The Impact of Charisma and Emotional Intelligence on Management Style in Bulgarian Municipalities

This article aims to explore and present charisma and emotional intelligence as factors influencing the leadership style in municipal administration in the Republic of Bulgaria. Data from a self-conducted online survey among mayors in Bulgarian municipalities, including regional mayors in the cities of Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna, has been used. The research started in June 2022 and ended in September 2023, with responses obtained from 57 mayors. The article focuses on three of the questionnaires used in a broader research project on leadership models in local self-government. The forms distributed to mayors are for self-assessment and to individually investigate the factors of charisma, levels of emotional intelligence, and the implementation of a transformational leadership style. The analysis methods include cluster analysis, calculation of the mean arithmetic value, correlation analysis, and testing of statistical hypotheses. The analysis identifies and presents the mean values of charisma, the mean values of emotional intelligence, the degree of applying a transformational leadership style, that constitute it, for each mayor and the entire population. Additionally, the analysis explores the dependence between the three variables collectively, based on gender, municipality-region, and depending on the size of the municipality or region. The derived results allow the construction of a profile to select candidates for public positions and to investigate their impact on the financial and economic indicators of the respective municipality or region, as well as on the image of the mayor and the municipality or region in the public sphere.