Who succeeds in a leadership course? Achievement is predicted by ability-tested but not self-reported emotional intelligence

Abstract

We examine Emotional Intelligence (EI) as a predictor of academic performance in business school leadership coursework. Leadership requires competent interaction with subordinates on an interpersonal level. This requires interpersonal skills, such as engaging in difficult conversations. We argue that performance in a course that develops these skills is facilitated by EI. We report data from two studies (Study 1 N = 609; Study 2 N = 529) in which students completed a battery of both self-reported and ability-tested EI measures. Controlling for cognitive ability and personality, ability-tested EI predicted leadership course grades in both studies, whereas self-reported EI did not do so in either. Each of the ability EI constructs tested—namely emotion perception, emotional understanding, emotion management, and emotion attention regulation—significantly predicted course performance. These findings suggest information about ability EI can lead to understanding who stands to benefit most from leadership education and for students to be more accurate in their self-assessments about their emotional abilities.

Keywords

• Emotional intelligence
• Ability testing
• Leadership
• Academic performance
• Leadership course performance