Project description
New leadership styles in the digital age
Today’s workplaces are not only physical places where employees come to work. Advances in technology (computers, internet, connected devices) means the definition of the workplace is expanding to include all the technologies we use to do our work – from the software to the social media. The question now is how leaders can regulate the effects of technology on employees’ well-being and performance. Traditional leadership approaches are limited in dealing with digital advances in the workplace. A new leadership style is required. The EU-funded DIGILEAD project will systematise knowledge on leadership and construct and test a digital leadership inventory to measure digital leadership in organisations. The project will take a multidisciplinary approach to address this issue.
Objective
Recent reports from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work warn that the use information and communication technology presents important challenges to employee’s well-being and performance. To resolve such challenges, scholars look towards leaders, which play an important role in shaping employees’ experiences at work. However, it remains unclear how leaders can regulate the effects of technology on employees’ well-being and performance. In addition, scholars increasingly question the adequacy of traditional leadership approaches to deal with these challenges and advance digital leadership as a new leadership style. Nevertheless, reliable scales or empirical tests of digital leadership are virtually nonexistent. To that end, the present project (DIGILEAD) wishes to (1) systematize knowledge on leadership as a regulator of technological job characteristics in the workplace (WP1); (2) construct and (3) test a digital leadership inventory to measure digital leadership in organizations (WP2, WP3) and (4) translate this knowledge to the public and professional sphere (WP4). Through a multidisciplinary approach, methodological advancement and public engagement, the present project contributes to our understanding of how leaders within businesses and organizations in Europe can deal with the challenges resulting from the so-called ‘digitalization’ of the workplace.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
5037 AB Tilburg
Netherlands