DIGITAL LEADERSHIP AND PUBLIC-SECTOR PERFORMANCE: STRATEGIC AGILITY AND BUREAUCRATIC RIGIDITY IN EMERGING-ECONOMY ORGANISATIONS

Abstract

Most public organisations acquire digital services, data platforms, automation technology, and integrated systems to achieve integration. Nonetheless, simply having such technologies in place does not guarantee improved performance or added value. In this literature review, digital leadership is defined as an organisational capability that transforms different technical resources into strategic agility and value creation within the public sector organisation. At the same time, bureaucratic rigidity is viewed as a boundary condition that, despite its potential to stifle innovation, helps maintain organisational legitimacy and standardisation. By applying insights from the dynamic capabilities perspective and the literature on digital government and strategic agility, this paper contrasts the processes of digitisation with those of digital transformation. Three main digital leadership activities are identified as strategic sense-making, cross-boundary mobilisation, and responsible resource reconfiguration. Strategic agility is measured by strategic sensitivity, unified leadership, and resource fluidity. Five propositions relate digital leadership to service quality, process efficiency, employee adaptability, innovation capability, and citizen responsiveness. Four external conditions, including administrative regulations, bureaucratic hierarchy, political support, and institutional capacity, affect the above relationships, leading to differential results among organisations. The paper opposes technological determinism and the belief in inherent limitations of bureaucracy for development. A model of governance that supports adaptive digital leadership within a solid normative structure is proposed. A multi-level research design can be used to test this theoretical framework empirically. Bureaucratic rigidity should be conceptualised as a multidimensional phenomenon with different functions​.