Search Results (973)

Background: Micromanagement is an extensively prevalent yet relatively under-theorized management process in healthcare organizations. This narrative review synthesizes the literature on micromanagement and related leadership practices in healthcare, focusing on its antecedents, manifestations, consequences, and mitigation strategies. Methods: A structured literature search was conducted on 10 May 2024 across eight electronic databases. Eligible studies included qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods, and applied studies published between 2003 and 2024. The main outcomes were the underlying causes and behavioral measures of micromanagement, examined directly, or closely related constructs such as excessive supervision, reduced autonomy, authoritarian leadership, toxic leadership, and controlling managerial behavior. The secondary outcomes involved organizational and patient-related effects and their respective interventions. Results: A total of twelve studies were selected. The identified antecedents of micromanagement were authoritarian leadership styles, autocratic and toxic leadership personality traits, overly intrusive supervisory practices, poor employee empowerment, complicated regulation, unclear definition of professional roles, and inherent structural challenges. Micromanagement behavior was seen in authoritative decision-making, transactional supervision, systematic reduction in employee autonomy, and institutionalized distrust. The consequences recorded include high levels of occupational stress, poor organizational productivity, poor quality of healthcare services, high employee turnover rates, and psychological problems. Conclusions: This review represents a preliminary conceptual synthesis of the literature that addresses micromanagement in healthcare. The evidence base is inconsistent, with many studies focusing on constructs that relate to micromanagement while not studying it directly. In future research, validated tools to assess micromanagement should be designed, as well as leadership interventions that benefit both workplace and patient outcomes. Full article

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) possess strong relational strengths—such as trust, teamwork, and shared leadership—yet often struggle to translate these capabilities into formal Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosures. This study integrates Relational Leadership Theory with Leaderful Practice (LAP) to propose the Leaderful Strategy Model (LSM), examining how collective, concurrent, collaborative, and compassionate practices interact with digital transformation through a proposed process of ‘digital translation’—the process through which informal relational governance may be codified into formal ESG disclosures supporting Perceived ESG Reporting Effectiveness (PER). Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, we examined 97 listed SMEs in Italy (n = 43) and Pakistan (n = 54). Multiple regression analysis reveals context-dependent patterns: leadership-driven digital transformation is a significant, uniform predictor of PER across both contexts (beta Italy = 0.608, beta Pakistan = 0.595, p < 0.001). However, relational leadership directly predicts PER in Italy (beta = 0.375, p < 0.001) but shows no significant direct association in Pakistan (beta = 0.177, p = 0.177). Qualitative interviews contextualize these findings by identifying two distinct, institutionally situated pathways of digital translation: a structured Cautious-Facilitation model in the Italian cases and a Pragmatic-Integration model in the Pakistani cases, where accessible tools such as WhatsApp and Google Sheets enable the capture and coordination of informal sustainability practices. Overall, the findings suggest that digital translation may operate as a complementary process in highly structured institutional contexts, while playing a more central enabling role in environments with weaker formal reporting systems. By comparing two contrasting institutional contexts, this study advances context-sensitive theories of digitalized relational leadership and offers practical implications for SMEs and policymakers designing proportionate sustainability frameworks aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Full article

This study examines the role of emotional intelligence in leadership contexts mediated by intelligent technologies, focusing on how socio-emotional processes are shaped within digital communication environments and artificial intelligence-enabled systems. Situated at the intersection of leadership and technological transformation, the study aims to clarify the thematic structure and intellectual development of this emerging research domain. A systematic bibliometric approach is employed, drawing on data from the Scopus database for 2004–2026 and integrating descriptive analysis, keyword co-occurrence mapping, and co-citation techniques. The results suggest a rapidly expanding yet fragmented body of literature structured around three principal trajectories: leadership in virtual and distributed environments, the integration of emotional processes with intelligent systems, and competence-based approaches linked to digital transformation. Across these strands, emotional intelligence is consistently associated with communication, trust, and team effectiveness, while conditions of mediated interaction increasingly shape its role. The findings further reveal a degree of conceptual dispersion alongside the absence of a standardized vocabulary. Overall, the study concludes that emotional intelligence remains central to leadership effectiveness but is reconfigured as a context-dependent capability embedded within sociotechnical systems. Full article

