpool, UK
KEYWORDS
Emotional intelligence;
Mental health;
Job performance
Summary Hitherto, scholars have examined the direct effects of emotional intelligence
on health-related outcomes or performance. Yet, attempts to explore any interactive
effects of emotional intelligence on these variables are conspicuous by their absence.
Using a multi-source design (i.e., team members and supervisors, n= 57, total N= 137)
and instruments with different scoring protocols (i.e., ability and self-reported data),
findings from a UK public sector questionnaire survey suggest that emotional intelligence
only partly moderates the relationship between mental health and some – but not all –
aspects of job performance. Implications for management theory and practice are dis-
cussed.
ª2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Introduction
To date scholars have examined the direct effects of
emotional intelligence on health-related outcomes
(Bastian, Burns, & Nettelbeck, 2005; Gohm, Corser, &
Dalsky, 2005; Martins, Ramalho, & Morin, 2010) or perfor-
mance (Blickle et al., 2009; Joseph & Newman, 2010;
O!Boyle Humphrey, Pollack, Hawver, & Story et al., 2011).
Emotional intelligence has been succinctly defined as the
ability ‘‘to carry out accurate reasoning about emotions
and the ability to use emotions and emotional knowledge
to enhance thought’’ (Mayer, Roberts, & Barsade, 2008,
p. 518). However, no empirical work has been undertaken
to date to examine the moderating role of emotional
intelligence in the relationship between health outcomes
and performance. Since the ‘‘identification of important
moderators of relations between predictors and outcomes
indicates the maturity and sophistication of a field of in-
quiry’’ (Frazier, Tix, & Barron, 2004, p. 116), the aim of this
study is to explore the interactive effects of emotional intel-
ligence on mental health and performance (see Figure 1).
The pursuit of this aim is germane for one significant rea-
son. That is, emotional intelligence researchers have consis-
tently overlooked that individuals and organizations may
not, of necessity, converge on the same objectives (cf.
Schein, 1968). Some scholars have interpreted this along
the following question: Does ‘‘the individual benefit from
high EI (emotional intelligence) or... the organization?’’
(Lindebaum, 2009, p. 230, italics added). However, rather
than envisaging such a dichotomous view, a meaningful
extension would be to consider the very real necessity to
reconcile individual interests (e.g., good mental health)
and organizational benefits (e.g., high performance). After
0263-2373/$ - see front matter ª2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2012.08.002
*Tel.: +44 (0) 151 795 3538.
E-mail address: d.lindebaum@liverpool.ac.uk
European Management Journal (2012) xxx, xxx–xxx
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/emj
Please cite this article in press as: Lindebaum, D., Does emotional intelligence moderate the relationship between mental health and job perfor-
mance? An exploratory study, European Management Journal (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2012.08.002
all, individuals are more likely to perform well over longer
periods of time if they are in good mental health (Judge &
Kammeyer-Mueller, 2008). It is thus pertinent to explore
whether individuals use emotional intelligence to safeguard
their mental health and perform well. In other words, is
mental health associated with performance also in interac-
tion with high emotional intelligence?
For the sake of clarity, the following definitions of men-
tal health and performance are adopted, respectively.
While health has also been defined in terms of its physical,
social functioning, or role functioning components (see
Gross & Mun
˜oz, 1995; Ware, 1987, for reviews), a specific
focus upon mental health is more relevant for this study.
This is attributed to a mounting concern over increased
mental health problems in the working population (WHO,
2002). Thus, mental health is defined as being able ‘‘to work
creatively and productively..., to feel comfortable when
alone, usually be developing a rich and fulfilling inner life’’
(Gross & Mun
˜oz, 1995, p. 155). This also implies a feeling of
integration and self-cohesion, which may contribute to
resilience and can help prevent drifting into destructive
relationships (Gross & Mun
˜oz, 1995). In this respect, the
personality trait of neuroticism offers an appropriate theo-
retical lens through which to study mental health in the
present context. It is characterized by ‘‘a broad dimension
of individual differences in the tendency to experience neg-
ative, distressing emotions and to possess associated behav-
ioral and cognitive traits’’ (Costa & McCrae, 1987, p. 301).
Myriad empirical studies show that neuroticism is related
to poorer mental health, including negative affect (Bagby
& Rector, 1998; Hull, Tedlie, & Lehn, 1995), anxiety, (Ger-
shuny, Sher, Rossy, & Bishop, 2000), and a dispositional fac-
tor for depression (Petersen, Bottonari, Alpert, Fava, &
Nierenberg, 2001)
1
.
In terms of performance at work, how individuals per-
form habitually refers to the degree to which they help
organizations reach their goals. Yet, studies have shown
that performance should be further distinguished into task
as well as contextual performance (see Law, Wong, & Song,
2004). Specifically, task performance is defined as ‘‘profi-
ciency in job-specific tasks’’, whereas contextual perfor-
mance is defined as ‘‘a set of interpersonal and volitional
behaviors that support the social and motivational context
in which organizational work is accomplished’’ (Van Scotter
& Motowidlo, 1996, p. 525).
