The construction industry in Zambia has not been very efficient and effective in project delivery. Often projects are either delivered behind schedule and in most cases encounter cost slippage. Researchers have since noted that among many other factors the implementation challenges that have continued to hamper the performance of construction projects are because of an existence imbalance where soft skills are given less priority in favor of technical skills. In view of this, there is a growing prognosis by several researchers that tend to associate project success to emotionally intelligent individuals in the construction industry as well. This therefore framed the purpose of the study which was to investigate the impact of emotional intelligence of project management professionals on the success of the L400 road projects in Lusaka District. The objectives of the study were: to assess the level of emotional intelligence of project management professionals involved in the L400 road project in Lusaka District, to assess the project success level of the L400 road project in Lusaka District and to examine the relationship between the emotional intelligence of project management professionals and the success of the L400 road project in Lusaka District. The study was cross-sectional and used a quantitative approach which also included hypothesis testing. The study target population of 97 consisted of project managers, contractors (included subcontractors), and consultants from which a sample of 78 was drawn. The study used a five-point scale questionnaire as the main instrument of data collection. The study obtained a Cronbachs Alpha Coefficient of 0.759 for emotional intelligence and project success 0.891 which shows that the instruments were reliable. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics and data was presented in frequency tables, pie charts and bar graphs. The direct Hypothesis was tested using liner regression at 0.05 level of significance to determine the degree and direction of the relationship between emotional intelligence (independent variable) and project success (the dependent variable) variables. Pearson product correlation results revealed that the relationship was positive, moderate in strength and statistically significant (r=.463, p <.05). The results also showed that 21.4% (r2 =.214, p < 0.05) in project success was attributed to emotional intelligence. The study recommends the key statutory bodies such as RDA seek training and include emotional intelligence in their core competence requirements for their managers, supervisors, and employees. This study was only conducted in Lusaka district hence future studies are encouraged to cover other provinces and projects to compare the findings.

soft skills

Emotional Intelligence