How Team Emotional Intelligence Connects to Task Performance: A Network Approach

Abstract

Drawing on a social network analysis, we examined the role of social network structure (i.e., friendship network density) as a mediating factor linking team average emotional intelligence (EI) with team task performance and how this relationship is influenced by intrateam trust. The results from 97 teams (466 team members) working on student projects in a business university over a semester indicated that teams with higher average EI exhibit a higher density of friendship networks and better team task performance in contexts characterized by higher intrateam trust. The study increases our understanding of the mechanism through which EI at the team level may affect team performance and provides new insights into how team managers and members might enhance the effectiveness of project teams.