Although these findings must be regarded as preliminary
for reasons detailed later, they will be intrinsically relevant
to scholars and practitioners in the field of management due
to their longstanding interest in health issues and how they
can affect individual performance at work (e.g., Walsh,
2011).
Emotional intelligence
In the recent years, theoretical developments in ability
emotional intelligence research have advanced considerably
(Fiori, 2009; Joseph & Newman, 2010; Lindebaum, 2012;
Mayer, Roberts, et al., 2008; Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso,
2008). Whilst some have centered on broader conceptual-
izations of emotional intelligence, especially the four-
branch ability model by Mayer and co-workers (Mayer, Rob-
erts, et al., 2008; Mayer & Salovey, 1997), others have the-
orized around narrower sampling domains (Blickle et al.,
2009; Schmidt-Atzert & Bu
¨hner, 2002) to reflect closely
the conceptual bedrock of emotional intelligence theory.
Therefore, following the definition of emotional intelli-
gence offered above, this conceptualization sets ability
emotional intelligence theory clearly apart from what has
come to be known as trait emotional intelligence theory,
which is concerned with ‘‘emotion-related dispositions
and self-perceptions’’ (Petrides, Pita, & Kokkinaki, 2007,
p. 273). This theorizing typically refers to preferred or typ-
ical ways of behavior (Mayer & Salovey, 1997; Zampetakis,
Beldekos, & Moustakis, 2009).
This study follows the narrower conceptualization of
ability emotional intelligence for several reasons. First, a
narrower focus implies a better fit with the intelligence do-
main, as the ability to understand emotions is most closely
related to cognitive ability (Kluemper, DeGroot, & Choi, in
press). Second, ability emotional intelligence implies the
ability to tap into intra-psychic experiences and to configure
mental processes at maximum capacity (Mayer & Salovey,
1997). This ability to configure mental processes may be
critical in environments where potentially opposing objec-
tives have to be reconciled, such as considerations for one!s
mental health and performance imperatives.
Emotional intelligence as a moderator between
mental health and performance
Previous theoretical debates have identified that potential
beneficiaries of high emotional intelligence are rarely dis-
tinguished, and that it may be necessary to examine
whether emotional intelligence is either related to individ-
ual health or performance (Lindebaum, 2009). Underlying
this is the view that organizations and individuals often do
not converge on the same objectives (Schein, 1968), which
is particularly relevant when the pursuit of individual bene-
fits (e.g., enjoying good mental health) or organizational
interests (e.g., individual performance) can be diametri-
cally opposed (Lindebaum & Fielden, 2011). However, an
extension of this thinking is to argue that emotional intelli-
gence moderates the relationship between mental health
and performance (i.e., an interactive as opposed to direct
effect exists). To explicate this, this study assumes that
emotional intelligence is a resource that can be used to ob-
1
Of course, not being neurotic does not entail good mental health
a priori. After all, someone may lack neurotic tendencies, but still
be in poor mental health due to another condition, such as bipolar
personality disorders.
Performance
Mental health
Emotional
intelligence
Figure 1 Model highlighting the interactive effect of emo-
tional intelligence on mental health and performance.
2 D. Lindebaum
Please cite this article in press as: Lindebaum, D., Does emotional intelligence moderate the relationship between mental health and job per-
formance? An exploratory study, European Management Journal (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2012.08.002
tain valued ends by way of facilitating the development and
use of other resources such as influence, status, and net-
works (Winkel, Wyland, Shaffer, & Clason, 2011). In conse-
quence, conservation of resources theory (COR) constitutes
the theoretical mainstay of this article. This theory holds
that ‘‘people strive to retain, protect, and build resources
and that what is threatening to them is the potential or ac-
tual loss of these valued resources’’ (Hobfo
¨ll, 1989, p. 516).
According to COR theory, individuals employ the resources
they possess to manage stressful experiences. These re-
sources can facilitate the development and use of other re-
sources – in this case, one!s ability to use emotions and
emotional knowledge is employed in order to be mentally
healthy and perform well at work. Underlying this is the ten-
dency that emotionally intelligent individuals are more tol-
erant of stressful situations owing to their adaptive ability
to process emotional information, as well as being able to
manage negative emotions and cognitions successfully
(Salovey, Bedell, Detweiler, & Mayer, 1999).
Thus, emotional intelligence may moderate the above
relationship as it can assist individuals in getting the balance
"right!when expending mental energy with regard to sus-
taining their mental health at work and performing well
(i.e., in terms of task and contextual performance). To
get the balance right appears pivotal given that ‘‘... sick
and depressed employees are not likely to be great perform-
ers (Judge & Kammeyer-Mueller, 2008, pp. 140–141). At the
same time, Fisher (2003) shows that well-performing
employees derive a sense of well-being from so doing. The
core argument would appear to be this; in order to perform
well at work, one must be in possession of adequate mental
health. Conversely, individuals also pursue success at work
to boost their confidence and self-esteem (Hough, 2003),
suggesting that mental health and performance often mutu-
ally dependent upon each other.
