A closer look at ability emotional intelligence (EI): What are its component parts, and how do they relate to each other?

Abstract

In this review, we focus on two key questions about the nature of emotional intelligence (EI). First, we consider what the different parts of EI might be, suggesting a taxonomy that builds on the well‐known hierarchical four‐branch model to include six narrow abilities (emotion perception, emotion expression, emotion attention regulation, emotion understanding, emotion regulation of self, and emotion regulation of others). Second, we review evidence for the interrelations between these six narrow abilities. The interrelationships of the EI narrow abilities are a key criterion for viewing EI as a kind of intelligence, rather than a typical way of behaving. Our review concludes that the six narrow abilities comprising EI are all positively interrelated—the component parts of EI converge to form a whole. In addition, the level of interrelationships shows that emotion expression and emotion perception are clearly separate, with weaker evidence for the separation between emotion regulation of self versus emotion regulation of others. Using the older research tradition of emotion recognition (which predates EI), we present a detailed overview of the relationship between emotion perception and other narrow abilities of EI. We conclude that the narrow facets of EI converge with each other, providing one form of evidence to support the validity of EI as a type of intelligence.

The unique and common effects of emotional intelligence dimensions on job satisfaction and facets of job performance: an exploratory study in three countries

“…The results show substantial correlations between the four EI dimensions (Germany: .17 to .51; mean ¼ .38; India: .62 to .72; mean ¼ .67; U.S.: .47 to .73; mean ¼ .59). These intercorrelations are comparable with average correlation of .49 identified in prior meta-analytic studies (Elfenbein & MacCann, 2017).…”

Emotional intelligence research in Australia: Past contributions and future directions

“…Partly because a focus on discriminant validity has dominated the research agenda (showing that self‐rated EI was distinct from the five major domains of personality; and ability EI was distinct from known cognitive abilities), there has been little focus on the conceptual underpinnings of the components of EI. The four‐branch model of EI has been unchanged and unexamined since the 1990s, and there are now calls to expand and revise this theoretical model (Elfenbein & MacCann, ).…”

Exploring the direct and indirect effects of emotional intelligence and frequency of customer contact on organisational citizenship behaviours among hotel employees in Mexico

“…Similarly, having frequent interactions with customers affords emotionally intelligent front-of-house hotel employees the opportunity to quickly acquire relevant information related to emergent issues within the organisation (Elfenbein and MacCann, 2017). Being aware of such issues may motivate employees to engage in altruistic behaviours such as helping fellow colleagues adjust to new working conditions or informally mentoring colleagues to develop their skills, in order to address customer-related issues as a means of improving service quality.…”