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Emotional intelligence and entrepreneurial intentions: an exploratory meta-analysis

Chao Miao (Department of Management and Marketing, Salisbury University, Salisbury, Maryland, USA)
Ronald H. Humphrey (Department of Entrepreneurship and Strategy, Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster, UK)
Shanshan Qian (Department of Management, Towson University, Towson, Maryland, USA)
Jeffrey M. Pollack (Management, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Department, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA)

Career Development International

ISSN: 1362-0436

Article publication date: 17 October 2018

Issue publication date: 25 October 2018

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Abstract

Purpose

The topic of entrepreneurial intention, which refers to a person’s degree of interest in creating a new business venture, has received close scrutiny in the entrepreneurship literature. The empirical results regarding the relation between emotional intelligence (EI) and entrepreneurial intention were nevertheless mixed across studies. Based on fit theory and trait activation theory, the purpose of this paper is to explain the fundamental reason for the mixed findings in the extant literature thus far.

Design/methodology/approach

Random-effects meta-analyses, based on 12 studies (along with 12 effect sizes), were performed to not only investigate the overall relation between EI and entrepreneurial intention but also to examine the moderators (i.e. individualism (vs collectivism), masculinity (vs femininity), power distance, long-term orientation (vs short-term orientation), uncertainty avoidance, and indulgence (vs restraint)) that influence this relation.

Findings

The results of this meta-analysis demonstrated that EI is positively related to entrepreneurial intention; the positive relationship between EI and entrepreneurial intention is stronger in long-term-oriented cultures; and the positive relationship between EI and entrepreneurial intention does not significantly differ based on a culture’s level of collectivism, masculinity, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and indulgence.

Originality/value

This meta-analysis advances the current understanding of the relation between EI and entrepreneurial intention from cross-cultural perspectives.

Keywords

Citation

Miao, C., Humphrey, R.H., Qian, S. and Pollack, J.M. (2018), "Emotional intelligence and entrepreneurial intentions: an exploratory meta-analysis", Career Development International, Vol. 23 No. 5, pp. 497-512. https://doi.org/10.1108/CDI-01-2018-0019

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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