EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE SKILLS AND BUSINESS GRADUATES’ EFFECTIVENESS IN ORGANISATIONS

Abstract

Unemployment among business education graduates is alarming particularly in the absence of significant industrial involvement and expected requisite skills. The study examines the emotional intelligence skills required by employers of business education graduates for effective performance in business organizations in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The population of the study was 2101 managers of large, medium and small scale business organizations. Proportionate stratified random sampling technique was used to select 316 respondents, which were all human resource managers. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient method was used to establish the reliability coefficient and 0.80 was obtained. One research questions and one null hypothesis guided the study. The researcher administered 316 copies of questionnaires with the help of three research assistants, while 300 copies were duly completed and retrieved making 94% retuned. The data collected was analyzed using mean and standard deviation, while ANOVA was used to test the null hypotheses. The findings revealed that emotional intelligence skills is required to a moderate extent.There is significance difference in the mean ratings of low, medium and high capital based managers on the extent of emotional intelligence skills required of business education graduates for effective performance in business organizations. Based on these findings, it was recommended among others that managers and curriculum designers should develop appropriate curriculum that will enable business education graduates improve their skills to enhance their performance. Managers of organizations should also support tertiary institutions by engaging the students in proactive industrial training activities so as to enable them imbibe and apply their skills creatively.