THE ROLE OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN LEADERSHIP EFFECTIVENESS A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Abstract

In today's organizational environments, Emotional intelligence, or EI, has become a vital element of effective leadership. By combining the results of empirical research done over the previous 20 years, this systematic review investigates How leadership effectiveness can be enhanced by emotional intelligence. The review focuses on the fundamental elements of emotional intelligence (EI)—self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills—and how they affect important leadership aspects like employee engagement, teamwork, decision-making, and conflict resolution. Research indicates that leaders with greater EI are better at managing stress at work, creating positive corporate cultures, and negotiating challenging interpersonal situations. Furthermore, transformational leadership styles—which foster creativity, trust, and worker performance—are closely linked to emotional intelligence. The results also show that the association between EI and leadership effectiveness is moderated by contextual factors such organizational structure, cultural diversity, and industry-specific difficulties.