Emotional intelligence and diversity receptiveness of leaders in federal government: A correlation study

This quantitative research study examined the relationship between leaders' emotional intelligence (EI) and diversity receptiveness (DR). The organization selected for the current study was a large federal government agency in Washington, D.C. The survey instrument was sent via email to 190 employees and 69 participants responded by completing the surveys. The purpose of the survey instrument was to measure EI and DR. The participant population was selected based on pay grade position that ranged from the GS-13 to Senior Executive Service (SES). The results revealed a moderately strong, direct, positive relationship between managers' EI and DR (R = 0.50, p < .01). Examination of the relationships based on managerial level showed there was no difference between managers' EI and DR, F (1, 67) = 0.11 with p > .05. Exploratory analysis of the influence of demographic factors of age, race, and gender also reflected no difference in the relationship between managers' EI and DR based on these demographic variables.