How flexible leadership ability affects manufacturing enterprises’ digital transformation willingness: The role of innovation commitment and environmental dynamics

Existing studies have recognized the significance of leadership ability on enterprises’ digital transformation. However, few of them pay attention to the mechanism of flexible leadership ability (FLA) on digital transformation willingness (DTW). This study aims to explore the influence mechanism of FLA on DTW based on the ability-behavior-purpose logical framework. Survey data is collected from 509 large and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises in China, and multiple regression and PROCESS Macro methods are used for hypothesis testing. This study mainly discusses the impact of FLA on DTW, as well as the mediating role of innovation commitment (IC) and the moderating role of environmental dynamics (ED). Results show that FLA promotes DTW directly (β = 0.574, p<0.001) and indirectly, that is, through IC (the main effect decreased from (β = 0.574, p<0.001) to (β = 0.40, p<0.001). Additionally, the moderating role of ED affects the direct path of FLA on DTW (β = 0.167, p<0.001) as well as the two indirect paths (β = 0.196, p<0.001; β = 0.104, p<0.01). The findings contribute to the advancement of flexible leadership theory, and provide practical advice for enterprises on how to implement digital transformation.