THE TEACHER AS LEADER

The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence

and Leadership Effectiveness, Commitment,
and Satisfaction

DIMITRA IORDANOGLOU

Emotional intelligence has emerged in the past decade as one of the crucial components of leader-
ship effectiveness in many different contexts. The present study aimed at examining the relation-
ships among emotional intelligence, leadership effectiveness, commitment, and satisfaction in
education. Three hundred thirty-two primary education teachers participated in the study conducted
in Greece. Results, using structural equation modeling, showed that emotional intelligence, espe-
cially the intrapersonal and interpersonal dimensions, has a positive effect on leadership roles,
explaining 51% of variance. A strong positive effect was also apparent on teachers’ commitment
and effectiveness, as measured by teachers’ perception. Leadership roles such as performance eval-
uation, motivation support, and development improvement had a strong influence on effectiveness.
The findings could have implications for the selection and training of future educators.

Education is a social context of central importance for the as “the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and
future of society. The schools of the 21st century must adapt emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this
effectively to a rapidly changing world. Education reform information to guide one’s thinking and actions” (p. 189).
movements that take place in different parts of the world have However, it was Daniel Goleman (1995, 1998) who
considered teachers’ leadership role as critical to any success- popularized the concept through his best-selling books.
ful change (Bezzina, 2000; Daresh, 1998; Davies, 2002; According to his model, emotional intelligence consists of
Portin, 1998; Wong, 2003). Teachers as leaders and agents four dimensions: two intrapersonal (self-awareness, self-
of change should possess the necessary skills and abilities to management) and two interpersonal (social awareness,
educate the citizens of the future, by developing not only the relationship management).
intellectual, but also the emotional and social capital of their In education, it seems that emotionally intelligent teachers
students. Emotional intelligence has emerged in the last de- may function more effectively as leaders by perceiving and
cade as one of the crucial components of leadership effective- managing their own and their students’ emotions, dealing ef-
ness in many different contexts. The term was introduced by fectively with feelings of anger or frustration, and adapting
Salovey and Mayer (1990), who define emotional intelligence their behavior to different situations accordingly. However,

JOURNAL OF LEADERSHIP STUDIES, Volume 1, Number 3, 2007

© 2007 University of Phoenix
Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) • DOI:10.1002/jls.20025 57
little research has been undertaken to date regarding the re- distract a leader from communicating the organization’s vision
lationship between emotional intelligence and leadership ef- and strategy effectively or, as Mayer (2004) suggests, may
fectiveness in education. Additionally, as evidence supports negatively affect his or her self-esteem.
the growing amount of stress, psychological burnout, and in- In education, research conducted by the Hay/McBer com-
tentions to resign in the teaching profession (Borg & Riding, pany (2000) among teachers in Great Britain supports the
1991; Tsiplitaris, 2004), the influence of emotional intelligence positive effect of emotional intelligence on leadership. In par-
on teachers’ well-being seems worth examining. ticular, emotional competences in self-awareness, self-esteem,
Therefore, the present study aimed at enriching our knowl- empathy, flexibility, and interpersonal relationships seemed
edge regarding teachers as leaders by proposing and empiri- to contribute to leadership effectiveness. The importance of
cally testing a conceptual model that examines the effect of empathy and interpersonal relationships was also apparent in
emotional intelligence on leadership behaviors, commitment, research conducted by Chan and Hui (1998) among sec-
and effectiveness as well as satisfaction in the teaching pro- ondary education teachers in Hong Kong. The findings
fession. The results may yield new directions in the selection showed that these two parameters of emotional intelligence
and training of future educators by identifying the factors of are of particular importance for the teachers’ job with regard
particular importance and incorporating them in programs. to both the actual teaching and the guidance offered to the
We present previous research findings from both organiza- students. Using a measure of self-effectiveness, Chan (2004),
tions and education and follow them with the hypotheses in his research among secondary education teachers in Hong
tested in this study. Kong, also found a positive relationship between empathy,
Research suggests a positive relationship between emo- self-awareness, and self-management and performance. In the
tional intelligence and leadership effectiveness, since it ap- same direction, Lees and Barnard (1999) found that teachers
pears that emotional intelligence is one of the important with higher emotional intelligence had students with better
determinants in exercising leadership of various styles and grades, whereas teachers with limited emotional competences
behaviors (Goleman, 1998; Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee, had students with lower grades.
2002; Williams, 1994). Especially in leadership positions, Although in the past decade research regarding emotional
emotional intelligence is the factor that, by 90%, distin- intelligence has mainly focused on its relationship to effec-
guishes the best from the average performers in various types tive leadership and performance, in recent years there has
of professions (Goleman, 1998). Prati, Douglas, Ferris, been growing interest in its relationship to other variables,
Ammeter, and Buckley (2003) suggest that emotional intelli- such as commitment and satisfaction (Abraham, 1999;
gence helps a leader in building coherent, effective, and highly Ashkanasy & Hooper, 1999; Carmeli, 2003; Wong & Law,
motivated teams. It has been suggested that the interpersonal 2002). Carmeli (2003) studied the relationship between emo-
dimension of emotional intelligence helps leaders to be more tional intelligence and commitment in a sample of public
effective in their work (George, 2000; Hooijberg, Hunt, & sector executives in Israel. The findings revealed that emo-
Dodge, 1997; Zaccaro, 2001) and to exhibit behavioral com- tionally intelligent executives showed higher levels of com-
plexity, that is, adopting different roles in different situations mitment to both their organization and their profession and
(Boal & Hooijberg, 2000). Empathy has appeared to play an a lower tendency for resignation. Research has also revealed
especially important role in adopting leadership positions in that variables related to the interpersonal dimension of emo-
self-managing teams and exercising effective leadership tional intelligence, such as good social relationships (Kalden-
(Wolff, Pescosolido, & Druskat, 2002). The relationship be- berg, Becker, & Zvonkovic, 1995) and team bonding (Kanter,
tween the intrapersonal dimension of emotional intelli- 1968; Brooke, Russell, & Price, 1988), positively affect the
gence—especially self-awareness—and leadership behavior is commitment to the organization. Wong and Law (2002)
not yet clear because there are contradictory findings. found a positive relationship between the overall degree of
Whereas George (2000) found that self-awareness contributes emotional intelligence and the commitment to the organiza-
significantly to effective leadership, Day, Schleicher, Unckless, tion in professions of high emotional pressure, as the teaching
and Hiller (2002), using meta-analysis, discovered that self- profession can be considered. In education, Raju and Srivastava
awareness has low impact on leadership function. They suggest (1994) found that variables related to the intrapersonal di-
that constant preoccupation with his or her behavior may mension of emotional intelligence, such as self-motivation