With regard to task performance, several more specific
reasons suggest why emotional intelligence may moderate
its relationship with mental health. To begin with, being
emotionally intelligent implies being adept at processing
emotional data at maximum capacity (Mayer, Caruso, &
Salovey, 1999). Emotions, in turn, can facilitate or hinder
psychological adaptation (Lazarus, 2006). For instance,
the perceived threat-based anxiety that one is overbur-
dened with task assignments may result in stress (see Mat-
thews et al., 2006), which can impair accurate task
performance. In this respect, Bastian et al. (2005) show that
low emotional intelligence predicts up to 6% variance in a
measure of anxiety. Furthermore, research has shown that
low emotional intelligence incrementally predicts (over per-
sonality factors) pre-task distress and worry and post-task
worry and avoidance coping, though it does not predict
task-induced changes in stress state (Matthews et al.,
2006). Therefore, one!s ability to reason with and under-
stand emotion has been suggested to be linked to lower
stress levels. Lower levels of anxiety, in turn, may aid in
performing better on job-related tasks. One potential rea-
son for this is that individuals high in emotional intelligence
may perceive environmental stressors and obstacles more as
a challenge rather than a source of stress, ultimately lead-
ing to less aversive outcomes for individuals (Salovey,
Mayer, & Caruso, 2002). Past research supports this view,
suggesting that emotionally intelligent tend to center upon
those strategies that proved effective in the past, such as
recalling positive memories whilst refraining from using
ineffective ones, such as avoiding problems (Ciarrochi,
Chan, & Caputi, 2000). Therefore, some suggest that this
can aid individuals to promote motivation and eventually
performance on various tasks at work (see also Joseph &
Newman, 2010).
In a similar vein, emotions are not only ‘‘key components
of thinking and cognition... emotions can enhance [an indi-
viduals] thinking’’ (Caruso & Salovey, 2004, p. 43). In conse-
quence, being closed-off to one!s emotions may contribute
to a failure to adaptively use one!s emotions to reason with
and about emotions (Mayer et al., 1999). Individuals en-
gulfed in positive moods tend to be more optimistic, which
prompts them to perceive that positive events are more
likely to come about then negative ones. Conversely, nega-
tive moods propel individuals toward a more pessimistic
outlook, in which negative events are more likely to come
about than positive ones (Bower, 1981). Thus, by evaluating
the same opportunities and problems with varying moods, a
wider spectrum of alternatives manifests itself (see George,
2000, for a review). These more numerous alternatives can
then enable individuals to find adaptive and beneficial strat-
egies to reconcile the need to remain in adequate health
while perform well on assigned tasks. Thus, it is hypothe-
sized that:
Hypothesis 1a. Emotional intelligence moderates the rela-
tionship between mental health and task performance. That
is, mental health is related to task performance when
emotional intelligence is high, but not low.
On the other hand, emotional intelligence may also mod-
erate the relationship between mental health and contex-
tual performance. Again, emotional intelligence is
assumed to be a resource that can be used to balance con-
flicting interests at work, which can differ considerably be-
tween individuals and organizations. As noted earlier,
contextual performance implies both interpersonal and voli-
tional behaviors supporting the social and motivational
parameters in which organizational work is achieved. Of
note, performance at work is often contingent upon the
support, advice and access to resources provided by others
(Kelley & Caplan, 1993). In order to react to social situations
appropriately, individuals often have to understand the
emotions of others, as well as their attitudes, motives,
and behavioral intentions, and needs conveyed by those
emotions (Caruso & Salovey, 2004). In consequence, the
quality of social interactions plays a decisive role in deter-
mining whether one can draw on such a supportive network
at work (Caruso & Salovey, 2004). The presence of emo-
tional intelligence can influence this process in manifold
ways. For instance, being adept at using and understanding
emotions can help nurture positive social interactions and
exchanges at work, and, in consequence, may facilitate em-
ployee performance (O!Boyle et al., 2011). As Mayer and
Salovey (1997, p. 22) note, ‘‘using the emotions as one basis
for thinking, and thinking with emotions themselves, may be
related to important social competencies and adaptive
behavior’’.
In addition, the ability to reason with and understand
emotions may enable individuals to gauge appropriately
Does emotional intelligence moderate the relationship between mental health and job performance? 3
Please cite this article in press as: Lindebaum, D., Does emotional intelligence moderate the relationship between mental health and job perfor-
mance? An exploratory study, European Management Journal (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2012.08.002
how much energy they need to invest in their contextual
performance without experiencing negative health effects.
