The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Preferred Leadership Styles

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and preferred leadership styles— authoritative, democratic, and laisser-faire —among high school teachers in Coimbatore Corporation Limits, Tamil Nadu, India. Leadership style plays a critical role in shaping classroom culture, influencing student engagement, and guiding professional interaction. Emotional Intelligence, defined as the capacity to perceive, understand, and regulate emotions in oneself and others, is increasingly being recognised as a key attribute of effective educational leadership. A normative survey design with proportionate stratified random sampling was employed to collect data from 475 high school teachers. Validated instruments were used to assess EI and leadership style preferences with high reliability (Cronbach’s α = 0.914 for EI and 0.937 for leadership styles). The findings reveal that teachers with higher EI predominantly favour a democratic leadership style, characterised by collaboration, empathy, and participatory decision-making. Conversely, laisser-faire leadership showed a significant negative correlation with Emotional Intelligence, indicating that teachers with low EI may prefer this less engaged style. Demographic variables, such as teaching experience and type of school, significantly influenced the relationship between EI and leadership style, whereas factors such as gender, age, and marital status showed no significant impact. This study highlights the importance of incorporating Emotional Intelligence development into teacher training and leadership programs to foster adaptive, responsive, and student-centred leadership in schools. Future research should adopt longitudinal and mixed-method designs to examine causal pathways. Additionally, studies across diverse regions and school levels are recommended to enhance the generalis ability of the findings regarding the impact of Emotional Intelligence on preferred leadership styles.