58 JOURNAL OF LEADERSHIP STUDIES • Volume 1 • Number 3 • DOI:10.1002/jls

and inner control, distinguish the secondary education teach- With these points in mind, the following hypotheses are
ers most committed to the profession. Tsiplitaris (2004), in his examined in the present study:
research among primary education teachers in Greece, found
1. Emotional intelligence has a positive relationship with
that, despite all the difficulties these teachers face, 75% stated
leadership behavior, commitment, and effectiveness of
that they would choose the same profession if they were to
teachers.
start their career again. As far as commitment to the school is
concerned, we could argue that teachers with high emotional 2. Leadership behaviors have a positive relationship with
intelligence—especially the interpersonal dimension—stay teachers’ effectiveness and satisfaction.
in a school not just for practical reasons, such as the distance 3. A positive relationship is expected between commitment
from their home, but also for emotional ones. That is, teach- and satisfaction. Commitment to the school and to the
ers who manage to build and sustain satisfactory relationships profession is expected to lead to greater satisfaction.
with colleagues, students, parents, and the headteacher usually
feel more committed to their school.
Method
The relationship between commitment and satisfaction
has been extensively examined in organizations. Most of the SAMPLE AND PROCEDURE
results support a positive relationship between them (Baugh & The sample consisted of 210 teachers (135 women and
Roberts, 1994; Deconinck & Bachmann, 1994; Fletcher & 75 men) in primary education, who worked in different
Williams, 1996; Liou, 1995; Lok & Crawford, 2001). What schools of the public sector in the Athens district in Greece.
remains unclear is the causal relationship between the two. The questionnaires were completed at school, during the
Vandenberg and Lance (1992) believe that it is the commit- teachers’ customary 20-minute break, in the presence of
ment to the organization that increases job satisfaction and the researcher. The completion was anonymous and took
not the other way around. Weiner and Vardi (1980) suggest approximately 15–20 minutes.
that job satisfaction is sensitive to changes in the environ-
ment, whereas commitment is a more stable state of the MEASURES
individual. In education, Raju and Srivastava (1994) found A short version of the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-I)
that the most committed secondary education teachers (Bar-On, 1997) was used to assess emotional intelligence.
in India showed greater job satisfaction than the less The 60-item scale assesses five components of emotional
committed ones. intelligence, namely, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Adaptability,
The way that leadership behaviors affect teachers’ effec- Stress Management, and General Mood, with 15 subscales.
tiveness and satisfaction also merits consideration. The find- Each component consists of subscales that describe emotional
ings to date support a positive relationship (Hay/McBer, competences. The Intrapersonal component consists of
2000; Lees & Barnard, 1999). In Great Britain, for example, emotional self-awareness, assertiveness, self-regard, self-
the most effective teachers—the stars—had adopted a flexi- actualization, and independence. The Interpersonal compo-
ble style of leadership and used leadership behaviors such as nent includes the empathy, interpersonal relationships, and
teamwork in their classes. In an extensive study of 2,000 social responsibility subscales. The Adaptability component
teachers in Australia and New Zealand, Dinham and Scott consists of problem solving, reality testing, and flexibility; the
(2000) found that students’ achievements, the help provided Stress Management component consists of stress tolerance
to the students, and the positive relationships between teacher and impulse control. Finally, the General Mood includes hap-
and students were the main factors in teachers’ satisfaction. piness and optimism. Participants respond by indicating their
Other factors in teacher satisfaction are the content of the agreement with each item using a 5-point scale ranging from 1
work itself and the positive reactions of their students to it (very seldom true of me) to 5 (very often true of me). The EQ-I
(Koustelios & Kousteliou, 1998; Stenlund, 1995). We can, has demonstrated good psychometric properties (Bar-On,
therefore, assume that teachers whose leadership behavior is 1997; Bar-On, Brown, Kirkcaldy, & Thome, 2000).
characterized by support and interest for the students will The Leadership Roles Questionnaire (LRQ) (Denison,
have more satisfied students, be more satisfied themselves, Hooljberg, & Quinn, 1995; Quinn, Faerman, Thompson, &
and probably be more effective in their work. McGrath, 1996) was used to assess the leadership roles of the

