Competencies of emotional intelligence and constructs of political behaviour among youth students

Abstract

This paper stress the importance of strengthening emotional intelligence (EI) among youths. Human capital resources targeting youths are one of the main thrusts of national development in Malaysia especially from the political, economic, social and educational aspects. The main target of this study was to test the presence of the significance impact of EI competence on the constructs determining youths’ political behaviour. A total of 313 students from four public universities in Malaysia were selected as the sample. The Emotional Intelligence Self-Description Inventory (EISDI), and Political Behaviour Questionnaire (PBQ) were used to obtain data which was analysed using regression analysis. The findings showed that the hypotheses were accepted, i.e. there is an impact of EI competence on the political behaviour which significantly influenced EI on the constructs of political behaviour namely conservativism and nationalism. Hence, EI can be construed to be a determining factor in behaviour and ideology that signifies political maturity among Malaysian youth.