Emotional Intelligent

nteMALAY VERSION OF THE EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE INVENTORY (ECI): A STUDY OF RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY CHUA BEE SEOK, Ph.D [e-mail] BEDDU SALAM BACO, MA [e-mail] Sekolah Psikologi & Kerja Sosial Universiti Malaysia Sabah Tel: [phone] ext 1525/1549 HARRIS SHAH ABDUL HAMID, MSc. [e-mail] Department of Psycholgoy International Islamic University Malaysia Tel: [phone] ext 3058

ABSTRACT This study investigates the reliability and validity of the Emotional Competence Inventory (ECI) in its Malay version. Estimates of reliability were obtained by using method of internal consistency Cronbach’s alpha and construct validity was used to test the validity of ECI. The Emotional Competence Inventory (ECI) was translated into Malay and administered to a sample of 223 nurses in Sandakan, Sabah. The results show that Cronbach alpha internal consistency for the four ECI clusters range from .692 to .873 and Cronbach alpha for the 20 ECI competencies range from .412 to 684. Acceptable convergent validity was also found for the four ECI clusters.

INTRODUCTION Over the past century, general cognitive ability (g) has played an important role in illuminating our understanding of human performance. Gottfredson (1997) and Schmidt and Hunter (1998) have examined the relationship between general cognitive ability and academic and occupational performance and showing that it to be the best single predictor of performance. Recently, many people have come to believe that our notion of intelligence should be expanded to include “emotional intelligence” (EI), which has generally been defined as the ability to perceive, understand, and manage one’s emotions (Mayer & Salovey, 1997; Boyatsis, Goleman & Hay/McBer, 1999). Media reported by Wigod (1998) have heralded the potential value of emotion intelligence for improving one’s professional and personal life. Many of these reports go as far as to suggest that EI will be a more effective predictor of academic success

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