Emotional Intelligence: Pathway to Improved Leadership Capacities in Nigeria

Abstract

The importance of emotional intelligence to employees’ career development and success has been stressed in business papers. The concept is a widely used managerial tool that cuts across all industries in advanced societies. The extent of its appreciation and utilization in Nigeria is still in doubt in terms of academic research and individual and organizational applications. The orchestrated benefits of emotional intelligence are crucial to employee’s career and are within the domains of employee development and performance which are relevant for nation building. There is also a dearth of knowledge as to the effect of emotional intelligence on leadership type and impact in Nigeria. This paper seeks to investigate relevant literature on the subject with reference to Nigeria so as to ascertain the level of applicability of the concept and make appropriate recommendations that will help leadership growth through the adoption of emotional intelligence principles in leadership training and placement. The paper also discussed the evolution of emotional intelligence, the taxonomy of emotional intelligence, empirical evidence of the effect of emotional intelligence on performance and measurement of emotional intelligence.

Keywords: Emotion, emotional intelligence, intelligent quotient, leadership, motivation, emotional competencies.