Do managers’ emotional intelligence matter for SMEs’ business practices?

Abstract

An under-researched question in the current literature is to what extent managers’ emotional intelligence (EQ) play a role in driving business practices. To explore this question, we carried out a survey with 320 textile and garment SMEs in Vietnam. We find that one standard deviation increase in EQ of managers is related to 3.87% increase in business practices adoption. Notably, EQ levels of managers have different impact on adoption of each business practices. These effects on marketing practices are strongest, while EQ level of managers has modest effect on financial planning practices.