The Influence Of Business Managers’ Practical Intelligence And Personality Traits On Leadership Effectiveness

Practical intelligence is considered as an effective new construct to predict individual’s job performance. Also, it is a critical factor for individuals to achieve success at work. With the aggravation of global competition, it is a pressing issue for Chinese corporates to improve their managers’ leadership effectiveness, which underlines the importance of practical intelligence in the society. Previous studies indicated that personality traits and practical intelligence could predict managers’ leadership effectiveness. However, there were few studies to explore how business managers’ practical intelligence and personality traits influence leadership effectiveness and its antecedent variables such as transformational leadership. Thus, taking Chinese business managers as subjects and based on Chinese cultural context, this study developed a localized assessment tool for assessing managers’ practical intelligence and leadership personality traits, and examined the influence of managers’ practical intelligence and leadership personality traits on transformational leadership and leadership effectiveness. The primary coverage of this study constitutes by five parts.Study of 1,298 Chinese business managers took part in the current study. All of them were administered with "Practical Intelligence Inventory for Business Managers" that was developed according to the development process of the inventory and to Chinese business managers’ work practice. The results of reliability analysis showed that the Practical Intelligence Inventory for Business Managers had good internal reliability. Explore factor analysis (EFA) with 150 subjects and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with 148 subjects was adopted to study the structure of practical intelligence. The results supported a two-factor (global and local) model on context substructure.In Study 2,215 business managers were also measured personality traits by "Leadership Personality Traits Inventory" that was developed based on literature review of leadership personality and ancient Chinese leadership psychological thoughts. The results of CFA showed that leadership personality traits supported a Five-Factor model composed of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, stability, and openness. Reliability analysis showed that five subscales of Leadership Personality Traits Inventory had good internal reliability.Study 3 inquired into the relationship between 57 subjects’ performance on Practical Intelligence Inventory for Business Managers and performance on assessment center assessing leadership potential. The results of regression analysis showed that local and total practical intelligence scores were negative predictors of team leadership, learning ability and total leadership potential, and global practical intelligence scores could negatively predict learning ability. Lower scores on practical intelligence represented a better match to expert profile.Study 4 concerned the impact of leadership personality traits on practical intelligence. The results of structural equation modeling path analysis demonstrated that agreeableness was a negative predictor of total, local, and global practical intelligence scores; that stability was a positive predictor of total and local practical intelligence scores; that extraversion was a negative predictor of global practical intelligence scores.Study 5 explored the influence of practical intelligence and leadership personality traits on transformational leadership and leadership effectiveness. Questionnaires were sent to each business manager’s subordinates to collect their ratings of superior’s transformational leadership behavior, satisfaction with superior, commitment to superior, turnover intention, and job satisfaction. Based on 162 supervisors and 201 employees’ employee-supervisor matched sample, the results of structural equation modeling indicated that global, local, and total practical intelligence scores were negative predictors of transformational leadership; that global practical intelligence fully mediated the effects of conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness on transformational leadership, and partially mediated the effects of agreeableness on transformational leadership; that local practical intelligence fully mediated the effects of agreeableness and conscientiousness on transformational leadership; that total practical intelligence fully mediated the effects of agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness on transformational leadership; that transformational leadership fully mediated the effects of local and total practical intelligence on subordinates’ satisfaction with superior, commitment to superior, turnover intention, and job satisfaction; that transformational leadership partially mediated the effects of global practical intelligence on subordinates’ satisfaction with superior, and fully mediated the effects of subordinates’ commitment to superior, turnover intention and job satisfaction.Practical Intelligence Inventory for Business Managers and Leadership Personality Traits Inventory will provide valuable personnel assessment tools for selecting competent managers. The influence of business managers’ practical intelligence and leadership personality traits on transformational leadership and leadership effectiveness will provide new insights and theoretical foundations for leadership development based on practical intelligence.