The role of emotion perception ability in motivation to lead

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of emotion perception ability through two different paradigms (self-report and ability-based) on an individual's motivation to lead, an individual's desire to assume leadership roles. Design/methodology/approach – The authors have used a survey method in this study. The authors collected data from 172 undergraduate students. Findings – The findings indicate that emotion perception ability was significantly related to MTL. The authors also found that emotion perception ability was more substantially related to the non-calculative dimension of MTL than others. Originality/value – To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to show the relationship of emotion perception ability to motivation to lead. Organizations can use the finding to screen and train future leaders using an ability-based test of emotion perception similar to one the authors have presented.