Reviewing the literature on the link between digital leadership characteristics and digital transformation based on dynamic capabilities

Abstract EN

Digital transformation has become a strategic imperative on leadership agendas.

In this explorative and theoretical paper, we explore how organizations build dynamic capabilities for digital transformation, highlighting the eminent role of digital leaders that will significantly enable sensing market changes, seizing opportunities, and reconfiguring/transforming organizations.

We clarify that the success of digital transformation hinges on how leaders make a max of advantage from the usage of digital technologies.

Our theoretical contribution is to conceptualize a model that aims to identify the relationship between digital leadership characteristics, the micro-foundations of dynamic capabilities, and the elements of digital transformation in order to gain insights on how effectively lead the digital transformation and what are the main digital leadership characteristics needed in each element of dynamic capabilities.

The present study intends to advance the knowledge in this field by adding the theoretical basis of dynamic capabilities to the model, identifying new avenues for research, and raising new research questions.