Mapping the Landscape Towards Sustainability: A Bibliometric Analysis of Digital Leadership and Performance

Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to run a bibliometric analysis in examining the trends of digital leadership and performance published in Scopus from 2016-2023. Theoretical Framework: The study identifies the document and source types, the volume of publication over the years, countries, key authors, subject area and the most important research topics related to digital leadership and performance. The study reveals that the first research on this area was published in Scopus in 2016. Starting from 2019, the topic has gained much attention by the researchers. Design/methodology/approach: Our sample is composed of all documents related to digital leadership and performance published in Scopus. A bibliometric assessment revealed that there were 46 documents listed in Scopus from 2016 to June 2023. Of these, one document has been removed due to incomplete information available in the database. Thus, only 45 documents were analysed. VOSviewer and Microsoft Excel were employed for data analysis. Findings: The results revealed that of these 45 documents, journal article is the most frequent type and source of document. Starting from 2019, the research on the studied areas has garnered much attention as the number of publications and citations has started to accelerate. Interestingly, 20 of these articles were published in Malaysia and Indonesia. Based on the top cited articles on digital leadership indicated that besides its impact on business performance, researchers also have placed much attention on the performance within the academic institutions. Finally, the trend of digital leadership research is starting to embark on the areas of innovation, green environmental science, energy and engineering. Research, Practical & Social implications: The researchers suggest for future research agenda and emphasize the contributions which will guide scholars who want to initiate research in digital leadership and performance. Originality/value: Digital leadership is the new form of leadership in this digital society. A bibliometric analysis provides significant findings of existing research and significant researchers in this topic and provides potential avenues for future research.