The dark side of personality: A look at the moderating effect of managing emotions

This dissertation investigated the relationship between emotional volatility and leadership behavior and the moderating effect of the ability to manage emotions. Specifically, the study used the Hogan Development Survey's (HDS) Excitable dimension to operationalize emotional volatility, the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test's (MSCEIT) Managing Emotions branch to operationalize managing emotions, and the Leadership Versatility Index's (LVI) Forceful and Enabling dimensions to operationalize task- and relationship-oriented leadership behavior. The study predicted elevated levels of emotional volatility would positively correlate with LVI Forceful and negatively correlate with LVI Enabling---except when the leader possesses the cognitive ability to manage emotions. Participants were recruited with Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk; N = 75). No relationship was found between emotional volatility and task-oriented leadership behaviors---and the ability to manage emotions did not moderate the relationships between emotional volatility and task- and relationship-oriented behaviors. However, correlational analyses revealed that emotional volatility is negatively correlated with relationship-oriented leadership. Additionally, exploratory analyses found significant links between dysfunctional dispositions and various aspects of emotional intelligence. These results have practical implications and suggest areas for future research.