Implications of Culturally Implicit Perspective of Emotional Intelligence

This article proposes a culturally implicit perspective of emotional intelligence and introduces the notion of culture-specific emotional intelligence (CSEI). Emotional intelligence (EI) as a construct has predominantly been associated with the individual. Given that emotions are also implicit beliefs and that their experience, expression, and management are known to be driven by cultural values, we suggest EI to be culturally embedded. We therefore suggest that EI is culture-specific. Culture-specific EI serves as an important social resource affecting behaviors. We provide a brief review of literature that elucidates the multi-level nature of EI and highlights the role of culture as both antecedent and moderator of CSEI. Implications for theory and cross-cultural phenomena are discussed.