Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Entrepreneurial Capacity of Agricultural Students

The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence and entrepreneurial capacity among the agricultural students at Arak University. Quasi-experimental method was applied in this research. The statistical population consisted of 500 B.Sc. agricultural students in the 1394-95 academic year, from which 107 students were determined by Bartlett table as the research sample and were selected by applying simple random sampling technique. A questionnaire was developed to gather data. Validity and reliability of the research instrument were confirmed based on the evaluation of a panel of experts and ordinal alpha coefficient (α=0.80-0.85), respectively. The findings of research indicated that motivating oneself and managing emotions of students need further attention. The results of Spearman correlation coefficient analysis revealed that there was a positive significant relationship between self-awareness, managing emotions, motivating oneself, empathy, social skills and total emotional intelligence and student's entrepreneurial capacity. Ordinal regression analysis results revealed that the two variables of managing emotions and prior experiences of family members in starting business accounted for 52% to 70% probability of variation in the entrepreneurial capacity of students.