Emotional intelligence: Rhetoric or reality?

The construct of emotional intelligence is confusing, and emotional intelligence researchers must “seem mad” to be embroiled in debate. To be sure, emotional intelligence has been one of the more controversial constructs to be considered in personnel psychology. There have been wide-ranging and substantial claims about the potential of emotional intelligence in predicting a broad range of workplace behavior. This article assesses the efficacy of the emotional intelligence construct by examining variables that have an impact at the organizational level. In particular, it examines the impact of emotional intelligence on prosocial behaviors, antisocial behaviors, and leadership. This article concludes with some recommendations for advancing research into emotional intelligence in the area of personnel psychology, and in particular, it comments on the need for emotional intelligence research to be extended to cover macro-organizational variables such as culture and climate.