This is because emotional intelligence implies the interac-
tion between emotion and cognition, leading to adaptive
functioning (Salovey & Grewal, 2005). Therefore, it would
appear that it enables them to invest enough mental and
emotional energy in order to perform well at work, bearing
in mind that any energy expended beyond that level is likely
to impair their mental health in undesirable or dysfunctional
ways. In other words, if one is too dedicated at work over
long periods of time, individuals pay a price in terms of
physiological and psychological costs (Sparks, Cooper,
Fried, & Shirom, 1997). For instance, working long hours
or emotional investment turning into obstinate and passion-
ate commitment to a particular course of action irrespec-
tive of consequences are very real manifestations at work,
and their detrimental health implications are well-docu-
mented (Staw & Ross, 1989). Likewise, when employees
are persistently required to be dedicated at work and be
effective by working closely with colleagues they find diffi-
cult to work with, they may experience an over-taxing that
can lead to negative health effects when situational de-
mands exceed individual resources (Zapf, Seifert,
Schmutte, Mertini, & Holz, 2001). In fact, it has been theo-
rized that emotional intelligence may enable individuals to
balance both their health and organizational interest (i.e.,
being seen as a high performer) up to the point when the
individual cannot cope with the demands of the job any fur-
ther (i.e., there is a curvilinear relationship, see Linde-
baum, 2012). In light of these arguments, Salovey and
Grewal (2005) plausibly discuss the benefits of emotional
intelligence with regard to better psychosocial functioning.
Therefore, it is hypothesized that:
Hypothesis 1b. Emotional intelligence moderates the rela-
tionship between mental health and contextual perfor-
mance. That is, mental health is related to contextual
performance when emotional intelligence is high, but not
low.
Method
Procedure and sample
Access was sought to two public sector organizations in
the UK between mid 2009 and 2010. The first organization
is a City Council, and participants were administrators
from a range of social services, while the HR department
of a University constituted the second participating organi-
zation. Having secured support from the several depart-
mental managers in both organizations, they were asked
how many participants (i.e., target individuals plus super-
visors rating their performance) they believed would
volunteer to partake in this study, yielding 50 sets of ques-
tionnaires from the former, and 51 from the latter (i.e., a
total of 101 clusters were sent out, equaling 202 question-
naires). 137 paper-based questionnaires were returned (37
from the city council, and 100 from the university), yield-
ing a response rate of 67.8%. Precisely put, 67 team mem-
bers and 70 line managers returned their questionnaires (n
of matched pairs: 57). Of the 67 team member, 20 were
male and 47 female. Age ranged from 22 to 63 years.
Overall, the response rate is well within the range of pub-
lished studies in the management literature (Mitchell,
1985), especially when multi-rater studies are considered.
Demographic data (i.e., age and weekly hours worked) as
well as reliability and correlation coefficients are given in
Table 1.
Method variance was limited by collecting predictor and
outcome variables from different sources (Podsakoff,
MacKenzie, Lee, & Podsakoff, 2003) in addition to employ-
ing different scoring protocols (i.e., Likert-type scale vs.
performance-based test). The use of self-reported data with
identical scoring protocols has been a major criticism lev-
eled at studies on emotional intelligence (Antonakis,
2004). The line managers provided all performance mea-
sures, since they know best how their team members!
behavior contributes to the overall targets of the organiza-
tion (Lawler, 1967). The team members provided an ability-
based rating of their emotional intelligence, as well as
scores on the mental health measure.
Measures
Emotional intelligence
The test of emotional intelligence (TEMINT – see Schmidt-
Atzert & Bu
¨hner, 2002) was used in this study. This question-
naire-based test is increasingly adopted to assess the ability
of emotional reasoning and understanding in the fashion of
performance-based tests (Beblo et al., 2010; Blickle,
Momm, Liu, Witzki, & Steinmayr, 2011; Blickle et al.,
2009). That is, responses to test items can be reliably distin-
guished as correct or incorrect. In the scale, situations
experienced by various target individuals are outlined, and
the test taker is asked to rate the target persons!potential
emotional experiences. An example would be the case of a
24-year-old female student: ‘‘I have failed an important
exam and therefore have to retake it’’. The test taker is
then asked to put him/herself in the position of the student
to indicate to what extent (i.e., either ‘‘not at all or very
weak‘‘, or ‘‘weak to medium‘‘, or ‘‘strong to very strong‘‘)
the target individual felt dislike, anger, fear, unease, sad-
ness, guilt, happiness, pride, affection, and surprise. The
more accurate the test taker is in determining the target
individual!s original response, the higher the emotional
intelligence of the test taker. Thus, any ‘‘hit’’ will get a
score of 0, whilst any deviation may earn a score of 1 and
2, respectively. Due to the scoring protocol, a low score
on the TEMINT indicates high emotional intelligence.
Being an ability measure, the TEMINT has to demonstrate
convergent and discriminant validity with measures of
GMA and personality (Brody, 2004). As reported in Blickle
et al. (2009), these criteria have been met. This measure
has yielded satisfactory reliability estimates of .76
(Amelang & Steinmayr, 2006) and .77 (Schmidt-Atzert &
Bu
¨hner, 2002), respectively. There is thus evidence to sug-
gest that the TEMINT is ‘‘a thoughtfully developed and
promising measure of Ability EI’’ (Amelang & Steinmayr,
2006, p. 467), exhibiting encouraging support of construct
validity.