Background: Healthcare institutions increasingly face sustainability challenges associated with environmental governance, operational efficiency, digital transformation, and social responsibility in the post-pandemic era. However, limited studies have comprehensively examined the organizational factors influencing ESG implementation and healthcare social sustainability practices among hospitals. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the organizational determinants of ESG implementation and healthcare social sustainability practices among Taiwanese hospitals and to explore how healthcare professionals and hospital administrators perceive sustainability implementation within post-pandemic healthcare environments. Methods: A convergent mixed methods design integrating quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews was employed. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA), correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis were performed, and qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: A total of 135 valid questionnaires were analyzed, and qualitative data were obtained from three semi-structured interviews. ESG sustainability support demonstrated the strongest positive influence on healthcare social sustainability practices (β = 0.481, p < 0.001), followed by operational sustainability (β = 0.276, p < 0.01) and sustainability management capability (β = 0.214, p < 0.05). Organizational resource pressure did not significantly influence healthcare social sustainability practices. The qualitative findings converged with and expanded upon the quantitative results by highlighting the importance of leadership support, digital healthcare transformation, operational coordination, and community health promotion in facilitating ESG implementation and long-term healthcare sustainability. Conclusions: The integrated findings suggest that healthcare ESG implementation increasingly functions as a comprehensive sustainability governance strategy involving operational sustainability, digital healthcare transformation, healthcare accessibility, and social responsibility practices within post-pandemic healthcare environments. Strengthening sustainability support systems, governance capability, and operational resilience may facilitate long-term healthcare social sustainability implementation. Full article

This study presents a bibliometric and thematic analysis of intercultural intelligence research in digitally mediated contexts. Using a dataset of 92 journal articles indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection between 2006 and April 2026, the study maps the intellectual structure, collaboration patterns, and thematic evolution of the field. Data were analyzed using the Bibliometrix R package (version 5.3.0) and Biblioshiny through performance analysis, science mapping, co-citation analysis, collaboration networks, and thematic mapping techniques. The findings indicate that research output has expanded considerably since the mid-2010s, reflecting the growing importance of intercultural competencies in digitally connected environments. The intellectual structure of the field remains strongly anchored in cultural intelligence theory while increasingly incorporating themes related to communication, trust, global virtual teams, leadership, and digitally mediated collaboration. Thematic evolution analyses reveal a gradual shift from traditional cultural intelligence constructs toward broader concerns associated with virtual interaction, digitally mediated collaboration, and emerging AI-supported communication environments. The results also demonstrate a highly collaborative and internationally connected research landscape, although notable geographical imbalances remain. By providing a systematic overview of the field, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of how intercultural intelligence scholarship is evolving in response to digital transformation and offers directions for future interdisciplinary research. Full article

Against the background of intelligent manufacturing transformation, this study examines AI applications in the ceramics field through 3773 patent documents retrieved from the IncoPat Global Patent Database for 2014–2024. It analyzes patent trends, geographical distribution, legal status, applicants, IPC classifications, and research hotspots. The results show that patent-document activity increased overall from 2014 to 2021, while 2023–2024 data should be interpreted cautiously because of publication lag and possible database incompleteness. China accounts for the largest share of documents in the retrieved dataset, indicating concentrated patent disclosures rather than definitive technological leadership or market dominance. Legal-status results reflect differences across application, examination, and maintenance stages, not direct commercialization performance. The patents are mainly associated with intelligent manufacturing, robotic and mechatronic systems, material optimization, and intelligent quality inspection. Future studies should incorporate updated data, patent-family deduplication, full-text screening, and market or technology-transfer evidence. Full article

This study investigates digital leadership as a networked social process by analyzing how influential actors operating across professional and institutional domains construct leadership discourse and draw on transformational leadership (TFL) principles within Twitter (X) networks, with particular attention to the skill-transfer gaps that persist between formal academic preparation and workforce demands. Social Network Analysis (SNA) using the NodeXL program was used to examine the relational structure of that discourse across a dataset of 1186 Twitter accounts and 1362 relational ties. The analysis identified 27 prominent actors operating within a distinct community cluster whose discourse spanned politics, health, technology, media, and education, with thematically diverse but uneven engagement with leadership topics. Combining semantic cluster analyses, inductive thematic mapping, and a supplementary exploratory factor analysis (EFA), the study finds that the four TFL principles (individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, and idealized influence) are unevenly represented in this discourse. The EFA condensed the co-occurrence structure into three platform-shaped factors, with the strongest support for individualized consideration and no coherent factor for idealized influence, indicating partial rather than comprehensive alignment with the four-dimensional TFL model. The findings position digital leadership as a relational and iterative social process, sustained through repeated interactions, endorsements, and positional recognition within platform-based publics that extend across academic, industry, and socio-political boundaries. The study highlights social media as a networked yet uneven environment for leadership development and the broader social negotiation of skill-transfer challenges across digital professional contexts. Full article

