| dc.description.abstract | Digital transformations challenge traditional leadership models, and new
leadership practices are required to manage digital change successfully. The goal
of this study was to research the relationship between leader characteristics and
employee outcomes in these processes. Since employee autonomy is seen as an
essential factor for digital transformations, our study investigated the impact of
leaders’ personal need for structure (PNS) on subordinates’ perceived autonomy
in a digital transformation process. The leaders’ trust in subordinates and the
leaders’ digital self-efficacy (DSE) were examined as possible moderators. In
order to get a deeper understanding of leaders’ intention-behavior relationship, the
Reasoned Action Approach was utilized as a theoretical framework. A multilevel
modeling approach, that combined data of leaders and their subordinates, was
used in this study. The results showed that a leader’s PNS was negatively related
to employees’ perceived autonomy. Further, we found that the negative
relationship between a leader’s PNS and employee autonomy was moderated by a
leader’s DSE. Leaders’ trust in subordinates was not found to be a significant
moderator. However, an unpredicted finding revealed a direct effect of leaders’
trust in subordinates on employee autonomy. Our study offers important
theoretical as well as practical implications. Based on our findings, organizations
are advised to reevaluate their leadership development programs and provide
leaders with appropriate training in order to help them to lead a digital
transformation successfully. We conclude with recommendations for future
research. | en_US |
