Can Trait Emotional Intelligence Variables of Well-Being, Self-Control, Emotionality, and Sociability Individually or Collectively Predict a Software Development Engineer\u27s Creativity?

This quantitative research study was carried out as a partial requirement for earning a Doctor of Business Administration degree from George Fox University. The main goal of the research study was to investigate whether trait emotional intelligence variables of well-being, self-control, emotionality, and sociability can individually or collectively predict a software development engineer’s creativity or creativeness potential. Employee innovativeness is the primary focus of many organizations in today’s turbulent business environment whereby employees are increasingly gaining autonomy in self-managed teams. The study discusses the theoretical frameworks of creativity and trait emotional intelligence (Trait EI), an extension of the emotional intelligence (EI) construct that focuses on personality behaviors and abilities. Trait EI attributes such as well-being, self-control, emotionality, and sociability are growing in importance given the trend towards self-managed teams, especially in high-tech firms that rely on agility for creative innovation. Participants in the study were drawn from software engineers in the greater Seattle region in Washington state, USA. The Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (TEIque-SF) was used to measure Trait EI perception of participants and the Kaufman Domain of Creativity Scale (K-DOCS) was used to measure creativity perception of participants. Data analysis procedures are highlighted and include use of multiple regression to investigate the predictability of an engineer’s creativity using trait emotional intelligence variables of well-being, self-control, emotionality, and sociability. Central to this study was the desire to add empirical understanding of the relationship of trait emotional intelligence influence on creativity