4 D. Lindebaum
Please cite this article in press as: Lindebaum, D., Does emotional intelligence moderate the relationship between mental health and job per-
formance? An exploratory study, European Management Journal (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2012.08.002
Mental health
To examine mental health of participants, the Crown and
Crisp Experiential Index was used (CCEI) was administered.
The measure is designed to measure six different kinds of
neurotic psychopathology, yielding an overall score of neu-
roticism (Crown & Crisp, 1979). Note that this study opera-
tionalizes mental health via its proxy neuroticism, as
defined earlier. Past research has shown that it is an imped-
iment to functioning well in everyday live (Cropley, Step-
toe, & Joekes, 1999). The manual states explicitly that it
is also designed to examine samples from industry. In fact,
it has been widely operationalized as a measure of mental
health in management studies (Cartwright & Cooper, 1993;
Cooper, Rout, & Faragher, 1989; Robertson, Cooper, & Wil-
liams, 1990). Low scores suggest the absence of neurotic
psychopathology. Given that neurotic psychopathology can
debilitating effects on how individuals can perform at work
(Kohut, 1971), the aforementioned definition of mental
health as referring to being one!s ability to work creatively
and productively, amongst others, constitutes a suitable
theoretical foundation for this study. This measure is a
self-rated scale comprising six subscales, intended to mea-
sure six different kinds of neurotic psychopathology: (i)
free-floating anxiety, (ii) phobic anxiety, (iii) obsessionality,
(iv) somatic anxiety, (v) depression, and (vi) hysteria. Each
subscale consists of eight questions, which are followed by
two or three possible answers (i.e., scores of 0 indicate
good mental health, whereas 1 and 2 gradually indicate
poorer mental health). These scales were combined to form
an overall score of mental health as recommend in the liter-
ature (e.g., Birtchnell, Evans, & Kennard, 1998). Note that
meta-analytic evidence supports the validity and reliability
of this measure (Alderman, Mackay, Lucas, & Spry, 1983).
Reliability coefficients are calculated using split-half reli-
ability, as items are non-homogeneous. The global score
complied with acceptable levels of internal consistency
(i.e., .85).
Task performance
This was assessed with three items from a general perfor-
mance measure (Farh, Dobbins, & Bor-Shiuan, 1991). These
items are as follows: (i) ‘‘What do you think of his/her qual-
ity of work? Are his/her work outcomes perfect, free of er-
ror, and of high accuracy?’’, (ii) ‘‘What do you think of his/
her work efficiency? What is your assessment of his/her
work speed or quantity of work?’’, and (iii) ‘‘What do you
think of his/her work performance? Is he/she able to com-
plete quality work on time?’’. This scale is rated on a 5-
point Likert-type scale, where 1 indicates very low quality
and 5 excellent quality.
Contextual performance
This was assessed using a scale developed by van Scotter
and Motowidlo (1996). The scale comprises 15 items that re-
flect two dimensions, namely, interpersonal facilitation and
job dedication. Seven items are used to capture interper-
sonal facilitation, an example being ‘‘How likely is he/she
to praise co-workers when they are successful?’’ Eight items
tap into job dedication, one example item being ‘‘How
likely is he/she to work harder than necessary’’? The scale
is rated on 5-point Likert-type scale, where a score of 1 indi-
cates very a negative evaluation, and a score of 5 a very po-
sitive one.
Control variables
Past research has shown that emotional intelligence is re-
lated to gender (coded here 1 = female, and 2 = male) and
age (Brackett & Mayer, 2003; Kafetsios, 2004), while mental
health has been shown to be affected by working long hours
(Sparks et al., 1997). In addition, it has been argued that
types of organization may also affect the predictive validity
of emotional intelligence (Jordan, Dasborough, Daus, & Ash-
kanasy, 2010). Therefore, these variables were included as
control variables.
Results
Table 1 features the mean values, standard deviations, cor-
relations and reliability coefficients for this study, though
the nature of the hypotheses implies that hierarchal moder-
ation analyses is employed to test them (Aiken & West,
1991).
Baron and Kenny (1986) describe a moderator variable as
a ‘‘variable that affects the direction and/or strength of the
Table 1 Means, standard deviations, reliability coefficients and correlations.
MSD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 Age 43.33 9.76 –
2 Weekly working hours 37.16 5.35 .10 –
3 Emotional intelligence 34.63 10.26 .18
*
.13 (.84)
4 Crown–Crisp experiential index 26.01 10.05 .06 !.21
**
!.04 (.85)
5 Task performance 12.51 1.84 !.22 .07 !.09 !.36
***
(.84)
6 Inter-personal facilitation 28.86 4.76 !.16 .06 !.08 !.02 .34
***
(.89)
7 Job dedication 33.16 5.27 !.30
**
.30
**
!.03 !.36
***
.74
***
.60
***
(.88)
Note: n= 67–68 (number 1–4), n= 57–70 (number 5–7): Estimated reliability coefficients in diagonal all Cronbach!s alphas, except for
number 4, which is split-half reliability coefficient corrected by Spearman–Brown.
