Collective Emotional Intelligence and Group Dynamics Interplay: Can It Be Tangible and Measurable?

Significant efforts have been allocated over the last thirty years towards the conceptualization and assessment of the Emotional Intelligence (EI) construct. However, there is limited work on examining the EI construct in a group level. Collective Emotional Intelligence (CEI) is introduced as the ability of a group to promote awareness and regulation of members’ and group’s emotions, improving their capacity to collaborate effectively and avoid or easily resolve conflicts. High CEI levels in a group positively affect the group’s performance. In this article, we provide a definition of collective EI constructs, based on the extension of the open-access EmoSocio EI model. EmoSocio is selected as a basis since it regards an EI model, enriched with sociometric indexes at an individual and group level. A set of new constructs are included in the model for representing abilities for emotions’ management in a group level along with indicators for revealing the group dynamics. EmoSociograms is also presented as an open-source psychometric tool to dynamically manage and assess the social and emotional competences of individuals and groups. Evaluation results regarding the validity and the reliability of the extended EmoSocio model are made available, based on the assessment of CEI constructs in in-person and online groups, formed under an educational and working context, as well as an online discussion forum.