Study analyzes what's new in Digital Leadership
Revolution 4.0 adds a focus on innovation and adaptation to the digital context, without excluding the importance of traditional leadership attributes.
With the arrival of Revolution 4.0, characterized by the integration of advanced digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and automation, companies are facing new challenges in adapting their leaders to this scenario of rapid transformation. The concept of “digital leadership” has gained prominence, raising questions about whether it really constitutes a new approach or just an evolution of theories already known. The study was carried out by Anderson Sant'Anna, Daniela Diniz and Antônio Moreira Neto and published in BAR - Brazilian Administration Review. It explores this issue by comparing digital leadership with other theories in the field.
As a theoretical review, the researchers carried out a critical and comparative analysis of different leadership theories. The ones selected were behavioral, situational, transformational and relational, and their relationship with digital leadership. The research included a literature review and interviews with 14 Brazilian leadership experts and 77 executives. All participants were involved in leadership training programs.
The results indicate that digital leadership is a combination of characteristics present in traditional leadership theories, adapted to the context of Revolution 4.0.
The behavioral dimension, for example, still highlights the importance of leaders who create individual development environments for their teams. Relational theory, on the other hand, emphasizes the creation of networks of trust and cooperation. Transformational leadership, which encourages a collective vision and shared values, also plays an important role in digital leadership.
However, the differential of digital leadership lies in the focus on adapting to technological changes and innovation, factors driven by the digitization of processes in Industry 4.0. Although technologies are central to this new environment, human characteristics, such as the ability to connect and lead people, remain the most valued. This is true of both executives and researchers. The research therefore suggests that digital leadership, despite its technological context, is still deeply rooted in human interactions.
The study also concludes that digital leadership does not represent a break with previous leadership theories. On the contrary, it reinforces the importance of combining behavioral, situational, transformational and relational attributes, adapting them to the demands of Revolution 4.0. Innovation and the use of digital tools are added to this mix of skills, but the fundamentals of leadership remain the same. Digital leadership is therefore not a new theory, but a natural evolution of existing approaches.
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