This qualitative study explores perceptions of gender equity and leadership in three higher education institutions in Eswatini. The research involved nine senior management members—deans, registrars, and bursars—and eighteen lecturers (nine women and nine men). Employing narrative inquiry, data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and focus groups, capturing rich individual stories and social dynamics. The study explores how gender influences access to leadership roles, the barriers faced, and potential strategies for fostering inclusive environments. Guided by social role theory, the analysis was deductive, examining how cultural norms and stereotypes shape perceptions of leadership and reinforce gender disparities. Women occupy only 22% of senior management roles, while among lecturers, women constitute 50% of the workforce but only 30% of leadership positions, illustrating persistent under-representation. Findings reveal that despite existing policies, cultural norms rooted in hegemonic masculinity continue to impede gender equity, with organisational biases and societal stereotypes maintaining male dominance in leadership. Participants emphasised that policies must be actively enforced, and cultural change initiatives are essential to challenge stereotypes and reshape societal narratives about gender roles. The study underscores the importance of institutional support, mentorship programmes, and visibility initiatives to empower women and promote gender-inclusive leadership. Engaging men as allies is also critical in transforming organisational culture. These findings contribute to advancing understanding of gender dynamics in Eswatini’s higher education sector and highlight the need for comprehensive, context-specific interventions. Addressing these challenges requires coordinated efforts involving policy enforcement, cultural transformation, capacity building, and ongoing evaluation to ensure sustainable progress toward gender equality in academic leadership. Full article

Against the backdrop of substantial transformations in the education system, including digitalization and increasing societal pluralization, there is growing attention paid to teachers’ digital competencies and their role within broader school well-being processes in digitally transforming educational environments. This paper adopts digital competencies as a novel domain-specific personal resource within the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) framework to examine how both individual and organizational resources shape teachers’ professional motivation and organizational commitment. The analysis draws on data from the ‘Deisel’ project, comprising 550 teachers in Germany. Within this empirical context, this study reveals considerable variation in both teachers’ digital competencies and the organizational conditions of schools. In particular, differences in leadership support and collegial collaboration influence whether digital transformation is experienced as an additional burden or as a meaningful resource for professional development. The findings indicate a small but statistically significant indirect association between digital competencies and organizational commitment, operating primarily through reduced psychological strain rather than increased motivation. Prior evidence emphasizing the relevance of school management support and self-efficacy was replicated. These results demonstrate that digital competencies function as a personal resource within the JD-R framework, reducing perceived strain and indirectly strengthening organizational commitment. This study contributes to JD-R research by showing that digital competencies appear to function less as direct motivational drivers and more as domain-specific personal resources that may mitigate the strain associated with technology-related demands in digitally transforming schools. Full article

The construction sector needs to transform to address increasing sustainability and resilience challenges driven by climate change and increasing demands from stakeholders such as governments and customers. While previous research has examined individual aspects of sustainable construction, there remains an important need for an integrated, performance-oriented framework to guide organisational capability development. This research study develops a novel Sustainability Performance-Led Progression Framework (SPL-PF) to support the systematic assessment of and improvement in sustainability and resilience performance within the construction sector. A structured literature review of global academic and industry sources (2020–2025) was conducted to identify key challenges and evidence-based strategies and solutions. Through systematic synthesis, ten challenge areas and forty-one success strategies were identified and consolidated into a staged maturity framework. The SPL-PF defines five progressive levels (compliance, integration, optimisation, collaboration, and innovative leadership) supported by performance criteria, measurement indicators, and an operational scoring approach. This framework enables organisations to benchmark current capability, prioritise interventions, and monitor continuous improvement across sustainability and resilience dimensions. Full article

