The influence of team leaders’ emotional intelligence on their intercultural conflict management styles in virtual multicultural project teams

The objective of this research was to study the influence of Emotional Intelligence (EI) towards the relevant of choices and its adaptation of Intercultural Conflict (ICS) of leaders in virtual multicultural project teams when confronted with two types of conflicts in terms of task and relationship conflicts. The WLEIS Wong and Law (2002) instrument, which consisted of 16 items, was used to assess the EI level of measurement. Moreover, the innovative data collection method, which calls a serious game, was used to assess the ICS in this quasi-experimental research. The total sample of 339 respondents, was used for this study. The sample, who answered the questionnaire, consisted of 106 Thai respondents, 114 French respondents, and 119 American respondents. They were mainly working professionals from different professional fields. The findings of this study confirmed but also contradicted the existing theory to some extent. The findings also showed that leaders with a high EI were more likely to use an indirect approach and an emotionally restraint strategy in conflicts circumstances. In addition, EI had an influence the adaptation of ICS to culturally different team members. Leaders were more likely to adapt their communication approach, but not their emotional strategy, in all types of conflicts. This study will be the benefits for applying through employees' experiences in terms of multicultural work environment. It will also promote the understanding and working together among employees in order to have a happy workplace as well as teams' efficiency and effectiveness.