A comparative analysis of the emotional intelligence levels of American and Chinese business students.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a characteristic of business students that has been the subject of significant research. This study was designed to extend that prior research by comparing the EI scores of American business students with those of Chinese business students. The study further focuses on those factors which may be related to ways in which the two groups of individuals differ in their levels of Emotional Intelligence. Specifically, a number of demographic characteristics were evaluated with regard to whether or not they were associated with differences in El achievement scores between both the American and Chinese business students. Results indicate that students' EI scores did significantly differ for the two groups when the factors of age, gender and grade point average were considered. Introduction In the nearly twenty years since Goleman's (1995, 1998) seminal works on Emotional Intelligence (EI) were published, many studies have been completed which broadened that original research to include the creation of various instruments designed to accurately assess EI (Schutte, Malouff, Hall, Haggerty, Cooper, Golden & Dornheim, 1998; Petrides & Furnham, 2000; Mayer, Salovey & Caruso, 2008) and the use of those instruments to study the many possible factors related to emotional intelligence (Tapia & Marsh, 2006; Reyna, 2007). More recently, researchers have been investigating emotional intelligence across cultural boundaries. Specifically, Humphreys, et al (2008) explored the relationship between Chinese and American MBA students' levels of emotional intelligence. Their study concluded that differences in both EI levels and the factors related to those levels existed between these two groups of students. Mills (2005) found that significant differences exist between Asian and American leadership styles, largely influenced by the different cultures of those two societies with Asian leadership styles slowly moving more toward a western style of management. Chang (2008) found that the Chinese cultural values of Taiwanese students also had a significant relationship with the leadership styles of those studied. Margavio, Margavio, Hignite and Moses (2011) in addition to assessing the EI levels of a group of Chinese business students, also identified a number of demographic variables, including age and gender, associated with those scores. The purpose of this study, is to bridge the gap between those separate studies performed with American students as subjects and those completed with Chinese students as their focus, in order to assess and compare the scores of emotional intelligence between two distinct groups of American and Chinese business students in a single research effort. Study Design and Methodology This study was designed to compare American and Chinese business students' achievement on a standardized test of Emotional Intelligence and to further investigate the relationships that might exist between the characteristics possessed by those two groups of students and their EI scores. The schools at which the study was conducted were (1) a U.S. Midwestern university with an enrollment of over 20,000 full-time students located in a city with some 250,000 residents and (2) a branch campus of that university located in eastern China with an enrollment of some 2,500 students, that branch campus being located in a large metropolitan area with a population of approximately 6.5 million residents. The Test Developed by Schutte, Malouff, Hall, Haggerty, Cooper, Golden, and Dornheim (1998), a 33-item measure was utilized to assess students' levels of emotional intelligence (EI). An internal consistency score of .87 (Chronbach's alpha) and a test-retest reliability score of .78 (Schutte, et al, 1998, p. 173) is reported by the creators of this instrument. In addition to capturing students' responses on the EI scale, data related to students' characteristics (e. …