SUSTAINABLE E-LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION: THE ROLES OF FLEXIBILITY, DIGITALIZATION, AND CULTURE IN ENHANCING OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY

Abstract

The given paper analyzes the contribution of sustainable e-leadership (SEL) to the efficiency of operations with the help of the mediating variables, such as organizational flexibility (OF) and digitalization (DIG), and the moderating role of digital organizational culture (DOC). Based on the Resource-Based View (RBV), the conceptual framework of the study is sustainable eleadership that is a crucial intangible asset that helps organizations transform flexible structures and digitalized operational processes to effective and reliable performance results in dynamic and highly regulated environments. Data were collected from 300 senior and middle managers across 15 Jordanian commercial banks—a highly regulated sector undergoing intensive digital pressure in an emerging-economy context—using an online survey. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) provided by SmartPLS 4.0 was imposed on the proposed research model. The results indicate that sustainable e-leadership affects both flexibility and digitalization of organizations significantly in a positive manner that leads to improvement in operational efficiency. Besides, organizational flexibility and digitalization can work as independent and sequential mediators exposing a multistage process of capability development in which leadership initiatives are transformed into effective everyday operations. The findings show as well that digital organizational culture reinforces the effect of sustainable e-leadership on flexibility and digitalization, which determines the degree to which digital initiatives are institutionalized into consistent operating patterns, instead of being a solitary technological endeavor. Focusing on the organizational change as the process of increasing efficiency in operations under the leadership, flexibility, digitalization and cultural fit, this research adds the RBV knowledge to the operational segment of digital leadership. The paper makes theoretical contributions by explaining how e-leadership-facilitating capabilities contribute to efficiency-oriented change and offers practical implications to the banking managers looking to increase flexibility, instill digitalization in their operations, and promote a culture that encourages sustainable operational excellence.