Emotional intelligence (EI) is increasingly recognised as being essential for effective school leadership. However, the direct and cascading effects of school leaders’ EI on teachers and students remain underexplored, particularly in diverse global contexts. This systematic review examined how school leaders’ EI competencies impact teachers’ performance and students’ learning outcomes across contexts. This study synthesised 28 studies published between 2011 and 2024, following the PRISMA guidelines. The findings revealed that self-awareness, empathy, and relationship management emerged as core EI competencies for school leaders across contexts, and principals with high EI positively impacted teachers’ emotional reframing, instructional delivery, and collective efficacy. This study also shows that teacher well-being, instructional leadership practices, and school climate mediated the cascading effects on student outcomes. In addition, this study revealed that cultural and contextual factors modulate EI expression in leadership and that EI metrics showed limitations in cross-cultural applicability. While school leaders’ EI enhances teacher performance and student outcomes through direct and indirect pathways, this review highlights that EI manifestation and efficacy depend on alignment with cultural norms and systemic priorities. Based on these findings, we propose the development of culturally responsive EI frameworks and assessment tools for cultivating emotionally intelligent leadership across global educational contexts.
Sasere et al. (Sat,) studied this question.