Emotional intelligence as an antecedent to innovation championing behavior and the effects of cultural tightness-looseness

Abstract

We investigate the effect of emotional intelligence (EI) on innovation championing behavior (ICB). Prior studies have found that successful innovation outcomes are closely correlated with championing behaviors. However, a priori selection of champions in practice remains an ambiguous task because the characteristics of innovation champions remain unidentified and largely unexplored through empirical examination. In this study, we argue that emotional intelligence is an antecedent to innovation championing behavior. We also argue that this relationship is conditioned on the national cultural tightness-looseness of individuals. To examine these hypotheses, we conducted a survey across 33 countries, analyzed data from 251 respondents, and found that emotional intelligence and cultural looseness led to more innovation championing behavior. However, the interaction between these two antecedents did not affect innovation championing behavior.