Do Emotional Intelligence, Cognitive Intelligence and Social Intelligence Modulate Leadership Qualities?

Abstract

The latest Human Capital Index (HCI, 2019) by the World Bank revealed that about 56 percent of Ghana’s human capital would go waste in the next 18 years because of the poor quality of leadership in the country’s education system. This study provides empirical insights on whether emotional intelligence, cognitive intelligence and social intelligence modulate leadership qualities in private tertiary institutions in Ghana. Descriptive survey design and a quantitative approach were was used. Three hundred and fifty-three (353) respondents were selected using multi-stage sampling. Validity and reliability of the research instruments were tested using expert judgement and test-retest method, respectively. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used in the analyses of the data. It was found that authentic leadership positively and significantly correlated with cognitive intelligence, emotional intelligence, and social intelligence. The findings revealed that there is a positive and significant relationship between authentic leadership and organisational citizenship behaviour. It is recommended, among other things that Private tertiary institutions recruit and/or promote emotional, social and cognitive intelligent individuals as leaders because these individuals are capable of using effective leadership styles to influence their followers to foster organizational performance and employee commitment.

Keywords

• organisation citizenship behaviour (ocb)
• authentic leadership (al)
• intelligence
• employee commitment higher education and private tertiary institutions (pti)