Title: Emotional intelligence and employee innovativeness: mediating role of employee psychological well-being

Authors: Kiran Kumar Devulapalli; Rama Krishna Gupta Potnuru

Addresses: School of Management Studies, GIET University Gunupur, Gunupur, Odisha 765022, India ' Department of HRM, GITAM School of Business, GITAM (Deemed to be University), Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, 530045, India

Abstract: The study aims to address the uniqueness of a model of mediation in which a test is conducted to determine the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and employee innovation (EInn) in the presence of employee psychological well-being (EPWB). Two hundred and ninety-six workers were contacted, and replies were recorded through email, with the respondents' and researcher's conveniences in mind to maximise resources such as time, effort, and money. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to evaluate the model. The connections between emotional intelligence and employee innovation were shown to be important in the presence of employee psychological well-being. Based on the dynamic link between emotional intelligence and employee innovation, it is feasible to claim that psychological well-being would predict employee innovation. At the same time, it has the potential to boost employee innovation.

Keywords: emotional intelligence; EI; employee psychological well-being; EPWB; employee innovation; EInn; mediation model; business excellence.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEX.2026.151659

International Journal of Business Excellence, 2026 Vol.38 No.2, pp.160 - 179

Received: 03 Aug 2021
Accepted: 24 Dec 2021
Published online: 12 Feb 2026 *

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