15-02-2013, 04:41 PM
Effect of Demographic Factors on Emotional Intelligence: A Study among MBA Students
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Abstract
Emotional intelligence has become a major topic of interest in academics and corporate circles these days. This study has been done to find out emotional intelligence (EI) of MBA students studying in engineering colleges affiliated to Visvesvaraya Technological University, located in Bangalore South. The sample size was 561 MBA students. The effect of demographic variables like gender, family structure, place of stay, education level of parents and income level of parents on emotional intelligence was found out using one way anova. Findings revealed that none of the demographic variables selected for the current study had any effect on EI of students.
Keywords: Emotional Intelligence, Gender, Family Structure, Place of Stay, Education Level, Family Income.
Introduction
Present generation students are under tremendous pressure not only to excel in exams but also to sharpen their soft skills in order to step into the corporate world. Emotional intelliegnce (EI) is considered as 21st century workplace skill. It is considered as an important factor which can predict academic performance of the students and performance of the employees in work place. Of late, workshops and conferences are being held in work places to help employees and managers to become aware of the components of EI so that they improve their performance. Several research works have confirmed that EI helps to manage the stress, control the emotions and deal with any adverse situation effectively.
Emotional intelligence
The concept of EI was first introduced by Salovey and Mayer in the early 1990’s and made popular by Daniel Goleman with publication of his book, “Emotional intelligence, Why it can matter more than IQ” in 1995. Salovey & Mayer have defined EI as “the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings & emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions.
According to Goleman (1995) EI consists of five components:
Self- awareness: Ability to recognise one’s emotions, personality, strengths and weaknesses, Self- regulation: Ability to control one’s emotions, impulses & adaptability,
Self- motivation: Ability to gather one’s feelings & directing oneself towards a set goal,
Empathy: Ability to recognize the feelings of others; sensitivity to others' feelings.
Managing relationship (Social Skills): The ability to solve problems without insulting co-workers and to maintain good relations with others.
Data Analysis, Findings and Discussion
The data was tested for internal consistency. The Chronbach alpha value was 0.783. This showed that data had good internal consistency. Students were grouped under four EI levels. Results have been tabulated in Table No.1. The study revealed that 48% of the students possessed very high EI and 50% of the students possessed high EI. Only 2% of the students had average EI and none of the students belonged to low EI group.
The analysis was done in respect of demographic variables like gender, family structure, place of stay, educational level of parents and family income. Results have been tabulated in Table No.2.
55% of the respondents were males and 45% of the respondents were female. 82% of the respondents belonged to nuclear family structure and 18% of the respondents belonged to joint family structure. 6% of the respondents stayed at hostel, 91% of the respondents stayed at home, 2 % of the respondents stayed at relative’s house and only 1% of the respondents were paying guests.
5% of the respondents reported that their parents were uneducated, 37% and 43 % of the respondents reported that their parents were undergraduates and graduates. 15% of the students reported that their parents were post graduates. 31% of the respondents belonged to less than Rs.20, 000 income group, 28% of the respondents belonged to Rs.20, 001-30, 000 income group, 17% of the respondents belonged to Rs30,001-50,000 while 24% of the students belonged to above Rs. 50, 001 income group.
Conclusions
This study investigated the effect of demographic variables like gender, family structure, place of stay, parent’s education and family income on EI of MBA students. It was found that a person’s EI was not dependent on any of the demographic factors focused in the study. This means that EI can be developed at any stage in life.
EI is considered vital for success in all fields starting from education to employment. EI can affect academic achievement positively not only during the years the skills are taught but during the career that follows. EI covers a range of skills such as motivating others, self-motivation, ability to communicate and listen effectively, building rapport and demonstrating empathy. All these skills are important for management students since they are would-be managers. These skills are most sought after these days by employers. EI skills help management students to successfully knock the doors of corporates and progress in their careers. Inspite of its importance, EI still remains a neglected component in the curriculum of educational institutions. Therefore, MBA colleges can arrange EI workshops for the benefit of students.