The rise of technology-enabled remote work environments has raised important questions about how to sustain employees' informal learning activities, as these contexts often restrict interactions among coworkers and supervisors. Informal learning, which encompasses task-related learning (i.e., learning through reflection and experimentation) and interactional learning (i.e., learning from colleagues and supervisor), is crucial for adapting to dynamic work environments. While transformational leadership (TFL) is known to foster informal learning in traditional settings, its effectiveness in technology-enabled remote work environments remains unclear. Drawing on the Antecedents-Processes-Outcomes (APO) framework of informal learning, this multi-wave study (n = 1556) investigates the effects of two complementary TFL dimensions-intellectual stimulation and supportive leadership-on task-related and interactional learning in technology-enabled remote work environments, and examines whether these learning activities enhance employee performance. Using structural equation modeling, the results show that intellectual stimulation supports both task-related and interactional learning by promoting learning through reflection and experimentation as well as learning from supervisor, whereas supportive leadership is primarily associated with learning from supervisor and learning through experimentation. Contrary to expectations, no significant moderating effects of the degree of technology-enabled remote working were observed, indicating that the effects of TFL remain consistent across different work settings. Moreover, the findings emphasize the importance of employees' engagement in informal learning processes, particularly learning from supervisor, in enhancing performance. The study advances the APO framework by identifying specific leadership behaviors as key antecedents and testing their relevance in technology-enabled remote work environments. Practically, the findings suggest that leaders can facilitate informal learning and performance regardless of physical proximity by creating cognitively challenging and socially supportive conditions for informal learning.

Research on CEOs’ social media communication as a leadership instrument remains scarce. The current study addresses this gap by exploring the relationship between CEOs’ leadership‐oriented language and user engagement (i.e., sharing behavior). Based on an automated text analysis of 24,719 posts from 172 CEOs of Global Fortune 500 companies on X, one of the largest social media platforms previously known as Twitter, this research examines how CEOs’ leadership‐oriented language influences users’ sharing behavior. In particular, it focuses on transformational leadership (TFL), a crucial approach in social media contexts. Utilizing hierarchical linear modeling, the findings revealed that CEOs’ use of linguistic indicators reflecting TFL affects users’ sharing behavior in partially unexpected and contradictory ways. Specifically, using positive emotional language and exclusive words in social media posts can diminish users’ sharing behavior. Conversely, content‐rich posts, replies that open a dialogic loop, and posts reflecting psychological closeness all positively influence users’ sharing behavior. These findings underscore the complex nature of leadership‐oriented language and provide novel insights into its effectiveness on social media. The current study offers specific guidelines for how CEOs can effectively utilize TFL‐oriented language to engage their audiences while minimizing the risk of unintended negative consequences.

ABSTRACT Chief executive officers (CEOs) play a pivotal role in shaping public discourse on climate change through social media, yet how their language use affects the effectiveness of climate‐related posts remains unclear. Drawing on schema‐congruity theory and leader role expectations, we conceptualize certainty in language as congruent and anxiety as incongruent CEO language. Using automated text analysis of 5544 posts on X by 50 CEOs of Global Fortune 500 companies, we examine how (in)congruent language use influences public engagement and how climate content moderates these effects. A follow‐up experiment ( N = 119) investigates strategically important downstream effects (e.g., willingness to invest in the CEO's company) via heightened attention. Results show that congruent language (i.e., certainty) generally increases public engagement while incongruent language (i.e., anxiety) reduces it, yet in climate posts, anxiety can become congruent and exert positive effects, underscoring the critical role of content. Findings offer guidance for effective sustainability messaging.

Sustainability is at the top of the agenda of most tech companies. Specifically, tech companies increasingly utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to meet their sustainability goals. However, little is known about how tech companies can leverage AI to accelerate sustainability by formulating and implementing appropriate strategies. To better understand the intertwined nature of AI and sustainability from a strategy perspective, this research conceptually develops a novel AI x Sustainability framework by drawing from the nested sustainability model and integrating insights from different literature streams. It then applies this framework to six leading Big Tech companies (i.e., Amazon, Google, IBM, Meta, Microsoft, and SAP) by conducting a comprehensive document analysis of 69 documents describing 244 individual AI x Sustainability initiatives to reveal whether and how these companies appear to follow specific AI x Sustainability strategies. Lastly, an exploratory survey with potential tech companies' clients (N = 192) sheds light on how clients perceive tech companies' communicated strategic positioning based on the framework. The research provides new theoretical insights, serves as a blueprint for other tech companies, including implications for their AI x Sustainability positioning, and offers a variety of future research directions.

Leading employees in times of digital transformation is challenging as it requires leaders to enact different behaviors and roles. Further, the prevalence of hybrid and remote work environments has exacerbated the situation. Employing a group Delphi study with 42 leaders, we address the hitherto insufficiently researched question of which leadership behaviors might suit such contexts and which impact they have on different organizational members. We provide a structured overview of appropriate task-oriented and relation-oriented leadership behaviors and their influence on individuals. Hereby, we uncover a double-edged relationship between well-intended leadership behaviors and individual-related outcomes by revealing both desirable and undesirable consequences for employees and leaders. Consequently, we challenge the assumption that enacting these behaviors always leads to beneficial outcomes and highlight that combining different leadership behaviors is necessary to face the challenges.

