Birds of a feather work together: The role of emotional intelligence and cognitive ability in workplace interaction and advice networks

Abstract

The study investigated whether cognitive ability or trait emotional intelligence impacted the formation of task-contingent communication and advice seeking in the workplace. Contrary to the theory driven hypothesis, an employee's level of EI has no impact on their position within both interaction and advice networks. As predicted, those with higher levels of fluid intelligence represented ‘knowledge hubs’ and were sought out more by their colleagues. Those perceived to be capable of solving novel problems quickly and accurately had greater indegree centrality for both interaction and advice networks. Additionally, employees with similar levels of cognitive and emotional intelligence were more likely to have interaction and advice ties. This study suggests that employees do use affective judgements when evaluating the perceived utility of a relationship, but this is primarily influenced by how similar that person is to the evaluator and not the disposition of the evaluated.