Does digital leadership an antidote to digital Taylorism? Exploring the consequences of digital leadership in an innovative organisation

This research investigates the impact of digital leadership on organizational performance, exploring the mediating role of innovation within the framework of digital Taylorism. The study focused on employees of an iron and steel production holding company in Iran. Data were collected via 158 valid questionnaires (out of 200 distributed) and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings indicate that digital leadership significantly influences psychological well-being (β = 0.66), employee resilience (β = 0.70) and social isolation (β = −0.62). Furthermore, digital leadership exerts a significant direct effect on organizational performance (β = 0.46). Regarding indirect relationships, innovation significantly mediates the links between psychological well-being and organizational performance (β = 0.16), as well as between employee resilience and organizational performance (β = 0.29). However, the mediating role of innovation in the relationship between social isolation and organizational performance (β = 0.044) was not supported. This study is among the few to explore digital leadership through the lens of digital Taylorism, positioning the former as a strategic factor to mitigate the potential negative consequences of the latter, particularly in the era of AI proliferation. Furthermore, this research contributes to the literature by comprehensively examining the influence of digital leadership on organizational performance via a coherent model involving psychological well-being, resilience and social isolation.