This study presents a systematic and bibliometric review of the evolving conceptualization of emotional intelligence as leadership increasingly unfolds within intelligent, technology-mediated environments. Through co-citation mapping, co-occurrence analysis, and thematic structure identification, this research traces the trajectory of scholarship concerned with leaders’ socio-emotional competencies in contexts shaped by algorithmic systems, automated communication tools, and digitally mediated collaboration. The literature suggests that the integration of intelligent technologies reconfigures the channels through which leaders perceive, interpret, and express emotion, thereby necessitating novel strategies for rapport-building, conflict resolution, and interpersonal sensemaking. Studies into AI-enabled communication platforms reveal shifts in how affective cues are decoded and enacted. At the same time, research on data-driven decision infrastructures highlights the imperative of aligning relational sensitivity with computational guidance. By synthesizing methodological patterns across these strands, the review elucidates key challenges in studying emotional intelligence within technologically saturated leadership contexts, including the adaptation of measurement frameworks, the analysis of leader–technology interactional dynamics, and the assessment of distributed socio-emotional processes. It advances a conceptualization of emotional intelligence as a dynamic and context-contingent leadership capability, increasingly shaped by digital interfaces and central to the coordination, motivation, and relational coherence of hybrid human–machine organizational systems. Ultimately, the review establishes a conceptual foundation for reinterpreting socio-emotional leadership capabilities as intelligent technologies that become embedded within core organizational processes.