How to evaluate digital leadership: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background With the increasing digitalization of the working environment, the demands on managers are changing fundamentally to the point of an emerging field of research in digital leadership. Municipal administrations are particularly affected by the digital transformation processes. Therefore, a score to measure the construct of digital leadership competence in the context of virtual-based workstation was developed and tested. Methods Based on an online survey with n = 546 employees at virtual-based workstations in municipal administrations in 2020, the instrument is tested regarding selectivity (coefficients), dimensionality (principal component analysis), homogeneity (inter-product-moment correlations), reliability (Cronbach’s α) and construct validity (correlation with general leadership skills). Results The instrument can be considered selective, one-dimensional, homogeneous, reliable and constructively valid in the sense of the formulated hypotheses. By integrating the employees’ perspective, the instrument aims to be one of the first of its kind to initiate a scientific further discourse. Among other things, the categorization of the co-determination component as either traditional or digital leadership can be discussed. Conclusions The developed instrument for measuring digital leadership performs well concerning the aspects of discriminatory power, one-dimensionality, homogeneity, reliability as well as construct validity. It aims to induce further research and a scientific discourse on the topic of health-oriented leadership within the world of work 4.0.

Digital Leadership and Employee Creativity: The Role of Employee Job Crafting and Person-Organization Fit

“…The past few years have witnessed growing academic interest in digital leadership (e.g., El Sawy et al, 2016 ; Larjovuori et al, 2016 ; Gierlich-Joas et al, 2020 ; Klein, 2020 ; Bresciani et al, 2021 ; Claassen et al, 2021 ; de Araujo et al, 2021 ), but few studies have focused on the relationship between digital leadership and employee creativity. Based on the job demands–resources model and person–organization fit theory, this study examines the relationship between digital leadership and employee creativity.…”

Progress of mental strain in German public administrations in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic

“…In contrast to the previously published cross-sectional studies based on the rst survey in the project "Health and Digital Transformation" [30,40,51,52], the repeat survey avoided the risk of a omitted variable bias. However, it still remains open to what extent the temporal development can actually be interpreted as a pandemic effect and whether, in concrete terms, it is a matter of personal-emotional or operational changes such as working from home, working more hours et cetera.…”

Digital Leadership and Maturity as a Key to Successful Digital Transformation: Country Case Study of Croatia

“…[17] propose that "digital leadership implies the ability to involve all members of the organization in the digitalization process and to recognize and develop the skills and abilities needed to carry it out". [6] state that demands on managers are subject to DT processes, which have an impact on society's understanding of leadership.…”