+Emotional intelligence and attitude of accounting undergraduates towards library utilization in university of Port Harcourt

Abstract

Emotional intelligence plays an essential role in academic activities especially when it comes to attitude towards library usage. The study investigated emotional intelligence and attitude of accounting undergraduates towards library utilization in University of Port Harcourt. It was undertaken as a descriptive study. Two research questions and hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study was 235 year three accounting undergraduates in University of Port Harcourt, with sample size of 160 using the census sampling technique. The instrument titled “Emotional Intelligence and Attitude of Accounting Undergraduates towards Library Utilization Questionnaire (EIAULUQ)” was used to elicit information from the respondents. The instrument was validated by experts in the field of study. Reliability was by test-retest method. The researcher and three trained research assistants distributed the 235 copies of the instrument to respondents. At the end, 160 copies of the instrument were retrieved representing 68% return rate. Mean ((X)) ̅ was used to answer the research questions while z-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that there is no significant difference between emotional intelligence and attitude of undergraduates towards library utilization. In conclusion, emotionally intelligent students recognize, manage and use their emotions to eliminate obstacles and advance their studies by having positive attitude towards effective utilization of library resources than students with low emotional intelligence. It was recommended among others that students should learn to control stress effectively and prevent its negative effects on their attitudes towards high level of academic performance.