The Impact of Emotional Intelligence and Executive Coaching on Leader Effectiveness

Emotional intelligence has been hailed as a hallmark of successful leaders since the term was popularized in the early 1990s. Shortly thereafter, executive coaching emerged as a popular and beneficial resource to support the development of managers and leaders in organizations. The purpose of this research is to examine the influence of both phenomena on leader effectiveness. This empirical study tests two research inquiries: does emotional competence predict leader effectiveness, and what impact does a quality coaching relationship have on leader effectiveness? Leader effectiveness is conceptualized as four constructs: job performance, personal vision, work engagement, and career satisfaction. Eighty-five senior executives in a North American financial services organization completed a leadership development experience which included training on emotional intelligence, multi-rater assessment, and work with an external executive coach. Survey responses were collected and triangulated with job performance data and multi-rater feedback. Results indicated that both emotional competence and a high-quality coaching relationship do indeed make a difference. Specifically, findings revealed that emotional competence directly and positively impacts performance and career satisfaction and that a quality coaching relationship leads to increased levels of work engagement, career satisfaction and expression of a personal vision. These results may be of particular benefit to scholars and practitioners interested in leader effectiveness, leader development, developmental relationships and emotions and coaching in the workplace.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Organizational Behavior

Grantor dc:publisher

Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Van Oosten, Ellen Brooks

Contributors dc:contributor

• Boyatzis, Richard

• Organizational Behavior
• emotional intelligence
• coaching relationship
• leader effectiveness
• leadership development

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: some rights reserved. It is licensed for use under a Creative Commons license. Specific terms and permissions are available from this document's record in the OhioLINK ETD Center.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1365117435

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:case1365117435