A meta analysis of emotional intelligenc
This peer-reviewed meta-analysis (Miao, Humphrey & Qian, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 2017) synthesizes studies linking three EI streams (ability, self-report, mixed) to work attitudes: job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions. All three EI types relate positively to job satisfaction (ability q = .08; self-report q = .32; mixed q = .39). Self-report and mixed EI show modest but significant incremental validity over cognitive ability and the Big Five for predicting job attitudes (DR2 ≈ .03 and .06 for job satisfaction) and substantial relative importance (e.g., 31.3% for self-report and 42.8% for mixed EI in job satisfaction models). Mediation tests (meta-analytic SEM) indicate state positive affect, state negative affect, and job performance mediate EI→job satisfaction links. Emotional labour demand moderates the self-report EI–job satisfaction link (stronger when emotional labour is high). The paper reports methods, robustness checks (publication-bias analyses), limitations (cross-sectional dominance, small-sample issues for some EI types), and practical implications for selection and training.
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Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 2017, pp. 177–202. DOI: 10.1111/joop.12167.
Chao Miao (Wilkes University), Ronald H. Humphrey (Lancaster University), and Shanshan Qian (Towson University).
Ability EI ˆq = .08 (k=13, N=1,927); Self-report EI ˆq = .32; Mixed EI ˆq = .39.
Self-report EI: DR2 = .03 and relative importance = 31.3%. Mixed EI: DR2 = .06 and relative importance = 42.8%. Ability EI contributed negligible incremental validity (~0, RW% ~1.3%).
Organizational commitment: self-report EI ˆq = .43; mixed EI ˆq = .43. Turnover intentions: self-report EI ˆq = .33.