Project Managers’ Emotional Intelligence and Team Performance: The Mediating Role of Team Cohesion

Abstract

Drawing on the social exchange theory, the study aimed to assess the mediating role of team cohesion between predictor project managers’ emotional intelligence and outcome as team performance to overcome the literature gap in the cultural context of Pakistan. The study therefore adapted cross sectional correlational study design and purposive sampling technique for data collection from project managers from various industries with at least one year of experience and possess project management certification from the recognized institution. Data were obtained from 185 project managers out of 210 distributed questionnaires (response rate = 88%). The standardized instruments used in the study are brief emotional intelligence scale, Erlangen Team Cohesion at Work Scale and team performance scale. The findings reported significant relationship among variables i.e. project managers’ emotional intelligence, team cohesion and team performance. The mediation analysis using Hayes’ PROCESS Macro 4.2 (Model 4) showed that team cohesion significantly mediated the relationship between project managers’ emotional intelligence and team performance. The direct effect of project manager emotional intelligence on team performance was not significant, but the indirect effect via team cohesion was significant. Mean differences for team sizes remained nonsignificant for team cohesion and team performance while larger team size (13+ member) scored significant high on emotional intelligence then counterpart medium (7 to 12 members) and small (3 to 6 members). The study implications explained the study supported social exchange theory and filled the gap, and there is need of emotional intelligence training for project managers to maintain higher efficacy in the team to achieve organizational objectives.