An empirical examination of group emotional intelligence in public sector workgroups

Abstract

Purpose – Despite increased calls for incorporating emotional intelligence (EI) in workgroups and teams, there exists a need to develop empirical instruments that can measure group-level emotional intelligence (GEI), and assess its efficacy in predicting outcomes such as performance and learning ability. This paper aims to empirically demonstrate how GEI affects the performance and learning ability of public sector workgroups in city governments. Design/methodology/approach – Using Ghuman’s (2011) proposed theoretical model of GEI as a two-component system, an empirical instrument is created that measures GEI at the group level of analysis. Regression analyses are performed for 44 workgroups in the public sector organizations, with group performance and group learning ability as the dependent variables. Results show a significant positive relationship between GEI and the outcomes of group performance and group learning ability. Findings – The findings demonstrate that a competent instrument has been devel...