The Impact of Emotional Intelligence Among Project Managers on Reducing Resistance to Change in Digital Transformation Projects
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69996/jsihs.2026013Keywords:
Emotional Intelligence, Project Management, Digital Transformation, Resistance To Change, Employee EngagementAbstract
Digital transformation changes organizational processes, roles, and expectations, creating demands that extend beyond technology implementation. Employee resistance may reflect uncertainty, perceived losses, limited participation, or concerns about the change process. This paper examines the role of project managers’ emotional intelligence (EI) in responding to these challenges through a behavioral leadership framework. It brings together literature on emotional intelligence, project leadership, organizational change, and technostress. The framework identifies emotional perception, empathy, adaptive communication, and emotional regulation as pathways that may influence trust, change acceptance, and engagement stability. The study combines quantitative survey responses with behavioral simulation across organizational transformation scenarios. The results indicate 38% lower resistance, a 31% improvement in an adoption-related outcome, 26% fewer behavioral conflicts, 22% lower turnover intention, and 35% greater perceived leadership trust. Adoption rate and time to adoption represent distinct evaluation dimensions. Interpretation depends on sample characteristics, measurement instruments, comparison baselines, and analysis procedures. These factors influence the applicability of the findings across organizations, and the percentage changes should not be interpreted as established causal effects. The literature supports examining emotionally informed leadership alongside clear planning, relevant training, employee participation, and organizational support. Resistance is considered a possible source of legitimate implementation feedback as well as a response to uncertainty. The contribution is an integrated framework and an evaluation agenda linking leadership capabilities with employee responses to technological change. The findings suggest that emotional capabilities merit attention alongside technical readiness in transformation planning. Further research should distinguish adoption rate from time to adoption, use validated measures, and assess the proposed relationships across transformation phases and organizational settings.
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