Academic Achievement in Engineering: Does Emotional Intelligence Matter?
Abstract
The study aims to explore different factors of emotional intelligence and investigate the relationship between factors of emotional intelligence and variables like gender, schooling and age. The relationship between different factors of emotional intelligence and academic performance of engineering students is also examined. Students (N=177) attending an engineering institution filled the questionnaire. The instrument used for data collection is considered to be reliable as Cronbach’s alpha for the instrument is 0.752. The data is analyzed using various statistical tools like Factor analysis, Montecarlo parallel analysis, t-test, Mean, Standard deviation, ANOVA and Regression analysis. Based on factor analysis 32 components are categorized into five factors - Emotional Management, Awareness, Negative outlook, Non-verbal messages and Positive outlook. The findings revealed that gender of the college students makes significant influence on emotional management and non-verbal messages whereas background of the college students makes significant influence only on non-verbal messages but does not influence other factors. Whereas schooling of the college students does not significantly influence any of the factors of emotional intelligence. Academic performance of engineering students is found to be independent of factors of emotional intelligence.
References
Bar-On, R. (1997). Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i): Technical manual, Toronto: Multi-Health Systems.
Çetinkaya, Ö., Alparslan, A. M. (2011). The Effect of Emotional Intelligence on Communication Skills: An Investigation on University Students. The Journal of Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, 16 (1), 363-377.
Clark, L.A. & Watson, D. (1995). Constructing validity: Basic Issues in Objective Scale Development. Psychological Assessment, 7, 309-319.
ErdoÄŸdu MY, Edge S.S. (2005). The Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Academic Achievement. National Education, 178, 297-310.
Goleman, D. (1998). Working with emotional intelligence, New York: Bantam Books.
Goleman, D. (2001). ‘An EI-Based Theory of Performance’, In: Goleman, D. (ed.), The Emotionally Intelligent Workplace: How to Select for, Measure, and Improve Emotional Intelligence in Individuals, Groups, and Organizations, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 27-44.
Grehan P.M., Flanagan R. and Malgady R. G. (2011). Successful Graduate Students: The Roles of Personality Traits and Emotional Intelligence. Psychology in the Schools, 48, 4.
Jacques, E.T. (2009). The Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and the Academic Performance and Selection of a Major of College Students, TUI University, Proquest Dissertations and Thesis.
Kalhotra, Satishkumar (2012). Emotional intelligence and academic achievement of school children. Review of research, 1 (6),86.
Landau J., Meirovich G. (2011). Development of Students’ Emotional Intelligence: Participative Classroom Environments in Higher Education. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, 15, 3.
O’Connor Jr., Little, I, S. (2003). Revisiting the Predictive Validity of Emotional Intelligence: Self-Report Versus Ability-Based Measures. Personality and Individual Differences, 35, 893–1902.
Parker, J. D. A., Summerfeldt L. J., Hogan J. M. and Majeski S. A. (2004). Emotional Intelligence and Academic Success: Examining the Transition from High-School to University. Personality and Individual Differences, 36,163-172.
Schutte, N.S., Malouff, J.M. Hall, L.E., Haggerty, D., Cooper, J.T., Golden, C.J. and Dornheim, L. (1998). Development and Validation of a Measure of Emotional Intelligence. Personality and Individual Differences, 25,167- 177.
Sutarso, T., Baggett, L.K., Sutarso, P. and Tapia, M. (1996). ‘Effect of gender and GPA on emotional intelligence’. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Mid-South Educational Research Association. November 6-8, 1996. Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Tariq, S., Majoka, M.I. and Hussain S. (2011). A Study to Investigate Emotional Intelligence of Male and Female Students at University Level in Pakistani Context. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 2(10), 209-218.
Van Rooy, D.L. Alanso, A. and Visweshvaran, C. (2005). Group Differences in Emotional Intelligence Scores: Theoretical and Practical Implications. Personality and Individual Differences, 38(3), 689-700.
Wong Chi Sum, Wong, Ping-man, and Law, K.S. (2005). The Interacting Effect of Emotional Intelligence and Emotional labour on Job Satisfaction: A Test of Holland’s Classification of Occupations, [In: (PA Vol 92:15339) Emotions in Organisational behaviour, Hartel, C.E. Zerbe, W.J. and Ashkanasy, N.M. (eds) Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, publishers: Mahwah, N.J., 235-250.