*
p< .1.
**
p< .05.
***
p< .01 (one-tailed).
Does emotional intelligence moderate the relationship between mental health and job performance? 5
Please cite this article in press as: Lindebaum, D., Does emotional intelligence moderate the relationship between mental health and job perfor-
mance? An exploratory study, European Management Journal (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2012.08.002
relation between an independent or predictor variable and a
dependent or criterion variable’’ (p. 1174). Following rec-
ommendations in the extant literature (Aiken & West,
1991; Frazier et al., 2004), the predictor (i.e., mental
health as measured by the CCEI) and moderator variables
(i.e., emotional intelligence as measured by the TEMINT)
were centered to perform hierarchal moderation regres-
sion. The newly centered variables were used to compute
an interaction term (e.g., CCEI ·emotional intelligence).
The centered total mental health measure and total emo-
tional intelligence score were entered in the first step, fol-
lowed by the same variables plus interaction terms in the
second step (Frazier et al., 2004). The presence of a signif-
icant change in the R
2
in the second step, along with signif-
icant Bweights for the interaction between the moderator
(emotional intelligence) and predictor (mental health),
would indicate the presence of moderator effects (Johnson
& Spector, 2007). As indicated in Table 2, emotional intelli-
gence only moderates the relationship between mental
heath and job dedication (as a dimension of contextual per-
formance (DR
2
= .08, B= .02, pfor both < .05)). Hence,
additional 8% of the variance are explained by the whole
moderated model (F(3(53) = 4.67, p< .01). Yet, it does
not appear to moderate any other relationship examined
here.
A representative slope for the significant moderation ef-
fects is depicted in Figure 2.
The simple slope represents the relationship between
mental health and job dedication at one standard deviation
in emotional intelligence above (i.e., low emotional intelli-
gence) and below (i.e., high emotional intelligence) the
mean. Whilst the relationship between job dedication and
mental health rarely changes in the case of low emotional
intelligence, there is a significant change of the slope when
it is high.
The regressions were repeated whilst controlling for the
two different organizations, gender, age and weekly hours
worked. However, the significant effects of the overall mod-
Table 2 Moderated regression analysis.
Independent variables Task performance Job dedication Interpersonal facilitation
BSE R
2
DR
2
BSE R
2
DR
2
BSE R
2
DR
2
Step 1: Main effects .14
*
.13
*
Crown–Crisp experiential index !.06
**
.02 !.18
**
.06 .02 .06 .06 .01
Emotional intelligence !.02 .02 !.02 .06 !.04 .06 .06
Step 2: Two-way interaction .02 .08
*
.01
Crown–Crisp experiential index !.06
**
.02 !.18
**
.06 .00 .06 .06
Emotional Intelligence !.02 .02 !.02 .06 !04 .06 .06
Crown–Crisp experiential index .01 .00 .02
*
.01 .01 .01 .01
·Emotional intelligence
*
p< .05.
**
p< .01, n= 54–57.
Figure 2 Graph on the interactive effect of emotional intelligence on job dedication and mental health.
6 D. Lindebaum
Please cite this article in press as: Lindebaum, D., Does emotional intelligence moderate the relationship between mental health and job per-
formance? An exploratory study, European Management Journal (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2012.08.002
el disappeared when the controls were applied (F
(7(48) = 2.95, p= .01, R
2
= .30, p= .16). Thus, whilst there
is some evidence that emotional intelligence plays a moder-
ating role between mental health and performance (job
dedication only), it is noteworthy that the effects disappear
when the above control variables are used. From there,
while there is no support for Hypothesis 1a, support for
Hypothesis 1b has been mixed when the control variables
are entered into the model. While not part of the hypothe-
ses testing, it is noteworthy that emotional intelligence
neither correlates significantly with mental health nor per-
formance. However, mental health correlates significantly
with task performance and job dedication (as one dimension
of contextual performance).
Post hoc analysis
A post hoc analysis was conducted to examine whether any
of the CCEI subscales predict significant variance when all
control variables are entered into the model. Only when
somatic anxiety and emotional intelligence are used as
predictor variables for job dedication, the total model
remained significant (R
2
= .33, DR
2
= .06 < .05, Fchange =
4.11, p< .05). All other subscales did not predict significant
variance even without the control variables being entered
into the model.
Discussion
The basic premise of this paper was based upon the ne-
glected issue in emotional intelligence studies that individ-
uals and organizations do not always converge on the same
objectives, and that emotional intelligence may be
harnessed to serve individual interests and organizational
benefits. However, the moderating role of emotional intel-
ligence in the relationship between mental health and
performance has only been partly supported in this analysis.