JOURNAL OF LEADERSHIP STUDIES • Volume 1 • Number 3 • DOI:10.1002/jls 59

teachers. This instrument consists of 60 items that measure satisfaction with the school, the students, the colleagues, the
12 leadership roles, namely, Managing Integration, Manag- headteacher, and the job. A 5-point Likert-type scale was used
ing Competitiveness, Managing Interpersonal Relationships, ranging from 1 (not satisfied) to 5 (very satisfied).
Developing Others, Managing the Future, Managing Coor- A self-evaluation measure of effectiveness was used in the
dination, Managing Customer Service, Managing Innova- present study assessing overall effectiveness and four compo-
tions, Managing Execution, Managing Continuous Improve- nents, namely, goal attainment, quality of teaching, relation-
ment, Team Building, and Energizing People. A group of ship with students, and relationship with colleagues.
five experts was formed to choose the appropriate roles Although self-assessment has obvious limitations, there is sci-
for the educational setting and adapt the wording wherever entific evidence to support the reliability of this approach
necessary. Finally, seven roles were selected for inclusion (Carmeli, 2003; Chan, 2004; Mabe & West, 1982; Pearce &
(managing interpersonal relationships, developing others, Porter, 1986). A 5-point Likert-type scale was used ranging
managing innovations, managing execution, managing con- from 1 (not effective) to 5 (very effective).
tinuous improvement, team building, and energizing people) Translation and back translation were performed for every
because they seemed most relevant to the educational setting. measure used in the present study to ensure content validity.
This resulted in a 25-item instrument measuring leadership
roles in school, scored on a 5-point Likert type scale ranging
Results
from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).
Commitment to the school was measured through the Each assessment instrument used in this study was examined
shortened nine-item version of the Organizational Commit- through exploratory factor analysis with oblique rotation to
ment Questionnaire (OCQ) (Mowday, Porter, & Steers, ensure that the proposed factor solutions were appropriate
1982), which has been used extensively in organizational for the translated versions. The results revealed some prob-
research and has demonstrated good psychometric properties lematic items, which were eliminated on the basis of statisti-
(Boshoff & Mels, 2000; Brooke et al., 1988; Mowday et al., cal criteria (factor loading ⬍ .40, loadings to more than one
1982). Commitment to the profession was assessed through factor with a difference ⬎ .10) and a somewhat different
five items modified from the OCQ, which have been used structure for EQ-I and LRQ. Table 1 summarizes the find-
successfully in previous research (Aranya, Pollock, & Amernic, ings from the exploratory factor analysis by presenting the
1991; Boshoff & Mels, 2000; Gregersen, 1993). final factor solutions for every measure, along with the Cron-
Many researchers have proposed the assessment of satis- bach a values.
faction with the use of one item measuring total satisfaction, Table 2 presents the descriptive statistics (means and stan-
for example, How satisfied are you with your job? (Begley & dard deviations) for all measures.
Czajka, 1993; Bhuian & Islam, 1996; Scott & Dinham, 2003;
Yousef, 2000). This approach, as has been demonstrated pre- EXAMINATION OF THE CONCEPTUAL
viously, did not reduce the validity and reliability of the MODEL
assessment (Wanous, Reichers, & Hudy, 1997). For the pur- The conceptual model of the present study was tested
pose of the present study, five items were formed to measure through the structural equation modeling method (SEM)

