Emotional intelligence and leadership: insights for leading by feeling in the future of work

Purpose - Emotional intelligence (EI) is a critical component of leadership that reflects the ability of leaders to understand how their emotions and actions affect the people around them in the organization. This paper aims to deliver state-of-the-art insights on EI and leadership. Design/methodology/approach - This paper leverages on bibliometric analysis to unpack 25 years of EI and leadership research. Findings - This paper reveals the bibliometric profile (e.g. trends in publication activity and top articles, authors, countries and journals) and intellectual structure (e.g. themes and topics) of EI and leadership research, shedding light on EI manifestation in leadership, EI and leadership congruence, EI role in leadership and EI and leadership for human resource management. Research limitations/implications - This paper offers several noteworthy implications. First, EI is a leadership competency that can be cultivated and leveraged to improve leadership effectiveness. Second, the need for EI and leadership congruence indicates that leadership effectiveness is vital to human resource management (HRM). Taken collectively, these theoretical implications, and by extension, practical implications, suggest that increased investment in EI and leadership effectiveness is critical for organizations and their HRM. Originality/value - This paper sheds light on current trends and ways forward for leading by feeling, showcasing the role and manifestation of EI in leadership, its value for HRM and the importance of its congruence for effective leadership in shaping the future of work.