An Adaptive Leadership Approach: The Impact of Reasoning and Emotional Intelligence (EI) Abilities on Leader Adaptability

We build on the adaptive leadership framework to include reasoning (i.e., a cognitive ability) and emotional intelligence (EI) (i.e., social ability) factors in predicting potential leader adaptability. We incorporate adaptive and situational leadership theories along with trait process models to examine two types of reasoning abilities, inductive and deductive along with the direct and moderating effect of EI on potential leader adaptability. Using a three wave panel design, we found that inductive reasoning and EI predicted adaptive leadership; we further showed that EI moderated the inductive-adaptive leadership relationship where higher levels of EI and inductive reasoning abilities predicted potential leader adaptability. We discuss the implications of the study findings to theory and practice while offering directions for future research.