Table 1. Results from the Exploratory Factor Analysis for the Translated
Versions of the Measures

EQ-I LRQ Commitment Satisfaction Effectiveness

Interpersonal Motivation-support School Relationships Task

Intrapersonal Development-improvement Profession School and job Relationships
Adaptability Team building
Performance evaluation

Cronbach a ⫽ .75–.82 Cronbach a ⫽ .77–.91 Cronbach a ⫽ .93–.83 Cronbach a ⫽ .83–.80 Cronbach a ⫽ .84–.88

60 JOURNAL OF LEADERSHIP STUDIES • Volume 1 • Number 3 • DOI:10.1002/jls

 Table 2. Descriptive Statistics of the Sample The x2 between the two models (⌬x2) is itself x2 distrib-
of Primary School Teachers uted, with degrees of freedom equal to the corresponding dif-
Variables n M SD ference in degrees of freedom. The difference in x2 between
the initial model and the modified model was statistically sig-
Intrapersonal 332 3.98 0.42
nificant (⌬x2 ⫽ 158, 6, ⌬df ⫽ 2, p ⬍ .001), indicating a
Interpersonal 332 3.92 0.41 substantial improvement in model fit.
Adaptability 332 3.75 0.61 The results of the analysis are presented in Figure 1. All
Motivation-Support 332 4.39 0.51 standardized regression estimates were significant, ranging
from .22 to .95. As can be seen, emotional intelligence has a
Development-Improvement 332 4.40 0.53
strong positive influence on leadership roles (.48, p ⬍ .01),
Team building 332 4.33 0.56
effectiveness (.43, p ⬍ .01), and commitment (.39, p ⬍ .01).
Performance evaluation 332 4.21 0.59 Leadership roles exert a strong influence on effectiveness
Commitment to school 332 4.10 0.82 (.41, p ⬍ .01) and satisfaction (.22, p ⬍ .01). Commitment
Commitment to profession 332 4.48 0.56
also has a moderate influence on satisfaction (.33, p ⬍ .01)
and effectiveness (.34, p ⬍ .01).
Satisfaction from relationships 332 4.48 0.50
An important amount of variance (51%) in leadership
Satisfaction from school and job 332 4.33 0.58 roles was explained by emotional intelligence, confirming our
Relationship effectiveness 332 4.40 0.36 main hypothesis for a strong positive effect. A 39% variance
Task effectiveness 332 4.50 0.56 in effectiveness was explained by leadership roles and emo-
tional intelligence and a 28% variance in satisfaction was
explained by emotional intelligence and commitment.
using AMOS 5 (Arbuckle, 1997; Byrne, 2001). The overall Finally, a small amount of variance (15%) in commitment
fit of the data to the examined model was tested initially on was explained by emotional intelligence.
the basis of the chi-square statistic. Nonsignificant values sug- Table 3 presents the structural coefficients of the specific
gest a good fit, as they indicate a minor discrepancy between parameters of the model.
the observed and the estimated covariance matrices. How-
ever, the chi-square statistic is very sensitive to sample size Discussion
and departures from normality (Byrne, 1994, 2001), and in The support of the relationships proposed by the conceptual
large samples, trivial differences between the two matrices model of the present study made apparent the significant con-
may be declared significant. In order to overcome this prob- tribution of emotional intelligence in exercising leadership in
lem, various alternative indices of fit have been proposed. In education. Its strong relationship with both the teachers’ lead-
this study the CFI, GFI, and RMSEA were adopted. CFI and ership roles and effectiveness shows that it is a parameter that
GFI indexes range from 0 to 1 and values greater than .90 should not be ignored when the teaching profession is under
are indicative of a well-fitting model, whereas for RMSEA study. As far as emotional intelligence competences are con-
values less than .05 indicate a close fit to the model. The cerned, the findings have shown that the intrapersonal and
results revealed a significant chi-square value and unaccept- the interpersonal dimensions emerged as the most important,
able values for the goodness of fit indices. Examination of affecting all four leadership roles of the teacher. This result is
the modification indices revealed that the model could sig- in accord with previous findings in education, such as the
nificantly improve if two error covariances were included, results of Chan and Hui (1998), who found empathy and
namely, between adaptability and commitment to school as interpersonal relationships to be the most important emotional
well as performance evaluation and development/improve- intelligence variables in exercising leadership in education.
ment. Their inclusion resulted in acceptable values for the Hay/McBer (2000) also revealed empathy and interpersonal
three fit indices (x2 ⫽ 154.8/51, GFI ⫽ .91, CFI ⫽ .93, relationships as important competences, as well as flexibility,
RMSEA ⫽ .02). that is, the three variables of the interpersonal dimension of
It is well known that when models are nested, as in the emotional intelligence, as measured in the present research.
present study, improvement in model fit can be tested. Furthermore, the intrapersonal dimension appeared to have a

