Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Date

2010

Abstract

This study examines relationships between emotional intelligence (EI) and cognitive moral development (CMD) in undergraduate business students. The ability model of emotional intelligence was used in this study, which evaluated possible relationships between EI and CMD in a sample of 82 undergraduate business students. The sample population was approximately 700 students in a private university in the Midwest United States. A weak, positive relationship was found between overall emotional intelligence and moral development, but the strength of this relationship failed to reach statistical significance. However, one branch of EI, Understanding Emotions, did have a positive correlation with moral development at the .01 significance level. Results indicated a statistically significant relationship between level of education and cognitive moral reasoning at the .05 significance level. Women also showed significantly higher moral development levels than men; that relationship reached statistical significance at the .01 level. These results support previous empirical research findings. Conflicting with previous research results, accounting majors had significantly higher emotional intelligence scores than other business majors in this study, reaching statistical significance at the .01 level. This study provides empirical support for the relationships between cognitive moral development and emotional intelligence.