Role of Emotional Intelligence in Leadership Effectiveness: A Study of Corporate Executives

Abstract

In the fast-paced and changing corporate climate of today, efficient leadership is a key factor influencing organizational performance. As corporate executives navigate complex challenges, they have to have a certain mix of intellectual capacity, technical knowledge, and people skills. Emotional intelligence (EI) is one important element that has attracted much interest in recent years. Emotional intelligence makes it easier to manage and know both one’s feelings and those of others. Higher emotional intelligence makes a person more capable of moral thinking, emotional responsiveness and corporate behavior. Emotional intelligence’s role in corporate executives’ leadership effectiveness is the focus of this study. Specifically, it aims to investigate the connection between leadership effectiveness and emotional intelligence. By exploring this relationship, the goal of this study is to add to the body of knowledge already available on emotional intelligence and leadership while also offering firms guidance on how to cultivate emotionally intelligent leaders who can propel their companies to success. Total 72 Corporate Executives adults aged between 25-45 years participated in the study from different cities and 60 (N=60) Corporate Executives were included in the study. SPSS version 27.0 was used to analyse the data. Pearson’s correlational study revealed a positive correlation between leadership effectiveness and emotional intelligence. The coefficient value was r=.265, p=.041. Through regression analysis it was found that emotional intelligence does have an effect on leadership effectiveness, but the effect is very low. The regression values were r2 =.070, which indicates that emotion intelligence accounts for only 7% of change in leadership effectiveness.