Abstract:

Aligned to general intelligence, Emotional Intelligence (EI) emerged in the 1990s and its value for professionals has been extensively researched, particularly in business and social science fields. Over the last 30 years, this widespread interest, both from academics and practitioners, has led to the development of around 40 different EI measurement scales. This has been accompanied by the development of a range of EI constructs, which have been classified into three broad categories – ability, trait and mixed, with an emerging body of small-scale, empirical research exploring the value of EI for higher education (HE) educators. Through literature review and analysis, this paper reports the various constructs and measures being adopted in these studies and the reason for their choice. The sample analysed favoured self-report, trait questionnaires with the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale proving popular. Two significant constructs theoretically underpinned many of the studies; however, ability measures were not chosen and reasons for this are discussed. Strengths and limitations of adopted tests are presented and the study’s findings could support future academics and practitioners in choosing appropriate EI measures for future research exploring beneficial qualities for higher education educators.

Keywords:

Emotional intelligence, emotional competences, higher education, lecturer, professional development, academic.