An Examination of the Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and the Leadership Styles of Early Childhood Professionals

Abstract

Emotional intelligence and its relationship to leadership style has emerged as a topic of interest among researchers. The impact on the leadership style of a leader on an organization is clearly supported in the business field; however, it is not well understood in the early childhood education field. There is sparse published research that has explicitly studied leadership styles of early childhood professionals. The present quantitative study examined the relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership style in early childhood professionals. A total of 203 Department of Defense Children and Youth Program Managers completed the Emotional Quotient Inventory(EQ-i), the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) 5X, and a demographic survey. Correlational analyses and hierarchical linear regression analyses were used to examine the research questions. The results provide some evidence to support the relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership style. There were statistically significant positive and negative correlations between emotional intelligence and leadership style. Moreover, in this study, the EQ-i was a better predictor of leadership style than the MSCEIT measure. Furthermore, the results do indicate a need for further research using other leadership measurements and a more diverse sampe from the the early childhood field.