JOURNAL OF LEADERSHIP STUDIES • Volume 1 • Number 3 • DOI:10.1002/jls 61

 Figure 1. The structural model of the study

Relationships Task

.88 .90

.43
Effectiveness

X1 Intrapersonal X6 X7 X8 X9
.76

.75 Motivation- Development- Team Performance

Emotional
X2 Interpersonal Support Improvement building evaluation
Intelligence

.51
.89 .94 .74 .90
X3 Adaptability
.48 Leadership .41
Roles
.39

.22
Commitment to
X4 .71
the profession
.33 .34
Commitment Satisfaction
.88
Commitment to .87 .92
X5
the school

Job and school Relationships

positive effect on leadership roles, although in organizational measure; therefore, we are mainly discussing self-effectiveness.
research (Day, Schleicher, Unckless, & Hiller, 2002; Mayer, The findings have shown that all three dimensions of emo-
2004) its effect is questionable. Perhaps in education this tional intelligence have a positive effect on effectiveness,
dimension implies a greater recognition of the important role lending support to our initial hypothesis, with the intraper-
that teachers play in shaping the students’ personalities and a sonal and the interpersonal dimensions the most important
greater degree of responsibility in exercising their leadership ones. The findings are in the same direction as findings in
roles in the classroom. In particular, the leadership role of business (Barrick, Mount, & Strauss, 1993; McClelland,
development-improvement appeared to be more affected by 1998; Schulman, 1995; Sosik & Megerian, 1999) and in
the intrapersonal dimension, lending support to the earlier education (Chan, 2004; Hay/McBer, 2000; Lees & Barnard,
observation. Additionally, because teachers are role models for 1999). In particular, as Lewis (2000) has shown, the lack
the students, recognition and expression of emotions by of self-management and the expression of negative feelings
teachers themselves help students recognize and express their by the leader are associated with reduced effectiveness. There-
own emotions. A teacher with highly developed emotional fore, teachers who know themselves better, recognize
intelligence, therefore, may be more likely to produce their strengths and weaknesses, show empathy, and manage
emotionally intelligent students. their own emotions seem to perceive themselves as more
Another important relationship that was supported by effective with regard to both relationships and work.
the conceptual model is that between emotional intelligence High self-effectiveness, as Sosik and Megerian (1999) sug-
and teacher effectiveness. However, we should keep in mind gest, is essential for leaders in order to attract and motivate
that in the present research effectiveness was a self-report followers.

62 JOURNAL OF LEADERSHIP STUDIES • Volume 1 • Number 3 • DOI:10.1002/jls

 Table 3. The Structural Coefficients Between the Parameters of the Latent Variables

Parameters Parameters

Intrapersonal S Motivation-support .32** Team building S Satisfaction with school and job .14*

