Emotional Intelligence: Proximal Factor of Entrepreneurial Behaviour

Abstract

In today’s ever dynamic environment, it becomes very important for organizations to focus on Entrepreneurial Behavior (EB), i.e. set of actions that lead to opportunity identification and creation of new organization(s), by value addition (Gartner, 1985; Herron & Robinson, 1993). Also researchers, (Goleman, 1998; Cross and Travegliane 2003) have established the role of Emotional Intelligence (EI), in such dynamic environment. So it becomes very necessary to study the linkages between EB and EI. There have been paucity of research in this area and this paper intends to contribute to this field of research by carrying out a correlational study between Trait Emotional Intelligence (Petrides & Furnham, 2006) and Entrepreneurial Resourcefulness (ER), by Misra & Kumar (2000), which leads to EB. A sample of 104 managers across sectors in India has been randomly selected for the study. Also, independent sample t-test and one way ANOVA test have been performed to check the, Independent samples’ statistical validity. This work is amongst the pioneers that measure the effect of EI on EB, while taking ER into account, which is not only based upon one’s disposition but on the competencies that fall under three categories: 1) Cognitive competence, 2) Affective Competence and 3) Action-Oriented Competence. This study shows positive correlation between EI & EB. The study has theoretical and practical implications for managers and leaders within in organizations