| The purpose of this exploratory study is to propose a new unifying model of emotional intelligence (EI) that potentially resolves the current paradigm divisions between emotional ability (EA) and emotional competency (EC). The central research question for the study is the plausibility that EI is a unitary construct with EA moderating the relationship between EC and various outcome variables. In addition, to address the critics of EI, the study includes a secondary research question, that EI does add significant incremental validity in the prediction of performance outcomes above and beyond intelligence and personality. However, the results from the exploratory study were inconclusive. The evidence did not support a moderation effect within EI, indicating that EA and EC may be unrelated constructs. In addition, there was no evidence of increased incremental validity in including EI in the regression equation, indicating that traditional measures of intelligence and personality may be sufficient toward predicting future outcomes. The results were surprising in light of prior empirical evidence and implied theoretical relationships. The limitations of the study, implications of the results, and recommendations for future research of EI are discussed. |
