Leading with heart in Southeast Asia: Indonesian emotional intelligence and innovative work behavior in the age of AI

Abstract

In this study, the relationships among Indonesian Emotional Intelligence (IEI), Human-centered Leadership (HCL), and Innovative Work Behavior (IWB), and how artificial intelligence (AI) moderates these relationships are explored. The research is founded on Goleman’s EI Framework and Social Information Processing Theory (SIPT). In these theories, the impact of emotional, socio-relational, and technological cues on innovative behaviors in AI-infused work environments is investigated. The research framework uses a quantitative, cross-sectional design. The collected quantitative data were analyzed with Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The research sample consisted of 684 employees from the cities of Greater Jakarta, Medan, Makassar, and Balikpapan in Indonesia. The research instrument was a set of validated culture-specific measures for IEI, HCL, IWB, and AI. The results indicated a positive effect of IEI on HCL. In turn, HCL fosters IWB. Nevertheless, overuse of AI negatively moderates the effects from IEI to HCL, as well as from HCL to IWB. The research is limited to cross-sectional designs with self-reported data on the actors' attitudes toward the variables investigated. The research should adopt a mixed-methods, longitudinal research design in the future to strengthen its authority to establish causality. The research is theoretically novel in incorporating AI as a context moderator for the theoretical aspects of the EI framework research mentioned above.