The role of emotional intelligence in leadership

Abstract

The growing importance of leadership in modern organizations can be explained by the highly dynamic nature of the market, the growing importance of employee motivation to achieve organizational goals, and the constant search for additional sources of competitive advantage. To highlight the role of emotionally intelligent leaders in contemporary organizations, the main objective of this research is to validate the fact that there is a direct link between emotional intelligence and leadership skills. Moreover, emotional intelligence predominantly influences certain aspects of leadership, as shown in this study. The three working hypotheses we issued show that a high level of emotional intelligence is associated with the ability to lead effectively, correlates with the level of consideration of a leader and that there is a directly proportional relationship between the level of emotional intelligence characteristic of a leader and the level of uncertainty tolerance. The findings of the study demonstrate that emotional intelligence, defined as the ability to understand and manage one's emotions, as well as to recognize and influence the emotions of others, is closely related to leadership skills.

Full text

ROMANIAN JOURNAL
OF PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDIES
HYPERION UNIVERSITY
www.hyperion.ro
Corresponding author: Steliana Rizeanu
E-mail address: stelianarizeanu@yahoo.com
THE ROLE OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
IN LEADERSHIP
STELIANA, RIZEANU a MIRELA CLAUDIA, MOMANU a
CRISTINA, MATIANU b
a Hyperion University, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
Department of Psychology
b Titu Maiorescu University, Faculty of Psychology
Abstract
The growing importance of leadership in modern organizations can be explained by
the highly dynamic nature of the market, the growing importance of employee motivation to
achieve organizational goals, and the constant search for additional sources of competitive
advantage. To highlight the role of emotionally intelligent leaders in contemporary
organizations, the main objective of this research is to validate the fact that there is a direct
link between emotional intelligence and leadership skills. Moreover, emotional intelligence
predominantly influences certain aspects of leadership, as shown in this study. The three
working hypotheses we issued show that a high level of emotional intelligence is associated
with the ability to lead effectively, correlates with the level of consideration of a leader and
that there is a directly proportional relationship between the level of emotional intelligence
characteristic of a leader and the level of uncertainty tolerance. The findings of the study
demonstrate that emotional intelligence, defined as the ability to understand and manage
one's emotions, as well as to recognize and influence the emotions of others, is closely related
to leadership skills.
Keywords: emotional intelligence, leadership, leadership skills.
1. INTRODUCTION
Emotional intelligence, the ability to understand and manage one's emotions,
and to recognize and influence the emotions of others were first mentioned in 1990
by researchers and Peter Salovey and John Mayer, and later popularized by
psychologist Daniel Goleman, who emphasized the importance of emotional
intelligence in leadership (Goleman, 2019). Subsequently, several researchers have
studied the importance of emotional intelligence in various fields (Mikulovic, 2021;
Rizeanu, Haica, 2020, Rizeanu, 2016; Stomff, 2014). The growing importance of

Steliana Rizeanu, Mirela Claudia Momanu, Cristina Matianu– Romanian Journal of
Psychological Studies, Hyperion University
32
leadership in modern organizations can be explained by the highly dynamic nature
of the market, the growing importance of employee motivation to achieve
organizational goals, and the constant search for additional sources of competitive
advantage (Grout and Fisher, 2011).
The situational leadership approach (Paul Hersey, 1985) argues that effective
leaders change their leadership style according to the maturity of the people they
lead and the task, which requires an objective assessment of subordinates in which
leaders must understand well. how their emotions and actions affect the people
around them, a differentiating element between successful and least accomplished
leaders. According to Lepard and Foster (2003), given the growing importance of
effective leadership in organizations, the task of measuring the level of effectiveness
of leadership practices remains complex and ambiguous.
The 2003 study conducted by Higgs and Aitken explores how emotional
intelligence can be a predictor of leadership potential. The results of the research
provide evidence which support the relationship between emotional intelligence and
leadership potential, both theoretically and by the results obtained through this study
on leadership performance (Higgs & Aitken, 2003). Subsequently, in 2010, a study
conducted by Cote, Salovey, Lopes, and Miners summarized findings from two
studies, examining the association between emotional intelligence and the
emergence of leadership. The results showed that emotional intelligence is related to
leadership, with a greater weight than cognitive intelligence, personality traits and
gender. One of the dimensions of emotional intelligence, the ability to understand
emotions, has been most consistently associated with the emergence of leadership
(Côté et al., 2010).
In his study conducted in 2010, Kellerman points out that people who aspire to
a leadership role must also consider an emotional element needed to successfully
coordinate teams, manage stress, provide feedback, and collaborate with the others.
A leader is important to the organization as it builds a work environment, and an
effective work environment helps to build a solid and stable growth of the
organization (Kellerman, 2010). In 2012, the research done by Lam and O’Higgins
examined the interdependent influences of managers’ emotional intelligence,
leadership styles, and employee outcomes. The study was conducted in two large
organizations in Shanghai, China, and the results highlighted the interrelationships
between managers' emotional intelligence, leadership style, and employee outcomes,
indicating that managers' transformational leadership style fully mediates the
relationship between managers' emotional intelligence and satisfaction of the
employees (Lam & O'Higgins, 2012).
In 2019 Goleman concludes that human relations should be very important for
a leader who should have personal contacts with employees and should listen to their
problems and solve them, treating employees in humanitarian conditions. From this
perspective, it is obvious that a leader must have adequate emotional intelligence to

