An assessment of the emotional intelligence of construction students: An empirical investigation

Concerns have been expressed as to the appropriateness of the skills and abilities of construction graduates since late 1980’s. In particular, employers have raised concerns about the extent to which non-technical or “soft” skills, such as communication, leadership, teamwork and management, are exhibited by graduates. Many of these behaviours comprise components of Emotional Intelligence (EI), high levels of which have been correlated with superior performance, leadership behaviour and success across a variety of professions. This paper investigates the EI level of almost 200 undergraduates from a range of construction disciplines. It investigates the extent to which construction educational programmes develop students' EI and puts forward recommendations as to how EI can be integrated into future construction curriculum. The results reveal that, whilst there is no significant relationship between the types of programme and the EI levels of students, construction students possess lower levels of EI relative to other professions and societal groups. It is suggested that a better understanding of students' EI levels could enhance educational programmes in line with future requirements of the construction industry. Tentative recommendations for improving the EI of students on built environment educational programmes have been put forward.