SOME CONSIDERATIONS ON EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Abstract

As being a well-supported and strong variable, emotional intelligence can predict the dependent variable especially in the domains which focused on the individuals. Mostly, researchers are more likely to confront emotional intelligence construct if they are aiming to investigate behavior. Because emotional intelligence could help the researchers in explaining why an individual (e.g. employee, manager, leader, investor, student) behaves in that way. Yet, great care for this variable should have been exerted by researchers. Accordingly, this paper aims to manifest some important considerations on emotional intelligence as both a construct and a measurement scale for researchers who intend to study on it. In this context, some emotional intelligence studies will be reviewed in the light of these considerations. Therefore, this paper proposes that researchers should include personality traits or cognitive intelligence together with emotional intelligence into their research models in order to question its possible relation to personality and its incremental validity above personality and/or cognitive ones. While studying on emotional intelligence, it is also advisable to select a more obvious criterion variable for the sake of plausible logical connections between variables. Additionally, when studying on any phenomenon as well as emotional intelligence, it should be remembered that cross sectional data do not warrant nexus of causality. Rather, longitudinal data enabling these kind of attributions should be used.