Interpersonal S Motivation-support .32** Performance evaluation S Satisfaction with .17*

school and job
Adaptability S Motivation-support .22**
Motivation-support S Satisfaction with relationships .18*
Intrapersonal S Development-improvement .34**
Development-improvement S Satisfaction with .19*
Interpersonal S Development-improvement .34** relationships
Adaptability S Development-improvement .23** Team building S Satisfaction with relationships .15*
Intrapersonal S Team building .27** Performance evaluation S Satisfaction with .18*
relationships
Interpersonal S Team building .27**
Motivation-support S Task effectiveness .33**
Adaptability S Team building .18*
Development-improvement S Task effectiveness .35**
Intrapersonal S Performance evaluation .33**
Team building S Task effectiveness .27**
Interpersonal S Performance evaluation .33**
Performance evaluation S Task effectiveness .33**
Adaptability S Performance evaluation .22**
Motivation-support S Relationship effectiveness .32**
Intrapersonal S Task effectiveness .29**
Development-improvement S Relationship .34**
Interpersonal S Task effectiveness .29**
effectiveness
Adaptability S Task effectiveness .20**
Team building S Relationship effectiveness .27**
Intrapersonal S Relationship effectiveness .29**
Performance evaluation S Relationship effectiveness .32**
Interpersonal S Relationship effectiveness .28**
Commitment to profession S Satisfaction with .22**
Adaptability S Relationship effectiveness .19* relationships

Intrapersonal S Commitment to profession .21** Commitment to school S Satisfaction with relationships .27**

Interpersonal S Commitment to profession .21** Commitment to profession S Satisfaction with .20**

school and job
Adaptability S Commitment to profession .14*
Commitment to school S Satisfaction with school .25**
Intrapersonal S Commitment to school .26** and job

Interpersonal S Commitment to school .26** Satisfaction with relationships S Relationship .28**

effectiveness
Adaptability S Commitment to school .16*
Satisfaction with school and job S Relationship .26**
Motivation-support S Satisfaction with .17* effectiveness
school and job
Satisfaction with relationships S Task effectiveness .28**
Development-improvement S Satisfaction with .18*
school and job Satisfaction with school and job S Task effectiveness .27**

Note: Nonsignificant effects were omitted.

* p ⬍ .05., ** p ⬍ .01.

Another strong relationship that emerged was the one leadership roles and satisfaction, especially between develop-
between leadership roles and effectiveness. The findings ment-improvement and satisfaction with relationships. This
revealed a strong effect of all leadership roles on both dimen- result is in agreement with Dinham and Scott (2000),
sions of effectiveness, lending support to our initial hypothesis. who found that the help offered by teachers to students and
This result is in accord with previous findings in business the positive relationships with them constitute a satisfaction
(Denison et al., 1995), as well as in education, with different factor.
measures of leadership behavior (Hay/McBer, 2000; Lees & Another important relationship supported by the concep-
Barnard, 1999). A positive effect was also found between tual model is that between emotional intelligence and

JOURNAL OF LEADERSHIP STUDIES • Volume 1 • Number 3 • DOI:10.1002/jls 63

commitment, which has not been sufficiently researched in the training of future educators and headteachers should
education. The findings showed that the intrapersonal include emotional intelligence and leadership roles in the
and the interpersonal parameters of emotional intelligence agenda.
had the strongest effect on both dimensions of commitment. The main limitation of the present study was the subjec-
As previous research has shown, emotional intelligence in tive measure of teachers’ effectiveness. Future research could
general and good interpersonal relationships, particularly also include objective measures, such as student performance
team bonding, lead to greater commitment to the organiza- or 360-degree teacher evaluation by students, the head-
tion (Carmeli, 2003; Kaldenberg et al., 1995; Wong & Law, teacher, colleagues, school consultants, and parents. Further-
2002) and to the teaching profession (Borg & Riding, 1991; more, in order to establish the causal relationships among the
Raju & Srivastava, 1994). It seems that teachers with high variables of the model with greater precision, it would be
intrapersonal emotional intelligence make a conscious choice important to conduct longitudinal research. Future research
of profession on the basis of their values and beliefs; there- could also focus on additional factors that may influence
fore, they are more committed to it, even when the external leadership effectiveness in the school setting, such as person-
conditions are not ideal. It is of particular interest that a high ality characteristics, school and class climate, and teacher-
percentage of primary education teachers in Greece stated student interaction.
that they would not change their profession (Tsiplitaris, In conclusion, the present study attempted to study the
2004). High interpersonal emotional intelligence also helps issue of leadership effectiveness in education, taking into
teachers build better relationships with colleagues, students, account the teacher’s complex role in a rapidly changing envi-
and the headteacher and consequently feel more committed ronment. Emotional intelligence seems to be a useful concept
to their school. in helping teachers adapt to future leadership challenges and
The positive relationship between commitment and satis- balance contradicting job and personal demands.
faction was also supported by the present study, as both
dimensions of commitment had a positive effect on satisfac-
tion. The strongest effect emerged between commitment to References
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66 JOURNAL OF LEADERSHIP STUDIES • Volume 1 • Number 3 • DOI:10.1002/jls