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33
be able to easily get in touch with his subordinates, on several levels. This important
element, which is emotional intelligence, represents almost 90% of what
differentiates superior performance from colleagues with similar skills and technical
knowledge (Goleman, 2019).
2. OBJECTIVE AND HYPOTHESES
2.1. OBJECTIVE
The research objectives focus on:
1. There is a direct link between emotional intelligence and leadership skills.
Moreover, emotional intelligence predominantly influences certain aspects of
leadership skills.
2. People in leadership positions show predominantly emotional intelligence
along with leadership characteristics.
2.2. HYPOTHESES
The research hypotheses are as follows:
1. A high level of emotional intelligence is thought to be associated with
increased ability of leadership.
2. It is estimated that a high level of emotional intelligence is an indicator of a
high level of consideration of a leader.
3. It is assumed that in the case of leaders, there is a directly proportional
relationship between the level of emotional intelligence and the level of tolerance of
uncertainty.
3. METHOD
3.1 The participants
The group on which the research was conducted consists of 136 respondents,
who filled in the online forms. The average age of the respondents is 39 years, 76%
being female respondents and 26% male respondents. From the point of view of
graduated studies, 96% graduated higher education and 4% secondary education.
Within the studied group, 59% of the participants had or held management positions,
while 41% of the respondents did not exercise management positions.

Steliana Rizeanu, Mirela Claudia Momanu, Cristina Matianu– Romanian Journal of
Psychological Studies, Hyperion University
34
3.2 The instruments
1. The test of emotional intelligence developed by Daniel Goleman (1995),
adapted by Mihaela Rocco (2004) which consists of 10 questions that present some
situations (scenarios) in which a person may be.
2. The Leadership Behavior Description Questionnaire developed by Stogdill
(1963) which measures component aspects of a leader's behavior.
3.3 Procedure
The questionnaires were completed online by the respondents, stating that both
the code of ethics and the GDPR legislation were complied with. All participants
were instructed in the research and agreed, being aware of their anonymous identity.
3.4 The design
The following variables were used for the design of the research:
1. The dependent variables are: emotional intelligence (IE), consideration (C),
reconciliation of requirements (IC), tolerance of uncertainty (IT), power of
persuasion (PC), assumption of role (AR), integration (I), orientation towards
superiors (OS), leader behavior (L).
2. Independent variables: gender of subjects, age category of subjects,
completed studies, holding leadership positions and categories of emotional
intelligence in which they fall (after analyzing the scores obtained on the emotional
intelligence questionnaire).
4. RESULTS
Following the application and interpretation of the emotional intelligence
questionnaire, 4 categories resulted and in terms of them the sample would be
composed of: 71 people with below average emotional intelligence (52%), 44 people
with average emotional intelligence (32%), 20 people with above average emotional
intelligence (15%) and 1 person with exceptional emotional intelligence (1%). Also,
the normality distributions for the dependent variables were analyzed and it was
observed that they have distributions that do not deviate severely from the normal
distribution curve, which confirms the possibility of applying parametric statistical
tests to validate working hypotheses.
Hypothesis no. 1: It is assumed that a high level of emotional intelligence is
associated with an increased ability of leadership. To verify and validate the first

