The impact of digital leadership on sustainable performance: a systematic literature review

Abstract

PurposeIn today's constantly changing workplace, leaders encounter new challenges consequent to rising digitization. Tackling these problems effectively requires digital leadership, a prominent idea in discussions about what abilities the managers need to be developed in the digital age. The study analyses the leadership elements needed and determines the impact of digital leadership on sustainable performance. The aim of this systematic literature review (SLR) is to identify the relationship between digital leadership concepts and leadership development by proposing digital leadership for management development to ensure sustainable performance in an organisation.Design/methodology/approachROSES (RepOrting Standards for Systematics Evidence Syntheses) was used as the publication standard for this systematic literature review, which incorporated a variety of research approaches. For this study's article selection, one of the most important scientific databases, Scopus, was used. Only articles published between 2001 and 2021 were reviewed. The focus of the article was on digital leadership and performance.FindingsThis review identified five main themes: leadership styles, measurements of leadership, antecedents to good leadership, outcomes of good leadership and gaps in current research areas. An additional ten sub-themes were derived from the five primary topics.Originality/valueThis paper systematically reviewed two decades of literature related to digital leadership and its impact on sustainable performance. The findings allow leaders to better understand the leadership trend and develop appropriate leadership practices to overcome future challenges for sustainable performance.

Digital leadership role in developing business strategy suitable for digital transformation

“…This information has provided us with inspiration and rationale for determining digital leadership roles. In addition, different bibliometric analysis contents for research design ( Petry, 2018 ; Marvasti, 2019 ; Vial, 2019 ; Khaw et al, 2022 ) were examined and included in the justification. Content analysis was used to determine digital leadership roles.…”

“…It also has the power to coordinate and prioritize the transformation efforts of a pre-digital organization and reach the desired future state for strategic goals ( Matt et al, 2015 ). Also ( Khaw et al, 2022 ) highlighted the impact of digital leadership on a firm’s sustainable performance. In summary, the digital leader is essential for a firm’s digital technological success ( El Sawy et al, 2016 ).…”

The Improving Role of Digital Leadership in the Impact of Social Loafing on Job Performance

“…Digital leadership emerges as a leader possessing a vision, making strategic plans, having digital competencies, followed by his inferiors, and having transformative qualities in a strong and effective leadership understanding in which digital transformation comes to the fore (Benitez et al, 2022;Husing et al, 2015;Khaw et al, 2022;Mihardjo et al, 2019a). Digital leadership is expected to be performed with technological applications and methods, including the internet of things (IoT), cloud storage, artificial intelligence, cyber-physical systems, and blockchain technology (Karippur & Balaramachandran, 2022).…”

“…With the help of error-free production with the same raw material, a 25% increase in productivity makes digital transformation inevitable for businesses. Due to digital transformation, businesses will be able to meet customers' needs and enable a great competitive advantage by making decisions with artificial intelligence and working 24 hours a day, seven days a week (Khaw et al, 2022). In the same breath, the order system and method will be automated with blockchain-based smart contracts, increasing the efficiency in time and cost.…”

Editorial: Digital leadership: Competencies, business models, systems, strategies and platforms

“…As a result, a new movement has emerged to emphasize the role and significance of humans, as well as their sentiments and emotions. As a result, numerous practitioners and academics have launched new projects and efforts in this area, and the human-centric digital transformation is becoming more daring by the day (Khaw et al, 2022 ). We've recently heard a lot about the intersection between IR 4.0 and society 5.0, which is another new trend that emphasizes the influence of digital transformation on societies and people (Salamzadeh, 2022 ).…”