Redefining trait models of emotional intelligence as measuring emotional competence: a comparison of ability versus trait EI methodologies

Redefining trait models of emotional intelligence as measuring emotional competence: a comparison of ability versus trait EI methodologies

This study proposes that EI measured using self-report tools should be redefined as measuring Emotional Competency and that EI measured using ability models should be the model that is considered as measuring Emotional Intelligence. To support this claim, the present study compared the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (Mayer, Salovey & Caruso, 2002) and a self-report measure of EI (Schutte et al., 1998) to examine the extent to which these two instruments are measuring the same
construct. In addition, the overlap with a trait measure of cognitive thinking styles, the Thinking Styles Inventory (Sternberg & Wagner, 1992), was explored to identify the extent of the overlap of these measures with alternative measures of lower order personality traits.

The performance based measure was observed to be unrelated to both the self-report measure of EI and thinking styles. Self-reported EI on the other hand showed evidence of moderate relationships with thinking styles and also shared factor space. The relations with the demographic characteristics of a sample of employees from a diverse South African consulting firm (N=308) showed evidence of divergent patterns between the two measures. Implications of the results for the validity of EI as a single construct are discussed.