Exploring the Role of Strategic Leadership Components in the Development of Smart Organizations:Evidence from Telecommunication Companies in the Kurdistan Region
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21271/zjhs.29.SpC.51Keywords:
Strategic Leadership, Digitalization, Smart Organizations, Telecommunication Companies, Kurdistan RegionAbstract
The main purpose of this research is to explore the role of key strategic leadership components, such as long-term orientation, digital orientation, involvement orientation, employee orientation, and information orientation, on the development of smart organizations. The research focuses on the managerial and technical employees of the telecommunication companies in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. As a data collection process, the questionnaire is used to attain data from the research population represented by 700 managerial and technical staff of Asiacell, Korek Telecom, and Zain Iraq, and a total of 397 valid replies were obtained. The Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used as a statistical analysis technique to test the proposed hypotheses. The results establish that the development of smart organizations is positively influenced by all five key strategic leadership components. The most significant among them was the influence of employee and digital orientation, underscoring the vital role that staff and digital transformation play in telecommunication companies. The positive and significant influences of information and involvement orientations also confirmed the significant role of data-based leadership and active engagement in leaders' efficacy. These results determine that to foster smart-based practices, agility, and inventiveness within organizations, including telecom providers, leaders should adopt a multifaceted strategic approach. For telecommunication companies' leaders willing to invest in digital technology and knowledge-intensive practices in a transition towards smart organizational models, the research provides actionable insights.
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