The rapid transformation of educational institutions in the digital era has encouraged Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) to adapt to contemporary challenges while maintaining their traditional identity. Although transformational leadership has been widely recognized as an effective approach to organizational change and educational improvement, existing studies have predominantly been developed within Western organizational contexts and remain limited in explaining how transformational leadership operates within value-driven religious educational institutions. This study aims to systematically synthesize the existing literature on transformational leadership in pesantren education and develop a conceptual framework of traditional value-based transformational leadership that reflects the distinctive characteristics of pesantren leadership. This study employed a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) approach guided by the PRISMA 2020 framework and the evidence-based review procedures proposed by Tranfield, Denyer, and Smart. Relevant publications were identified from Scopus-indexed databases and complementary scholarly sources focusing on transformational leadership, Islamic educational leadership, traditional values, and pesantren transformation. The selected studies were analyzed through thematic synthesis to identify recurring patterns, conceptual relationships, and theoretical developments. The review identified six major themes. First, traditional values function as the normative foundation of transformational leadership in pesantren. Second, the dimensions of transformational leadership undergo contextual reinterpretation within pesantren culture. Third, kiai play dual roles as agents of transformation and guardians of tradition. Fourth, successful institutional transformation is achieved through the integration of traditional values and modern management practices. Fifth, transformational leadership significantly contributes to the development of educational systems, organizational culture, human resource capacity, and character education. Sixth, these findings converge into a conceptual framework in which traditional values act as antecedents of transformational leadership, which subsequently influences institutional transformation and educational system development within pesantren. The originality of this study lies in the development of a novel conceptual framework that positions traditional pesantren values as the primary antecedents of transformational leadership. Unlike dominant transformational leadership models that emphasize organizational and managerial dimensions, this framework incorporates religious, cultural, moral, and spiritual values as central drivers of leadership effectiveness and educational transformation. This study contributes to the advancement of leadership theory by extending transformational leadership into the context of Islamic educational institutions and providing a culturally grounded framework for future empirical research. Practically, the proposed framework offers strategic guidance for policymakers, educational leaders, and pesantren administrators in designing leadership development programs that simultaneously promote institutional innovation and preserve traditional values.