Developing senior eccleasiastical professionals’ emotional and cultural intelligence: A longitudinal preliminary case study research investigation

Abstract

Emotional intelligence (EI) and cultural intelligence (CQ) are constructs that have recently received much attention and have been investigated in work contexts. It is possible that a high EI and CQ both contribute generally to improved intercultural and interreligious understanding and dialogue. However, this relationship has hardly been researched in eccleasiastical contexts in Germany. This study investigates the development of EI and CQ during a 12-day training course for developing intercultural and interreligious competencies for senior professionals in an ecclesiastical context over a period of nine months. Pre- and post-test scores of EI and CQ were measured during the training period. Besides the quantitative survey, a literature analysis and participant observation in the training course was used for data collection. It was found that with regard to the EI total scores, all dimensions except the dimension of "appraisal of emotions in the self" improved from the beginning of the training until the end. Looking at the pre- and post-scores of CQ, the scores increased in six participants, and decreased in two.