Digital Leadership in the Era of Digital Transformation: A Systematic Review of Scopus-Indexed Publications (2020–2024)

Background: The accelerating pace of digital transformation — intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic — has fundamentally reshaped organisational structures and amplified the strategic importance of digital leadership. Despite a growing body of literature, significant conceptual fragmentation and contextual limitations persist, impeding the development of a coherent theoretical framework.

Objective: This study presents a systematic literature review of digital leadership research published between 2020 and 2024, with the aim of synthesising conceptual foundations, identifying dominant thematic clusters, and mapping the evolution of digital leadership competencies across contemporary organisations.

Methods: A comprehensive search of the Scopus database yielded a final corpus of 235 peer-reviewed publications meeting predefined inclusion criteria. Data were analysed using bibliometric techniques and qualitative thematic content analysis in accordance with established systematic review protocols.

Results: Four primary thematic clusters were identified: (1) conceptual foundations and competency frameworks; (2) organisational transformation and change management; (3) virtual team management and remote leadership; and (4) technology integration and innovation. Findings reveal a significant evolution from discrete technical skills towards an integrated, multidimensional competency construct. Effective digital leadership accounted for approximately 45% of variance in successful digital transformation initiatives, and demonstrated a strong positive correlation with virtual team performance (r = 0.72). Organisations with mature digital leadership capabilities were 2.5 times more likely to achieve transformation goals.

Conclusion: This review offers an integrated competency evolution framework for understanding digital leadership and provides evidence-based recommendations for practitioners and researchers navigating the complexities of organisational digitalisation.