The Transformation of Women's Leadership through an Emotional Intelligence Approach in the Era of Social and Digital Disruption: A Literature Study in Gorontalo

Abstract

This study examines the transformation of women's leadership through an emotional intelligence (EI) approach amid the era of social and digital disruption, with a specific focus on Gorontalo Province, Indonesia. Using a systematic literature review method applied to 28 scholarly sources drawn from the Scopus, Google Scholar, and SINTA databases (2015–2024), the study finds that EI, encompassing self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills, constitutes a strategically significant competency for enhancing the effectiveness of women's leadership. Within the Gorontalo context, structural barriers rooted in patriarchal culture, low representation in executive positions, and a persistent digital literacy gap emerge as the principal challenges. Nevertheless, women leaders who master EI competencies prove better able to navigate environmental change adaptively and innovatively. The findings show that empathy and social skills are the dimensions most consistently identified within the community-based leadership model prevalent in Gorontalo, while self- regulation remains the most demanding dimension amid rapid and unpredictable digital disruption. The study further documents a persistent leadership gap, reflected in only 18.2 percent female representation in the provincial legislature and an uneven distribution of women across civil-service managerial positions, concentrated in technical-administrative rather than strategic-executive roles. This research contributes to the development of a contextual, EI-based leadership model for Gorontalo, proposing a culturally responsive framework that integrates local wisdom values with structured competency development. The study underscores the need for further empirical research using primary data from Gorontalo to validate the proposed conceptual model and to inform evidence-based policy recommendations for regional stakeholders