Influence of emotional intelligence and level of education on academic procrastination among undergraduate and postgraduate students

Abstract

Procrastination is a rampant problem faced by a significant proportion of the student population and has adverse effects on academic achievement and various life outcomes. A deeper understanding of procrastination behaviours suggests toward several emotional correlates as factors underlying procrastination tendencies as opposed to the commonly held notions which explain procrastination as failures surrounding self-discipline and time management. The aim of the current study was to understand the influence of emotional intelligence on academic procrastination among undergraduate and postgraduate students. The study was conducted on 365 female undergraduate and postgraduate students. Data was gathered using the ‘Schutte Emotional Intelligence Scale’ and the ‘Academic Procrastination Scale’. Two-Way ANOVA was run on the scores obtained to study the influence of emotional intelligence and level of education on academic procrastination. Consistent with some previous findings, the findings of the current study suggest that emotional intelligence has a significant influence on academic procrastination among students. However, no significant differences in the influence were found between the two groups implying that the influence of emotional intelligence on academic procrastination does not depend on the level of education.