The relationship of emotional intelligence and stress management to leadership behavior and business performance among women entrepreneurs

This study aimed at analyzing the relationship of women entrpreneurs' emotional intelligence and stress management styles to their leadership behaviors, first. Then the effect of leadership behavior on business performance was examined. Data for the study were obtained from 535 women entrepreneurs in Çukurova region. Survey questionnaire was developed for data gathering. In the survey, scales of Kouzes and Posner's (2002) leadership behavior, Chan's (2003) emotional intelligence, Moos's (1993) stress management techniques and Zerenler's (2005) business performans were utilized. In order to answer the research questions and hypotheses exploratory factor analysis, variance analysis, correlation and regression methods were applied to the data along with complementery statistical tests. Findings supported the hypothesized relations among research variables. For instance, women entrpreneurs' leadership behavior was effected by emotional intelligence and stress management positively. Effective leadership on the other hand showed a positive effect on business performance. Overall the findings indicated that an increase in the age of business, educational status and age of the women entrepreneur caused further increase in emotional intelligence, stress management tchniques, effective leadership behavior and business performance.