Emotional Intelligence and Sustainable Job Performance among Women in Leadership Roles in Manufacturing Firms: Digital Maturity as a Moderator

• Main Author: Ying Sin, Chin
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English; English; English
• Published: UNIMAS 2025
• Subjects: H Social Sciences (General)
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/51375/

In Malaysia’s rapidly evolving industrial landscape, women leaders play a pivotal role in driving organizational performance and innovation. However, despite their growing representation in leadership positions, many continue to encounter challenges such as gender bias, limited career advancement, and work-family conflicts that can affect their emotional well-being and long-term job performance. These issues highlight the importance of emotional intelligence (EI), a critical leadership competency encompassing self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. In the Malaysian context, women leaders’ emotional intelligence is often tested as they balance organizational expectations with cultural and digital transitions in the workplace. Therefore, to bridge this gap, the present study investigates the influence of emotional intelligence on sustainable job performance, defined in this context as the combination of sustainable task performance and contextual performance, among women leaders in Malaysia’s private manufacturing sector. It further explores the moderating role of digital maturity, conceptualized as a leader’s readiness and adaptability in leveraging digital transformation to enhance sustainable job performance. Drawing upon social exchange theory, self-efficacy theory, and dynamic managerial capabilities theory, a quantitative research approach was employed, using survey data collected from 310 women holding managerial roles across four industrialized states: Selangor, Penang, Johor, and Sarawak. Data were analysed using PLS-SEM via SmartPLS 4.0. The findings revealed that emotional intelligence significantly enhances sustainable job performance, while digital maturity strengthens this relationship. Women leaders with higher levels of digital maturity demonstrated greater adaptability and resilience in managing digital transformation challenges, thereby achieving more sustainable performance outcomes. These results underscore that emotional intelligence and digital maturity are complementary assets that jointly enable women leaders to sustain effectiveness in dynamic work environments. This study contributes to the literature on women’s leadership, emotional intelligence, and digital transformation by offering empirical evidence from Malaysia’s manufacturing context. Practically, the findings suggest that organizations should invest in emotional intelligence development and digital maturity enhancement to empower women leaders in achieving sustainable performance. Policymakers and industry stakeholders are encouraged to implement supportive frameworks that promote women’s leadership advancement in the digital era.