Transformational Leadership in the Digital Era: A Systematic Literature Review on Employee Engagement

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-994-0_17How to use a DOI?

Keywords

transformational leadership; digital transformation; employee engagement; identity reconstruction; systematic literature review; digital leadership

Abstract

Digital transformation (DT) has reshaped how organizations mobilize leadership to sustain employee engagement (EE). This study aims to synthesize and extend existing knowledge on how transformational leadership (TL) operates under digital conditions. Drawing on the PRISMA protocol, a systematic literature review of 128 peer-reviewed studies from 2015–2025 was conducted across Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. The review integrates quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method evidence to identify patterns, theoretical linkages, and gaps in understanding TL’s evolving role in digitally transforming workplaces. The findings reveal that TL continues to enhance engagement through motivation, trust, and empowerment; however, its effectiveness increasingly depends on leaders’ digital literacy and socio-technical orchestration. Notably, digital transformation reconfigures classical TL–EE relationships, transforming them from purely interpersonal exchanges into complex processes shaped by technology, communication infrastructures, and organizational culture. The review identifies work-identity reconstruction as a key mediating mechanism linking leadership behaviour to sustained engagement, while digital capability and communication climate emerge as contextual moderators. Furthermore, the dual pathway interpersonal and techno-structural explains how leadership behaviours translate into engagement under digital pressures. The study also exposes methodological narrowness, with cross-sectional SEM designs dominating, underscoring the need for longitudinal and multi-level approaches. The review contributes a novel framework that redefines TL as a socio-technical orchestration process aligning human potential with technological affordances. Practically, leaders should humanize digital transformation by fostering psychological safety, continuous learning, and identity-aligned communication. Future research should develop validated measures of digital maturity and examine cross-cultural contingencies shaping TL–EE–performance linkages.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Heri Fitriadi
AU  - Isnurhadi Isnurhadi
AU  - Zunaidah Zunaidah
AU  - Ahmad Syathiri
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/02/23
TI  - Transformational Leadership in the Digital Era: A Systematic Literature Review on Employee Engagement
BT  - Proceedings of the 24th Malaysia-Indonesia International Conference on Economics, Management, and Accounting (The 24th MIICEMA) in conjunction with The 9th Sriwijaya Economics, Accounting, and Business Conference (The 9th SEABC) (MIICEMA-SEABC 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 248
EP  - 263
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-994-0_17
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-994-0_17
ID  - Fitriadi2026
ER  -