Emotional Intelligence and Social Competencies in the Health Professions: Impacts on Leadership, Teams, and Professionalism

Emotional intelligence (EI) and social competencies (SC) are critical constructs and are now extending beyond the field of organizational psychology, especially in the high-stakes context of healthcare organizations. Healthcare settings are uniquely emotionally charged, requiring professionals to navigate patient care, interprofessional collaboration, and rapidly shifting work conditions, all while effectively managing their own emotions. Recent research highlights that healthcare workers with emotional intelligence and who demonstrate social competencies exhibit better teamwork, communication, and resilience, directly influencing patient safety, staff morale, and service quality. However, despite these findings, gaps remain regarding the mechanisms through which EI and social competencies influence workplace outcomes, the variability in significance across contexts and teams, and the most effective strategies for developing EI and SC among healthcare staff. Debates continue over the best conceptualizations and measurements of EI and SC, as well as the durability and transferability of workplace interventions designed to improve EI and SC skills.

This Research Topic aims to elucidate the nuanced role of EI and SC in the health professions. The primary objectives are to clarify when, how, and for whom EI and SC enhances workplace relationships, strengthens team dynamics, and supports staff well-being within healthcare environments. It seeks to answer pressing questions about EI and SC’s mechanisms of influence at multiple levels (individual, team, and organizational), the conditions under which EI and SC are most beneficial (or potentially harmful), the relative validity of competing EI and SC models and measurement tools, and the effectiveness of interventions in the healthcare setting.

To gather further insights, the Research Topic welcomes articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
• The interaction between EI and/or SC, emotional labor, and healthcare worker well-being, including burnout and recovery
• EI and SC’s role in workplace relationships, social capital, conflict, and incivility among healthcare professionals
• Team-based dynamics, including communication, collaboration, and team resilience under pressure
• Organizational dynamics surrounding EI and SC, such as fairness perceptions, trust, diversity, and implications of digitalization
• Innovative methods and robust measurement of EI and SC (e.g., multi-source ratings, longitudinal and cross-cultural approaches)
• Evaluation of interventions aimed at cultivating EI and SC
• EI and SC in health professions education and professional formation, including professionalism, interprofessional learning, communication training, reflective practice, and preparation for emotionally demanding clinical environments

The Research Topic is limited to EI and SC in the health professions’ population, explicitly excluding clinical mental health treatments or outcomes. We welcome a diverse array of article types such as Original Research, Brief Research Report, Review, Systematic Review, Mini Review, Perspective, Methods, Study Protocol, and Registered Report, in line with the standards of organizational psychology research.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Registered Report
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: emotional intelligence, healthcare workers, healthcare professionals, healthcare organizations, healthcare workplaces

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.