EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE OF LEADERS IN HIGHER EDUCATION AND ITS IMPACT ON EMPLOYEES

The purpose of this quantitative research study was to further understand the relationship between the emotional intelligence of faculty who have moved up into administrative positions and nonfaculty leaders within university academic affairs. Higher education institutions have a history of high employee turnover. There is a lack in the hiring process within higher education, and the lack of a hiring process causes difficulties when leaders go from faculty or staff roles to administrative and supervisory roles with little training on managing their emotions and employees’ emotions, hindering leaders from thriving in their leadership positions. The sampling was leaders from traditional 4-year state institutions in Texas. The Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Tests (MSCEIT™) were used to measure the emotional intelligence of leaders. A total of 489 participants were contacted via email, and 124 attempts were made to complete the survey; 54 surveys were fully completed and used for this study. The statistical analyses used included descriptive statistics, correlation coefficient, analysis of variance (ANOVA), t test. No statistically significant differences or relationships among variables were found, and the descriptive statistics found the mean score for overall emotional intelligence score was 91.5, which was slightly over the standard score. The consider developing level of the MSCEIT™ has a standard score range ending at 89. The raw data showed that 20 of the 54 participants had levels of emotional intelligence below the competent level. Therefore, these leaders should consider enhancing these skills as interacting and leading employees is essential to being a leader