Investigation of the Relationship Between Leadership Orientations and Emotional Intelligence Levels of Faculty of Sport Sciences Students

The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence of university students and their leadership orientation and determine predictive role of emotional intelligence on leadership. In the research in the relational screening model, opinions of 263 students at the Faculty of Sport Sciences of Trabzon University were taken. In the research, Leadership Orientation Scale developed by “Personal Information Form”, Bolman & Deal (1991) and adapted into Turkish by Dereli (2003), and Emotional Orientation Scale developed by Wong & Law (2002) and adapted to Turkish by Uslu (2019) Intelligence Rating Scale were used. Descriptive statistics, t-test, correlation, regression analysis were used evaluate data. Analyzes shows there is positive significant relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership orientation, and emotional intelligence is important predictor of leadership orientation. Moreover, it was observed emotional intelligence levels and leadership orientations of the participants were above mediumlevel. Moreover, when leadership orientation was examined, there was a significant difference according to gender, but no significant relationship was found according to age variable. Considering emotional intelligence scale, a significant relationship was found in terms of gender and age variables. According to the results obtained, it is possible to say individuals with emotional intelligence tend to exhibit leadership orientations. Therefore, since emotional intelligence is a very important element on leadership orientation, the inclusion of courses emotional intelligence in the curriculum; It is seen that it is important because it will benefit the training of successful leaders who care about people, empathize and express their feelings and thoughts.