Emotional Intelligence of Entrepreneurs and their Decision-making Style: Role of Vision

Abstract

The paper discusses the relationship between emotional intelligence and decision-making styles (Intuitive, Decision making through thorough analysis, Consultative, Based on Market demand) of Entrepreneurs in the Indian manufacturing Industry. Past literature supports the importance of vision for decisions to be advantageous to the company. The present paper is an effort towards this direction, of understanding the role played by Top management teams Vision, between (Emotional Intelligence) EI and Decision making style (DMS). The sample consisted of 4 Indian medium-sized manufacturing companies. Emotional Intelligence was measured by an EI questionnaire by Esther Orioli, Cooper & Sawaf, and Decision-making styles questionnaire for measuring decision-making style of Indian entrepreneurs. Test of Cronbach’s alpha for all the variables were above 0.8, indicated that reliability for these questionnaires were accepted. The analysis is done using Structural Equation modeling. The results emphasize on the importance of emotional intelligence of entrepreneurs on their decision making style and the mediating role of Vision between emotional intelligence and Decision making style. Analyzing the data revealed that there is a significant positive relationship between EI and Decision making style (DMS) through TMT Vision. The study supports the past theory of interdependence of emotion and cognition in Decision making process.