Fostering a salesperson’s team identification: An investigation into the effects of leader-follower emotional intelligence congruence from a person–environment fit perspective

• A salesperson experiences higher LMXRS as EI incongruence with leader increases. • A salesperson demonstrates higher team identification as LMXRS decreases. • A salesperson’s LMXRS mediates the effects of leader–follower EI (in)congruence. Integrating the person–environment (PE) fit theory with the literature on social identification, we investigate how leader–follower congruence in emotional intelligence (EI) fosters the focal follower’s team identification. We propose that EI (in)congruence between followers and their team leader significantly affects the followers’ relational separation of leader-member exchange (LMXRS), an individual-within-team level construct that indicates one’s relative standing in the team and is operationalized as the Euclidean distance between followers and their team members in terms of perceived LMX quality. Moreover, leader–follower EI (in)congruence indirectly affects the followers’ team identification via the mediating role of LMXRS. The proposed theoretical model was supported by field data collected from 1,416 leader–follower dyads in 143 sales teams across two-time points using polynomial regression and response surface methodology. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.