Steliana Rizeanu, Mirela Claudia Momanu, Cristina Matianu– Romanian Journal of
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hypothesis, the Pearson Correlation Coefficient was calculated. Table 1 shows the
results of this analysis.
Table no. 1 - The results of the Pearson Correlation Coefficient between the level
of emotional intelligence (IE) and the level of general leadership skills (L)
IE
L
IE
Pearson Correlation
1.000
.220a
Sig. (2-tailed)
.010
N
136
136
L
Pearson Correlation
.220a
1.000
Sig. (2-tailed)
.010
N
136
136
The results validate hypothesis no. 1: with a statistical significance p = 0.010
and a correlation coefficient r = 0.220 it is confirmed that there is a positive
correlation of medium intensity between the level of emotional intelligence (IE) and
the level of general leadership skills (L). In conclusion, hypothesis no. 1 is fully
validated, and it can be stated that there is a directly proportional relationship
between the level of emotional intelligence and the level of general leadership skills
which is the characteristic of a leader in contemporary organizations.
Hypothesis 2: It is estimated that a high level of emotional intelligence is an
indicator of a high level of consideration of a leader. To test this hypothesis, we used
the Pearson Correlation Coefficient, and the results are shown in Table 2.
Table no. 2 - The results of the Pearson Correlation Coefficient between the level
of emotional intelligence (IE) and the level of consideration of a leader (C)
IE
C
IE
Pearson Correlation
1.000
.390a
Sig. (2-tailed)
.000
N
136
136
C
Pearson Correlation
.390a
1.000
Sig. (2-tailed)
.000
N
136
136
The results validate the hypothesis no. 2: with a statistical significance p =
0.000 and a correlation coefficient r = 0.390 it is estimated that there is a positive
correlation of medium intensity between the level of emotional intelligence (IE) and
the level of consideration of a leader (C). According to these results, hypothesis 2
can be interpreted qualitatively as: when the level of emotional intelligence (IE)
increases, the level of consideration of a leader (C) also increases.

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Hypothesis no. 3: It is assumed that in the case of leaders, there is a directly
proportional relationship between the level of emotional intelligence and the level of
tolerance of uncertainty. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to verify and
validate this hypothesis. The table below shows the results obtained.
Table no. 3 - Pearson correlation coefficient results between the level of emotional
intelligence (IE) and the level of tolerance of uncertainty (IT)
IE
TI
IE
Pearson Correlation
1.000
.394a
Sig. (2-tailed)
.000
N
136
136
TI
Pearson Correlation
.394a
1.000
Sig. (2-tailed)
.000
N
136
136
The test validates hypothesis no. 3 having a statistical significance p = 0.000 and
a correlation coefficient r = 0.394. This confirms that there is a positive correlation
of medium intensity between the level of emotional intelligence (EI) and the level of
tolerance of uncertainty of a leader (IT). According to these results, hypothesis 3 can
be interpreted qualitatively as: as the level of emotional intelligence (IE) increases,
so does the level of uncertainty tolerance characteristic of a leader (IT).
For all statistical analyzes, the 95% CI confidence interval does not contain the
value zero. The effect size is average. The effect obtained is unlikely to have
occurred by chance and seems quite important from a practical point of view
(Vasiliu, 2018).
5. CONCLUSIONS
The research highlighted certain aspects of the relationship between emotional
intelligence and leadership skills. A leader is important to the organization because
it builds a work environment, and an effective work environment helps to build a
solid and stable growth of the organization and thus human relationships should be
very important for a leader.
Over time, studies have shown that people who aspire to a leadership role must
also consider an emotional element (Higgs & Aitken, 2003; Côté et al., 2010;
Kellerman, 2010; Lam & O ' Higgins, 2012). It is what helps a good leader to
successfully coach teams, manage stress, provide feedback, and collaborate with
others.
This research showed that there is a direct relationship between the level of
emotional intelligence and the level of general leadership skills characteristic of a

Steliana Rizeanu, Mirela Claudia Momanu, Cristina Matianu– Romanian Journal of
Psychological Studies, Hyperion University
37
leader in contemporary organizations, supporting similar results obtained by Higgs
and Aitken in their 2003 study exploring the extent to which emotional intelligence
be a predictor of leadership potential.
Regarding the link between the emotional intelligence and the ability of a leader
for consideration, it can be said that there is a direct proportional relationship
between the level of emotional intelligence and the level of consideration of a leader,
his concern for general condition and status of subordinates, results similar to those
mentioned by Kellerman (2010), who states that people who aspire to a leadership
role must also consider the emotional element needed to successfully coordinate
teams, manage stress, provide feedback and to collaborate with others.
Another aspect of the research also highlighted the fact that there is a directly
proportional relationship between emotional intelligence and tolerance of
uncertainty in a leader, his ability to withstand uncertainty and procrastination
without becoming anxious or nervous. Similarly, in terms of uncertainty tolerance,
the situational leadership approach of Paul Hersey (1985) argues that effective
leaders change their leadership style according to the maturity of the people they
lead and the task. Coordination of activities can be achieved by the leader by
reconciling personal interests with organizational goals, part of the process of
tolerating uncertainty.
In conclusion, the aspects highlighted by the research support the similar results
of the mentioned research in the field, stating that the results of this research were
obtained in a relatively different period from daily normality, namely in the
pandemic, when part of human relations were affected by restrictions which were
globally imposed. A possible future direction of research could be the inference of
the pandemic anxiety and stress on leadership skills and whether emotional
intelligence could play a moderating role in this relationship.
Received at: 21.01.2022, Accepted for publication on: 11.02.2022
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