The powerful and disruptive changes associated with digital transformation make leadership more complex than before, which results in new and demanding challenges for companies and leaders alike. Thus, building on the competing values framework (CVF), which postulates that leaders must adopt multiple roles and behaviors, the current research aims to identify leadership roles appropriate in digital transformation and subsequently investigate whether the existing CVF roles are still relevant. A qualitative study was conducted to identify appropriate leadership behaviors in digital transformation. Additionally, a measurement scale for the identified leadership roles was developed and tested. Furthermore, multidimensional scaling (MDS) was used to test the degree-of-fit between the identified leadership roles in digital transformation and the four CVF quadrants. The results reveal that new leadership roles emerge in the context of digital transformation. Some original CVF roles are still relevant, but others should be modified. Overall, the findings indicate that leaders need a broad behavioral complexity to master the emerging leadership challenges in digital transformation.

Digital transformation (DT) initiatives are often not successful. Research underlines leadership as a key to transformation success; however, studies have not systematically examined the impact of leaders on organiza-tional change, particularly concerning organizations' DT. To fill this research gap, we conducted an experimental study with 815 participants to analyze the effectiveness of complementary leadership behaviors that are relevant in the digital age: task-oriented (more precisely, digital transformation-oriented) and people-oriented leadership behaviors, and in particular their interaction. Surprisingly and in contrast to prior studies, the results show that the combination of complementary leadership behaviors did not lead to the highest (lowest) level of employees' desirable (undesirable) affective, cognitive, and behavioral change responses. This study reveals that organiza-tions are well-advised not to disregard people orientation when going digital as this leadership behavior buffers the potential downsides of digital transformation-oriented leadership behavior, which is mandatory to stay competitive in the digital era.

Many organizations seek to establish online innovation communities (ICs) to obtain valuable knowledge and innovative ideas, though both research and practice suggest that they also struggle to sustain continued, high-quality member participation. Designated IC moderators might be able to stimulate IC members to participate regularly and make high-quality contributions. In response to calls to integrate organizational behavior and IC research, this study addresses the impact of community moderators' uses of transformational leadership (TFL) language on member participation. By operationalizing the TFL dimensions-charisma, individualized consideration, and intellectual stimulation-with language cues, this article uses an automated text analysis approach to review 64 firm-hosted ICs with 538,805 posts, analyzed with two hierarchical linear models. The findings show that moderators' charismatic language cues enhance members' participation quality and quantity. Although individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation increase participation quality, they decrease participation quantity. Organizations thus should assign moderators to lead ICs by using TFL language strategically, in accordance with the focal IC goals, in terms of the quality and quantity of member contributions to their innovation processes. This article contributes to the literature by exploring how leadership language in online communities can facilitate the development of innovative ideas. In addition, this study offers a more nuanced view on the effects of TFL by revealing both positive and negative outcomes in firm-hosted online ICs and it introduces a new, objective measure of TFL built on linguistic markers. This article also includes specific guidelines for how moderators can achieve effective leadership through their language use, as well as managerial implications for the effective selection, training, and support of IC moderators.

Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic has, besides the health concerns, caused an unprecedented social and economic crisis that has particularly hit service industries hard. Due to extensive safety measures, many service employees have to work remotely to keep service businesses running. With limited literature on leadership and virtual work in the service context, this paper aims to report on leadership effectiveness regarding employees' work performance in virtual settings brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the input-process-outcome (IPO) framework, this research investigates the effectiveness of leadership on service employees' work performance mediated by work-related tension, autonomy, and group cohesiveness. Furthermore, this study explores moderating effects of the service provider's digital maturity. To test the derived model, the authors collected survey data from 206 service employees who, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, unexpectedly had to transform to a virtual work environment. The authors analyzed the data using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings The results indicated that it took task- and relation-oriented leadership behavior to maintain service employees' work performance in a virtual environment during crisis situations. Further, results indicated mediating effects of service employees' individual job autonomy and team cohesiveness; surprisingly, work-related tension did not impact employees' work performance. Results offered service businesses guidance on how to effectively lead in times of crisis when service employees predominantly work in virtual environments. Originality/value This is the first empirical study to show how leadership affects service employees' work performance in a virtual work environment during crisis times. Thus, the study contributes to the scarce literature on the impact of leadership in service firms that have to operate in such a setting.

Today, one of the biggest challenges leaders are facing is the digital transformation. Leaders find themselves in unprecedented situations, triggered by a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environment, also described as VUCA world. Nevertheless, academic research in this area is still very limited. Following the call for rethinking leadership (Avolio, Sosik, Kahai, and Baker, 2014), we conceptualize a Digital Leadership Framework comprising seven distinct leadership roles which effectively meet the challenges of digital transformation: The digital pioneer, the innovator, the networker, the manager, the enabler, the mentor, and the digital mentee. Moreover, we develop a scale measuring the seven digital leadership roles following Crawford and Kelder’s (2018) recommendations for scale development. Thereby, the underlying goal was to check for preliminary validity and item coverage before conducting a full-scale empirical test. Finally, we offer suggestions for further research as well as practical implications.