The relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership styles in the South African petrochemical industry

SA Journal of Industrial Psychology

 
 
Field Value
 
Title The relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership styles in the South African petrochemical industry
 
Creator Pillay, Maggie Viviers, Rian Mayer, Claude-Helene
 
Subject industrial psychology; organisational psychology; positive psychology Emotional intelligence; Transformational leadership; Transactional leadership; Laissez-faire, Effective leadership
Description Orientation: Although research on emotional intelligence in the context of leadership has remained a recurrent area of interest in theory and practice during the past decade, ongoing debate continues regarding the contribution of emotional intelligence to the understanding of leadership.Research purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between self-reported emotional intelligence and leadership styles in a South African context and to determine whether emotional intelligence can predict an effective leadership style.Motivation for the study: Research is needed in order to determine a more detailed relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership in the dynamic and globalising South African petrochemical context.Research design, approach and method: The study was conducted in terms of a positivist paradigm, using quantitative research instruments. Leaders (N = 161) were selected from a business unit in a South African petrochemical organisation. Self-reports from the emotional quotient inventory and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ Form 5X, Version 2009) were analysed. Correlation analyses indicated statistically-significant relationships between emotional intelligence and transformational and laissez-faire leadership.Main findings: Findings indicated positive correlations between self-reported emotional intelligence (specifically adaptability) and transformational leadership. Negative correlations were obtained between emotional intelligence (specifically intrapersonal skills) and laissez-faire leadership. The research also showed differences between specific demographic variables.Practical/managerial implications: This study provides valuable significance for organisations’ endeavours in improving, training and identifying alternative selection and assessment procedures for evaluating leaders’ strengths.Contribution/value-add: This research contributes to the South African research on emotional intelligence and leadership styles and thereby adds context-specific value to the topic within a specific cultural and organisational context.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor None
Date 2013-11-08
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Quantitative survey design
Format text/html application/octet-stream text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajip.v39i1.1109
 
Source SA Journal of Industrial Psychology; Vol 39, No 1 (2013); 12 pages 2071-0763 0258-5200
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://sajip.co.za/index.php/sajip/article/view/1109/1473 https://sajip.co.za/index.php/sajip/article/view/1109/1474 https://sajip.co.za/index.php/sajip/article/view/1109/1475 https://sajip.co.za/index.php/sajip/article/view/1109/1472
 
Coverage South Africa Current Race; gender; age; qualifications; years of experience; management levels
Rights Copyright (c) 2013 Maggie Pillay, Rian Viviers, Claude-Helene Mayer https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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