PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

As emotional intelligence competencies are seen as the key to personal and professional success, thus it becomes significant to study the relationship of experience and age of an individual on the level of emotional intelligence. This study aims at finding out the perception and the level of emotional intelligence in a person on the basis of his/her age group and gender. The study is exploratory in nature where quota sampling was used to collect data. This study attempts to study the level of emotional intelligence among faculty members of academic institutions (who are the institution's greatest asset), like Amity University, SRM University, Delhi University, Lucknow University, and Christ University. A 2x3 factorial design was prepared to compare emotional intelligence between age and gender of academic professionals. A self-designed questionnaire, prepared on Likert type scale was distributed among 200 academicians of India, out of which 165 were responded and eventually, 160 questionnaires were selected for analysis. Tools like item to total correlation, reliability, factor analysis, and Z-test were used to analyse the data. Various factors like proficiency, holistic wisdom, candidness, insight, sensibility, understanding situations, truth loving, being relaxed; matured, balanced, having optimism, sagaciousness, calmness and development were identified. Results of the Z-test shows that respondents in different age groups differ in emotional intelligence except between age groups of 25-35 and above 55. Results further show that females have higher emotional intelligence than males.