Fourth Industrial Revolution and Emotional Intelligence: A Conceptual and Scientometric Analysis

Abstract

A growing number of social scientists argue that we stand on the brink of a technological revolution that will drastically change the way we live, learn, and work. One of the terms adopted to name this social phenomenon is “fourth industrial revolution”. Other social scientists, in particular psychologists, have independently elaborated and discussed a concept of intelligence which is complementary, and sometimes alternative, to that measured by traditional IQ tests, namely “emotional intelligence”. In recent years, these two concepts came into contact and started interacting in scientific literature. Enhancing EI in educational programs has been seen as a possible way to prevent a predicted negative side effect of the fourth industrial revolution, namely technological unemployment. This article provides a diachronic scientometric analysis of terms and concepts. Quantitative and qualitative research tools are applied in order to reconstruct the dynamics of the Emergence, Frequency, Proximity, and Relation (EFPR dynamics) of the two concepts in the scientific literature.