Emotional intelligence and propensity to be a teamplayer

The present study is one of the first to investigate the role of emotional intelligence in the predilection for teamwork. One hundred and thirty-four respondents, all working in teams, were administered Palmer and Stough’s (2001) measure of emotional intelligence, the NEO-FFI and the Team Player Inventory (Kline, 1999). In line with expectations, the strongest correlations with teamwork were found to be with extraversion, total emotional intelligence and agreeableness. Neuroticism correlated negatively with teamwork and no relationship was found between conscientiousness and predilection for teamwork. Additionally, this research challenged the argument that emotional intelligence is little more than personality by showing that the construct of emotional intelligence added predictive power to that of personality. Limitations and implications for future research are also discussed.