How transformational leadership facilitates e-business adoption
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine theoretically and empirically what type of leadership facilitates e-business adoption in large manufacturing firms. The digital transformation of firms requires leadership that can promote the adaptive quality of organizational culture.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted an empirical study using two key informants from a sample of 181 incumbent firms.
Findings
The authors find significant evidence that adaptive culture is the vehicle by which transformational leaders positively influence e-business adoption.
Originality/value
Given the digital economy’s external pressures, many e-business adoption processes fail due to organizational factors originating in leadership and its capability to change followers’ values, norms, and motivations. To solve this problem, the authors propose a model that explains how transformational leadership first plays a key role in changing characteristics of culture and then facilitates e-business adoption.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for partial financing of this research through projects ECO2010-21276 and ECO2013-45885-R.
Citation
Alos-Simo, L., Verdu-Jover, A.J. and Gomez-Gras, J.-M. (2017), "How transformational leadership facilitates e-business adoption", Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 117 No. 2, pp. 382-397. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-01-2016-0038
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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