Does Trait Emotional Intelligence Predict Unique Variance in Early Career Success Beyond IQ and Personality?

Abstract

In order to determine the contribution of emotional intelligence (EI) to career success, in this study, we analyzed the relationship between trait EI (TEI), general mental ability (GMA), the big five personality traits, and career success indicators, in a sample of 130 graduates who were in the early stages of their careers. Results from hierarchical regression analyses indicated that TEI, and especially its dimension ''repair,'' has incremental validity in predicting one of the career success indicators (salary) after controlling for GMA and personality. These findings provide support for the use of TEI measures as predictors of career success in the early stage.

The Contribution of Emotional Intelligence to Career Success: Beyond Personality Traits

“…The purpose of the present study was to investigate the predictive and incremental validity of emotional intelligence over personality factors and proactive personality variables for career success (salary and job satisfaction) in a sample of early and later career graduates. Our findings confirmed the previously reported relationships between emotional intelligence and career success in different populations [44,59,60]. Our results also went beyond these previous findings, including some aspects that were not controlled in previous studies.…”

“…Correlational analyses showed that emotional intelligence was positively corelated to both salary and job satisfaction. Regarding salary, our results were similar to the results of De Haro and Castejón [44], who found a positive correlation with emotional repair. The results generated by the relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction were consistent with those found by previous studies [25,60,61].…”

“…Following Judge et al’s [56] approach, both extrinsic and intrinsic measures of career success were used. Extrinsic success was measured based on salary, restricted to the range presented by De Haro & Castejón [44]. Participants’ monthly salary was divided into seven categories: (1) Less than 600€, (2) between 600 and 1000€, (3) between 1000 and 1200€; (4) between 1200 and 1500; (5) between 1500 and 1800€; (6) between 1800 and 2000€, and (7) more than 2000€.…”

“…There is a consensus that emotional intelligence and personality overlap on some levels [42,43]. Thus, considering all the above mentioned factors, it is not surprising that researchers have started to consider both factors when explaining career success [44]. Including personality factors as controlled variables is therefore a stringent test supporting the relevance of emotional intelligence, independent from other theoretically and empirically robust predictors.…”

Assessment of Problem‐Solving Skills and Inhibitory Control in Mice Using Water Escape Detour Test

“…These data show that abstract reasoning and learning abilities are not sufficient for achieving success in life; therefore, it has been proposed that emotional intelligence is the missing factor that predicts success and harnesses emotion to enable efficient problem solving (Brackett, Rivers, & Salovey, 2011). Human studies have shown that emotional intelligence, which can be assessed with emotion-based problem-solving tasks, is not only important for achieving personal success but is also crucial for mental health (Brackett et al, 2011;Garcıa & Costa, 2014;Hertel, Schutz, & Lammers, 2009;Quintana-Orts, Rey, Mérida-López, & Extremera, 2019). However, despite the importance of emotional intelligence, its biological mechanism is still not well understood.…”