Defining E-Leadership as Competence in ICT-mediated Communications: An Exploratory Assessment

While many aspects of the dramatic shifts caused by digital government have made enormous progress, the leadership of those who work to serve the public via electronic means has yet to take a significant step forward. In this... [ view full abstract ]

While many aspects of the dramatic shifts caused by digital government have made enormous progress, the leadership of those who work to serve the public via electronic means has yet to take a significant step forward. In this paper we ask three questions–How significant has eleadership become? What are the challenges in trying to create a more comprehensive model of defining and measuring e-leadership? And based on our current knowledge, what skill and
behavioral elements are candidates of a concrete e-leadership model? We develop and test an original model that focuses on e-leadership as competence in virtual communications (i.e., the use of ICT-mediated communication) and the digital opportunities and challenges they create. The results provide strong support for the proposed model. The paper concludes with a discussion of a future agenda of e-leadership research that can be developed in a manner that is fruitful for theory and practitioners.