The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Entrepreneurs' Perceptions of Success: An Exploratory Study

This study contributes to the entrepreneurship literature by introducing emotional intelligence (EI) as an additional factor that explains how entrepreneurs perceive their own success. Using survey data from a sample of Dutch entrepreneurs, we find that emotionally intelligent entrepreneurs are more likely to judge positively their entrepreneurial success in terms of: employee satisfaction, social responsibility, personal satisfaction, customer satisfaction and business performance. Furthermore, not all EI dimensions are equally relevant to explain self-perceived success. In this respect, we find that the (self-perceived) ability to regulate emotions of other people is most strongly linked to entrepreneurial success.