Digital leadership within large South Korean firms

ABSTRACT

Drawing upon Person-Environment fit (PE fit) theory, this paper attempts to explore the determinants of digital leadership and its interactions between personal and environmental dimensions, including organizational, interpersonal and external dimensions, in South Korea. As Remote Work (RW) and Digital Transformation (DT) have been discussed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, this research focuses upon the concept of digital leadership, which can effectively cope with both RW and DT. To help Human Resource (HR) practitioners support digital leadership, this paper employs the fuzzy-Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (f-DEMATEL) method. Through the convenience sampling method, we collected data sets from HR specialists in large South Korean firms. Our findings indicate that the organizational culture that covers digital supportive culture in the organizational dimension is the most crucial, influencing the elements in the personal dimension (e.g. new working systems, communication and acceptance of digital technologies). In contrast, the factor of capabilities in the personal dimension is the only factor affecting organizational structure and agility in the organizational dimension. Thus, we conclude that both the organizational and personal dimensions can uniquely interact with each other when actualizing digital leadership in South Korea.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital leadership
• determinants of digital leadership
• large South Korean firms
• Human Resource (HR) experts
• Korean Human Resource Management (HRM)
• fuzzy-Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (f-DEMATEL)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jin-Woong Yoo

Jin-Woong Yoo, PhD, is a Lecturer in HRM at Hertfordshire Business School, University of Hertfordshire, UK. He has a PhD from University of Plymouth, UK. He has previously worked with Nottingham Trent University. His research interests focus on HRM and OB within the public sector.

Saeyeon Roh

Saeyeon Roh, PhD, is a Lecturer in International Logistics at Plymouth Business School, UK. His research interests include humanitarian logistics, logistics management and supply chain management. He has published several articles in Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, The Asian Journal of Shipping and Logistics, International Journal of Supply Chain Management and Maritime Policy & Management.

Smita Tripathi

Smita Tripathi, PhD, is a Lecturer and researcher in Human Resource Studies and Leadership at the University of Plymouth focusing on leadership and new modes of working, flexibility and wellbeing issues, change and performance, sustainability, crisis management and stakeholder engagement and collaborative leadership in health and social care.

Hyunmi Jang

Hyunmi Jang, PhD, is an Associate Professor and Associate Dean at the Graduate School of International Studies at Pusan National University. She completed her PhD in Logistics and Operations Management from Cardiff University in the UK and has published multiple articles in journals like the Transportation Journal and Maritime Policy & Management. Dr Jang’s research interests revolve around sustainable and resilient supply chain strategies.