Digital transformation and middle managers’ leadership skills and behavior: a group concept mapping approach

Abstract

This study, with the aim to test theory in practice, used group concept mapping to develop a comprehensive conceptualization of middle managers’ leadership behaviors concerning digital transformation as a form of radical change. Participants were professionals in the largest public organization in the Netherlands (a police organization) who were dealing with digital transformation in their own practice and who enrolled in an education program on leadership and intelligence. Based on 94 unique statements, the participant-driven results revealed six thematically coherent clusters representing leadership skills and behaviors regarding improvement and results, digital technologies, cooperation, the self, change and ambivalence, and others. The stress value of 0.2234 indicated a good fit. Further analysis showed that clusters containing soft skills and people-oriented behaviors were considered the most important. These results can serve as input to support leadership development programs for middle managers to develop themselves into people-oriented, empowering leaders who can adapt their leadership approaches to fit and support change in general and technology-driven change in particular. Ultimately this will benefit their and their employees’ overall well-being at work. This study is the first to investigate middle managers’ leadership skills and behaviors in a large public organization that is entirely participant-driven.