The relationship between leader emotional intelligence and psychological climate: An exploratory study

Abstract

This study, which was conducted in a clothing manufacturing plant, investigated the relationship between two important constructs for organisations, namely: leader emotional intelligence and psychological climate. A random cluster sample of 600 participants were drawn from a total employee population of 1725 and 297 completed responses were returned for analyses (49,5% response rate). An Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was conducted on both the Swinburne University Emotional Intelligence Test (SUEIT) and the Organisational Climate Questionnaire of Koys and DeCotiis (1991). Both scales were found to be valid and reliable. Stepwise Discriminant analysis provided evidence that a single psychological climate existed in the organisation. The results of a Pearson correlation analysis and Hierarchical Multiple Regression further indicated that leader emotional intelligence is significantly positively related to the psychological climate.