The Influence of Emotional Intelligence on the Overall Success of Campus Leaders as Perceived by Veteran Teachers in a Rural Mid-sized East Texas Public School District

Oct 15, 2026

Qualitative interviews with twelve veteran teachers in a midsized, rural East Texas public school district examine how emotional intelligence shapes teachers’ perceptions of campus leaders’ success. Guided by five research questions grounded in Daniel Goleman’s emotional intelligence theory, the study considers self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. Findings indicate principals are viewed as more successful when they demonstrate and use high emotional intelligence, and less successful when they fail to do so. Teacher narratives provide interpretive detail for these perceptions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract and Study Focus

Research Design and Theory

Data Collection and Findings

Theoretical Background: Emotional Intelligence

Components: Self-Awareness and Related Constructs

The Influence of Emotional Intelligence on the Overall Success of Campus Leaders as Perceived by Veteran Teachers in a Rural mid-sized East Texas Public School District Gregory Bower, Johnny O'Connor, Sandra Harris, & Ed Frick Lamar University Twelve veteran teachers in Texas were interviewed for this qualitative study, to explore their perception of the influence of emotional intelligence on the success of campus leaders in a midsized, rural school district in East Texas. Five research questions framed in the context of Daniel Goleman’s theory of emotional intelligence, guided this study. This theory includes aspects of emotional intelligence such as: Self-awareness, Self-regulation, Motivation, Empathy, and Socialskill. All data were collected through face-to-face interviews. Findings suggest that: teachers perceive principals to be more successful when they display and utilize a high degree of emotional intelligence, and less successful when they failed or neglected to utilize a high degree of emotional intelligence. Findings were further interpreted through the detailed accounts of each participant. Keywords: Emotional intelligence, educational leadership, aspiring school leaders, leadership development, rural schools, public schools ICPEL Education Leadership Review, Vol. 19, No. 1– December, 2018 ISSN: 1532-0723 © 2018 International Council of Professors of Educational In today’s global society, many leaders rely upon their emotional intelligence (EI), which is being rapidly shaped by social media (Finkelhor, 2014) . Given the imminent evolution of school leadership, campus principals must now exercise a high degree of EI in order to increase the likelihood of being successful (Tomlinson, 2003) . Baesu and Bejinaru (2015) argued that leaders and executives maintain specific and distinctive foundations and authority that makes the manner in which they lead unique. Each leader must also possess certain fundamental skills in order to be viewed as a successful leader. This has sparked scholarly debates, which have sought to identify exactly what those common elements are, and which are necessary for the success of leaders. Setting the premise for emotional intelligence, in 1920, Thorndike posited the notion of social intelligence. The researcher suggested that social intelligence is the ability to understand and manage men and women and to act wisely on human relations (Dabke, 2016), a concept that was also supported by Salovey and Mayer (1990) . The researchers argued that emotional intelligence was a mental process in which thinking and feeling work tangentially, and found there to be a point in which emotions can be mentally managed (Brown, 2014) . Teachers play a major role in the success of a school. Waruwu (2015) suggested that for campus leaders to increase teacher productivity and lower apathy, a high degree of emotional intelligence is required. He added that leaders might accomplish this by being more cognizant of their emotions as well as the emotions of others. Goleman (1998) posited that emotional intelligence can be honed and developed by training leaders to better understand themselves, others, and the repercussions there within. Olcer, Florescu, and Nastase (2014) pointed out that there is also data that shows that managers with significant levels of emotional intelligence have remarkably positive effects on their workers. There is limited published research that indicates the extent of success that can be attributed to a leader’s emotional intelligence (Dabke, 2016; Gray, 2009; Mayer & Cobb, 2000) . Furthermore, few studies exist that analyze an educational leaders’ social and emotional skills and the role these skills play in their job performance and success (SanchezNunez, Patti, & Holzer, 2015). Most researchers concur, however, that a principal’s emotional intelligence skills are vital to their efforts to improve student achievement in addition to the well being of a school as a learnin

FAQs

What was the purpose of the qualitative study?

The study explored veteran teachers’ perceptions of how emotional intelligence influences campus leaders’ overall success in a rural, midsized East Texas public school district.

Which emotional intelligence components were used to frame the research?

The framework drew on Daniel Goleman’s theory, including self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.

How did teachers’ perceptions connect emotional intelligence to principal success?

Teachers perceived principals as more successful when they displayed and utilized a high degree of emotional intelligence and less successful when they neglected or failed to do so.

Oct 15, 2026

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