Review

Adaptive Leadership and Digital Transformation Success: The Roles of Cultural Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence in Saudi Arabia

Amina Raza Malik ORCID
    Received: 19 March 2026 | Revised: 16 May 2026 | Accepted: 23 May 2026 | Published Online: 30 May 2026

    Abstract

    The purpose of this conceptual paper is to examine how adaptive leadership contributes to sustainable digital transformation in Saudi Arabia, where organizations are simultaneously responding to rapid technological modernization, workforce diversification, and the long-term objectives of Vision 2030. The paper argues that sustained digital transformation requires organizations to continuously adapt to technological and organizational change. It further explores how cultural intelligence and emotional intelligence may strengthen this relationship in culturally diverse and emotionally demanding transformation contexts. A framework is proposed by integrating adaptive leadership theory with digital transformation and leadership literatures. The model proposes that adaptive leadership influences transformation success directly and through employee behaviors such as employee readiness, learning orientation, commitment, and innovative work behaviors. The paper also proposes that cultural intelligence and emotional intelligence may moderate the relationship between adaptive leadership and employee behaviors. More specifically, adaptive leadership may improve and sustain digital transformation success by helping employees deal with uncertainty and adapt to change. Additionally, cultural intelligence and emotional intelligence are proposed to strengthen this relationship in multicultural and dynamic workplaces. The paper extends adaptive leadership theory to the context of digital transformation and provides a basis for future empirical research in Saudi Arabia and other emerging economies. It is recommended that future research use multi-source and time-lagged designs to strengthen causal inference and validate the proposed relationships across different organizational and cultural contexts. Organizations should complement technological investment with leadership development focused on adaptive capability, cultural intelligence, and emotional intelligence to support sustainable digital transformation success.

    Keywords

    Adaptive Leadership, Cultural Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence, Digital Transformation

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