That is, while emotional intelligence moderates the rela-
tionship between mental health and job dedication, the ef-
fect disappears when the control variables are entered into
the model. However, the post hoc analysis showed that one
subscale still predicted significant variance after the control
variables were considered. In total, therefore, findings of
this study must be regarded as preliminary rather than con-
clusive. Nevertheless, they may have the potential to mean-
ingfully inform theory and practice in the realm of
management research, especially if future replication stud-
ies corroborate these results.
Implications for future management research
Several scholars have cautioned against the "extraordinary!
claims associated with the predictive power of emotional
intelligence in management research (Antonakis, Ashkan-
asy, & Dasborough, 2009). In fact, scholars have maintained
that it must account for incremental liner effects (over and
above GMA and personality) to justify its use in applied
workplace settings as a predictor of job performance
(e.g., Brody, 2004). Findings of this study open up the pos-
sibility to consider an alternative option, namely, that emo-
tional intelligence may predict mental health and job
performance not in an incremental linear fashion (cf.
Hough, 2003), but in an interactive one. The implications
for theory are such that scholars need to recognize that
individuals often face conflicting interests at work, like
the need to perform emotional labor to do well at work
and the resultant negative consequences for one!s health
(Humphrey, in press; Lindebaum & Fielden, 2011). The fact
that almost all studies in the realm of emotional intelli-
gence have either focused upon health-related outcomes
or job performance entails that scholars may have poten-
tially overlooked this important line of research. It is for this
reason that the preliminary evidence on the moderating ef-
fect of emotional intelligence in the relationship between
mental health and job performance is an important first
step en route to further theorizing and empirical
verification.
With a view to task performance, there are several pos-
sible explanations as to why no support for hypothesis 1a
was found. For instance, the theoretical examples provided
earlier on the link between task performance and threat-
based anxiety may not be as distinct in this sample as as-
sumed. That is, if individuals working in the public sector
do not experience anxiety in response to executing job-re-
lated tasks (since they do not stretch them excessively,
for example), then the conflict between concern for one!s
mental health and performing well may not be that acute.
As stated above, individuals high in emotional intelligence
may perceive environmental stressors and obstacles
more as a challenge in lieu of stress, thus leading to less
aversive outcomes for individuals (Salovey et al., 2002). In
the absence of environmental stressors and obstacles, then,
the role of emotional intelligence may be diminished.
With regard to contextual performance, the theorizing
outlined earlier has been only partly supported in terms of
its sub-dimension job dedication. Since being too dedicated
at work (e.g., working long hours or obstinate emotional
investment) can have detrimental health implications (Staw
& Ross, 1989), findings suggest that emotional intelligence
enables individuals to get the balance right in terms of being
dedicated enough in order to perform well at work, bearing
in mind that any energy expended beyond that level is likely
to impair their health in undesirable or dysfunctional ways.
Bear in mind, however, that the control variables entered
into the model partly absorbed the significant effects at
the total mental health score, but not at one subscale.
Contrary to expectations, however, emotional intelli-
gence does not moderate the relationship between the
sub-dimension interpersonal facilitation of the contextual
performance measure and mental health. Neither does
emotional intelligence correlate significantly with interper-
sonal facilitation, albeit this has not been part of the
hypotheses testing. This is an unexpected result in light of
the item wording of this scale. Most of them tap into altru-
istic behaviors toward others (e.g., ‘‘support or encourage a
co-worker with a personal problem’’). Note that emotional
intelligence has been mostly conceptualized as an altruistic
concept within the positive psychology tradition (Van Rooy,
Whitman, & Viswesvaran, 2010). Findings of this study con-
tradict this notion, and highlight that, whilst mental health
is related to job dedication (i.e., a performance dimensions
where individuals may exert discretion in terms of how
much energy they invest to attain immediate personal
Does emotional intelligence moderate the relationship between mental health and job performance? 7
Please cite this article in press as: Lindebaum, D., Does emotional intelligence moderate the relationship between mental health and job perfor-
mance? An exploratory study, European Management Journal (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2012.08.002
gains) when emotional intelligence is high, this effect does
not appear to extend to the collaborative outcomes of the
interpersonal facilitation scale. By extension, this would im-
ply that emotional intelligence may be employed, in the
first place, to secure a competitive edge over colleagues
by way of gauging their job dedication over time in such a
way that they do not experience negative health conse-
quences. Thus, Kilduff, Chiaburu, and Menges!s (2010) theo-
rizing about the potential dark side of emotional
intelligence in form of pursuing self-serving benefits re-
ceives some preliminary empirical support.
Implications for future management practice
There are some important implications for management
practice that flow from this study. First, albeit emotional
intelligence partly moderates the relationship between
mental health and job dedication, it does not moderate
any other relationship. In particular, practitioners should
note the possibility that emotional intelligence may not,
in cases when individuals have to collaborate with col-
leagues even though personality clashes potentially cause
distress, facilitate interpersonal interactions at work to
the extent assumes so far. Second, findings have important
consequences for recruiting and developing a healthy and
productive and workforce, as screening and developmental
processes should be sensitive to the fact that individuals
face often competing interests at work, especially in light
of role-prescriptions and emotional labor demands at work
(Humphrey, in press; Lindebaum & Fielden, 2011). Studying
the role of emotional intelligence relative to individual
mental health and performance in isolation runs the risk
of producing misleading results, as the latter two often
mutually depend upon each others. Therefore, only when
the results obtained are correct and trustworthy should they
be used to inform recruitment and development policies.
