Leader Self-Reported Emotional Intelligence and Perceived Employee Creativity: An Exploratory Study

This research studies the relationship between six dimensions of leaders' emotional intelligence and two dimensions of employee creativity. A sample of 138 managers from 66 organizations reported on their own emotional intelligence and the creativity of their teams. Our results point out two main findings: (a) leaders' emotional intelligence explains significant variance of both creativity dimensions; (b) emotional intelligence dimensions with higher predictive power are self-control against criticism and empathy. The findings suggest that emotionally intelligent leaders behave in ways that stimulate the creativity of their teams.