Dissipating the Digital Fog Around Leadership Styles : A qualitative study of how the characteristics of leadership styles have changed due to digitalisation.

Abstract: Research question: How has digitalisation impacted the characteristics of leadership styles? Purpose: The purpose of this study is to obtain a deeper understanding of how digitalisation impacts leadership style characteristics. The theoretical goals are to better define digital leadership and investigate how the characteristics of the autocratic, democratic, transformational, laissez-faire leadership styles have changed due to digitalisation. The practical goals are to further understand how digitalisation has made the managers lead their employees and give recommendations on what should be considered in the digital environment. Both the theoretical contributions and practical implications are meant to dissipate the digital fog around leadership styles as much as possible. Method: This study has a deductive approach as articles and previous theories are presented and discussed which are later used in the analysis of the results. The authors use a qualitative data collection method, hence, conducting 12 semi-structured interviews with managers from various industries. The interviews occurred in either German or Swedish and were later translated into English, also, 4 interviews were face-to-face while 8 were through internet-mediated channels. The interviews were then coded and analysed through the lens of the four themes that have been established throughout the paper. Conclusion: The research found that the four leadership style characteristics have changed due to digitalisation but also contributed to the development of the digital leadership style. Avoiding digital social events in companies and the managers keeping a balance between too much control and exaggerated freedom of the employees are some practical implications. Hence, the digital fog was lighted and clearness for digital leadership was given.