Advance in your career and get satisfaction: how much your emotional, social and cognitive competencies matter?

Research on competencies has contributed to advance the understanding on which emotional, social and cognitive intelligence (ESCI) competencies are needed for outstanding managers and leaders. Despite this evidence, whether managers who possess a higher level of ESCI competencies actually pursue higher career advancements and experience a greater level of career and life satisfaction remains a debatable issue. Unlike prior research that adopts a cross-sectional design, we adopt a longitudinal approach, in a sample of Italian managers. ESCI competencies and data on objective career success, career satisfaction and life satisfaction have been collected. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed and findings show how ESCI competencies have a different impact on subsequent career success (objective and subjective) and life satisfaction.