Table 3 Effect sizes by each level of moderators and variance components

EI task nature

 Ability-based

68

.11

[.074–.148]

 < .001

276.38

75.76%

 Trait-based

38

.08

[.048–.127]

 < .001

97.27

61.96%

EI test

 EQ-i

11

.14

[.076–.204]

 < .001

20.74

51.79%

 MSCEIT

53

.10

[.053–.140]

 < .001

210.26

75.27%

 SSEIT

6

.11

[-.053–.237]

.109

.995

 < 1%

 Other

36

.09

[.049–.124]

 < .001

99.56

64.84%

EI subscale

 Facilitating emotions

8

.13

[.046–.215]

.003

3.21

 < 1%

 Perceiving emotions

7

.20

[.117–.286]

 < .001

.605

 < 1%

 Understanding emotions

8

.11

[.048–.167]

 < .001

.356

 < 1%

 Managing emotions

8

-.04

[-.238–.163]

.713

107.20

93.47%

 Total score

54

.13

[.094–.166]

 < .001

159.86

66.85%

 Other EI dimensions

21

.05

[-.005–.112]

.071

76.79

73.96%

Academic performance

 GPA

37

.09

[.039–.141]

 < .001

180.62

80.06%

 Examinations

69

.11

[.077–.141]

 < .001

194.05

64.96%

Country

 US & Canada

48

.07

[.037–.113]

 < .001

125.83

62.65%

 Other Countries

58

.12

[.085–.161]

 < .001

231.06

75.33%

Variance component

 Level 2 = 33.5%

 Level 3 = 29.5%