Emotional intelligence as a predictor of workgroup fit among police leaders

Purpose - Policing scholars have largely ignored the workgroup dynamics of police command staffs. These officers work closely at the top of police organizations, promoting strategic objectives and overseeing significant changes. As leaders, emotional regulation is critical to the maintenance of internal and external relationships. Only a few research studies address emotional intelligence (EI) among police leaders. The current study combines these two issues to examine whether emotionally intelligent leaders report better perceptions of workgroup fit with their respective command staffs. Design/methodology/approach - Using a survey of 304 United States (US) command staff officers attending the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Academy (NA), the authors apply personenvironment fit theory and test several hypotheses using structural equation modeling. Findings - Command staff officers with better EI report significantly better perceptions of workgroup fit, suggesting that they may be better equipped to navigate the command staff workgroup dynamics in this complex environment that demands high emotional regulation. Workgroup fit was also significantly higher among higher ranking officers and among officers racialized as White. Originality/value - Few studies have addressed perceptions of workgroup fit among command staff officers, and little attention has been given to the concept of EI. The authors add to these two important areas of research and provide evidence that emotional intelligence is an important characteristic for leaders when considering how well command staffs work together. This finding may have implications for the efficacy of agencies to facilitate change efforts or to carry out daily operations.