Emotional Intelligence and Quality of Work Life in Digital Workplaces: A Conceptual Framework Integrating Digital Work Stress and Digital Resilience

Emotional intelligence; digital work stress; digital resilience; quality of work life; digital transformation; employee well-being.

Digital transformation has fundamentally changed organizational work systems by integrating artificial intelligence, cloud computing, digital collaboration platforms, automation, and advanced communication technologies into everyday business operations. While these developments have improved organizational efficiency and flexibility, they have simultaneously introduced new psychological demands that challenge employee well-being. Continuous digital connectivity, information overload, virtual collaboration, and rapidly evolving technological systems have contributed to increasing levels of digital work stress, making the maintenance of employees' Quality of Work Life (QWL) a significant organizational concern. Existing studies have examined emotional intelligence, digital work stress, digital resilience, and Quality of Work Life largely as independent constructs, resulting in fragmented theoretical explanations of employee adaptation within digitally transformed workplaces. This paper develops an integrated conceptual framework that synthesizes these constructs using the Job Demands–Resources (JD–R) Theory and the Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory. The framework proposes that emotional intelligence functions as a critical personal resource that enables employees to regulate emotional responses and cope effectively with digital work demands, while digital resilience strengthens employees' capacity to recover from technological disruptions and sustain workplace well-being. Four conceptual postulates are advanced to guide future empirical investigations and theoretical refinement. The paper contributes to organizational behaviour and digital workplace literature by offering a multidisciplinary perspective that links psychological resources with digital work demands. It also discusses theoretical contributions, managerial implications, and future research directions for promoting sustainable employee well-being during organizational digital transformation.