From concept to context: assessing emotional intelligence at work
Juliane Völker and
Marcello Mortillaro
Chapter 8 in Research Handbook on Emotional Intelligence at Work, 2026, pp 138-157 from Edward Elgar Publishing
Abstract:
How do we assess emotional intelligence (EI) in work environments? In this chapter, we discuss self-report (“trait EI” and “mixed EI”) and performance-based assessments (“ability EI”) used in organizational research and business contexts. Self-report measures are favored extensively by scholars and practitioners in the field of organizational psychology, demonstrating EI's beneficial effects on outcomes such as job satisfaction and work performance. At the same time, the development of performance-based assessments of EI that are sufficiently feasible and concise to fit work contexts has slowly gained traction. We propose that “contextualization” should be the leading principle of measuring EI at work: EI assessments need to be adapted (or adaptable) to particular work contexts both in content (what is assessed) and delivery (how it is assessed). Using evidence centered design as a guiding framework, we discuss the conceptualization and contextualization of EI assessments that will measure EI in the future at work.
Keywords: Assessment; Emotional Intelligence; EI; Evidence Centered Design; ECD; Performance Test; Self-Report (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035332519
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