The significance of this cannot be overstated given that a
multi-million emotional intelligence "training!industry has
evolved (Kunnanatt, 2004).
Limitations and future research
Whilst method variance has been limited, there are some
limitations that must be recognized in this study. First, it
would have been desirable to rely upon a larger sample size
in order to increase the statistical power of the analysis
(Huck, 2004). This would enable a more robust analysis of
whether the significant effect sizes would remain after
the control variables are included in the model. Likewise,
even though the emotional intelligence measure used in this
study predicts variance in job performance over and above
GMA and personality in another study (Blickle et al.,
2009), future studies should incorporate these important
control variables as well. However, the fact that the signif-
icant effects partly vanished after largely demographic con-
trols were entered signals a major challenge for future
research on the topic. Second, the context in which this
study was embedded may potentially reduce the generaliz-
ability of findings, inasmuch as working conditions in the
public sector can deviate from those in the private sector
(Rainey & Bozeman, 2000). Likewise, there is considerable
contextual variance (e.g., construction, banking, health
care) within the private sector that can also affect the gen-
eralizability of findings. As Johns notes, ‘‘context is likely
responsible for one of the most vexing problems in the field:
study-to-study variation in research findings’’ (2006, p.
389).
These limitations invariably inform important avenues
for future research. First, to more robustly examine the
moderating role of emotional intelligence in the relation-
ship between mental health and performance, there is a
pressing need to replicate this study using a larger sample
with pertinent control variables, as detailed above. If this
would be designed as a comparative study (i.e., private
vs. public sector), most limitations of this study could be
overcome. Second, if emotional intelligence exercises a
moderating influence on the relationship between a predic-
tor and outcome variable within certain ranges (i.e., one
standard deviation below and above the mean), it may be
perfectly possible that it has differential effects on out-
come variables depending upon what percentile of the dis-
tribution is considered. That is, future research could
explore to what extent it predicts outcomes using the
upper, medium, and lower third of the distribution. A re-
cent exchange also makes this point rather clear, suggesting
that individuals may suffer from the "curse of emotions!, as
they are too perceptive to the needs and feelings of others
(Antonakis et al., 2009). This would indicate the possible
existence of curvilinear effects (Tabachnick & Fidell,
2007). Lastly, there is a preponderance of studies in the
emotional intelligence arena that apply a positivist ap-
proach to examining its effects. Whilst conducive in exam-
ining some research questions, such an approach is of
limited value when one seeks to explore the lived experi-
ences of individuals in terms of their maximum capacity
to process emotional information across their life span. Spe-
cifically, did they engage with, and attempted to make
sense of, emotionally challenging events in life (e.g.,
bereavements or being treated unfairly) and, if so, did this
exercise lead to the emotional growth that lies at the heart
of the ability model of emotional intelligence? In this re-
spect, qualitative research may be a beneficial avenue to
pursue here because it allows individuals to reflect upon
the meaning they attach to the phenomenon under investi-
gation (Dey, 1993).
Conclusion
This study found preliminary evidence that emotional intel-
ligence moderates the relationship between mental health
and job performance (i.e., job dedication as one dimension
of contextual performance). In other words, there is a posi-
tive relationship between mental health and job dedication
when emotional intelligence is high, but not low. However,
when controlling for the two different organizations, gen-
der, age and weekly hours worked, the significant effects
disappeared. On the whole, the fact that the post hoc anal-
ysis also yielded a significant effect despite the controls ap-
plied underlines both the preliminary nature of the findings,
and the imperative to replicate this study to be able to draw
firmer conclusions. In light of the resources that organiza-
tions potentially squander by ignoring that individuals often
8 D. Lindebaum
Please cite this article in press as: Lindebaum, D., Does emotional intelligence moderate the relationship between mental health and job per-
formance? An exploratory study, European Management Journal (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2012.08.002
have to balance concerns for their mental health and per-
formance, this study offers some meaningful initially steps
en route to further empirical investigation to either falsify
or verify these findings.
Acknowledgements
I would like to extend my thanks to Lothar Schmidt-Atzert
for making the TEMINT instrument available for this re-
search project.
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DIRK LINDEBAUM is a Senior Lecturer in
Management at University of Liverpool
Management School. His broad research
interest pertains to organizational phenom-
ena that involve emotional processes, such
as emotional intelligence, power and lead-
ership. More recently his attention turned to
the role of neuroscience in management
studies.
Does emotional intelligence moderate the relationship between mental health and job performance? 11
Please cite this article in press as: Lindebaum, D., Does emotional intelligence moderate the relationship between mental health and job perfor-
mance? An exploratory study, European Management Journal (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2012.08.002
