Examining the Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Group Cohesion

Collaborative learning experiences increase student learning, but what happens when students fail to collaborate? The authors investigated the relationship between emotional intelligence and group cohesion by studying 44 undergraduate teams who were completing semester-long projects in their business classes at a small private university in the South. The results showed that there was a significant positive correlation between overall emotional intelligence and total group cohesiveness. Of the quadrants of emotional intelligence, awareness of own emotions, and management of others’ emotions showed the strongest positive correlation with group cohesion. Implications of the results for future research and practice are discussed.