Interrelations between enhanced emotional intelligence, leadership self-efficacy and task-oriented leadership behaviour–a leadership coaching study

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate interrelations between enhanced emotional intelligence, leadership self-efficacy and task-oriented leadership behaviour following participation in leadership coaching.

Design/methodology/approach: Organisational leaders (coachees) (N = 70) and their subordinates (N = 175) completed online questionnaires pre- and post-coaching. To account for pre-coaching scores, construct latent change scores were assessed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

Findings: Results indicate a positive association between enhanced emotional intelligence and leadership self-efficacy, however, little support was found for leadership self-efficacy as a mediator explaining an association between enhanced emotional intelligence and task-oriented leadership behaviour.

Practical implications: Organisations aiming to improve leader performance through enhancing emotional intelligence and leadership self-efficacy may find value in leadership coaching due to the intervention's positive effect on these constructs, and the positive association observed between developmental changes in these constructs.

Originality/value: Research on the interrelation between emotional intelligence and leadership self-efficacy is scarce. This study extends the literature by investigating the interrelation between developmental changes between these constructs brought about by leadership coaching using latent change scores and PLS-SEM. The study also assesses whether enhanced leadership self-efficacy mediates an association between enhanced emotional intelligence and task-oriented leadership behaviour building on the literature explaining coaching's effect mechanisms.