Digital transformation in construction small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) depends on employees’ willingness to use information systems in their daily work. This study examines the role of transformational leadership (TL) and perceived organizational support (POS) in employees’ behavioral intention to use information systems in Chinese engineering construction SMEs. It also considers the mediating role of perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) and the moderating role of organizational culture. A total of 361 valid responses were collected from employees in Chinese engineering construction SMEs. The results show that TL and POS both act as organizational drivers of employees’ adoption intention. TL influences BI by improving employees’ cognitive evaluation of information systems through PU and PEOU. POS provides resource-based support to help employees feel more confident using these systems. OC further conditions how employees respond to leadership and support signals during digital transformation. These findings suggest that technology acceptance in engineering construction SMEs is shaped by both individual technology beliefs and organizational conditions. This study extends technology acceptance research by making the Theory of Planned Behavior more concrete through managerial and support mechanisms. It also provides practical guidance for SME managers seeking to support digitalization through clear leadership communication, targeted resource support, and a learning-oriented culture. Full article

With the development of digital technology and artificial intelligence (AI), numerous studies have focused on the applications and impacts of digital technology in the public sector. However, few studies have explored how frontline public service employees, the core subject of public organizations, can improve their proactive service performance. Based on the model of proactive motivation, this paper investigates the influence of digital leadership on employees’ proactive service performance from a micro perspective, as well as the internal mechanisms and boundary conditions underlying this process. Through an analysis of three-wave questionnaire survey data from 234 employees, this study finds that digital leadership has a positive impact on public employees’ proactive service performance through the serial mediation effects of AI service awareness and AI crafting. Furthermore, as an important boundary condition, employees’ public service motivation strengthens the serial indirect effect of digital leadership on proactive service performance. This paper not only extends the literature on digital leadership by adopting a micro-level perspective within the context of public sector digital transformation but also identifies the individual and contextual antecedents of proactive service performance by examining the interactive effect of public service motivation and leadership. Furthermore, this paper offers valuable implications for the practice of digital transformation in public organizations. Full article

Background: Transformational leadership positively influences safety climate perceptions. Transformational leadership has four dimensions, and safety climate can be operationalized at different levels. Few research efforts, however, have been made to investigate the association between specific transformational leadership dimensions and safety climate at the individual level (i.e., psychological safety climate, PSC). Methods: Drawing on the interactive approach to forming safety climate, this study developed a multiple mediation model linking project team leaders’ intellectual stimulation (IS) to construction personnel’s PSC via safety-specific leader–member exchange (LMX) and team member exchange (TMX). A random sample (N = 292) of construction personnel based in Hong Kong is employed to validate the model. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the data. Results: Both safety-specific LMX (specific indirect effect = 0.189) and safety-specific TMX (specific indirect effect = 0.032) significantly mediate the relationship between IS and PSC, although the direct association between them is insignificant. Age significantly moderates the IS–PSC relationship, with a stronger association for younger personnel (β = 0.481, p < 0.001) than for older personnel (β = 0.195, p = 0.029). Conclusions: The findings reveal that the relationship between IS and PSC is fully mediated by safety-specific LMX and TMX, with vertical exchange (LMX) playing a substantially more prominent mediating role than lateral exchange (TMX). These results suggest that improving construction personnel’s PSC requires developing project team leaders’ intellectually stimulating skills and fostering high-quality leader–follower safety exchange within project teams. Full article

This paper explores the complex nature of ethical leadership and decision-making in educational settings by reviewing the learning content of a master’s subject in an educational leadership course. The paper focuses on how effective ethical leadership requires a multidimensional, context-sensitive approach rather than simple rules or linear paradigms. Drawing on foundational and contemporary scholarship, the paper discusses how leaders address “wicked problems” such as equity gaps, data ethics, and conflicting stakeholder values. It emphasises moral reasoning rooted in dialogue, role theory, and political literacy, acknowledging that institutional cultures, power dynamics, and norms influence decision-making. The article discusses how practical tools, such as ethical decision-making staircases, dilemma mapping, and reflection protocols, help leaders balance values and foster inclusive, morally resilient communities. A discussion of the increasing ethical challenges of data analytics and surveillance, and an advocacy for transparency, dignity, and data minimalism, is presented. The paper concludes that preparing ethical leaders involves immersive experiences such as case studies and simulations, alongside the development of moral courage and networks to support systemic change. By integrating theory, context, and transformative practices, this paper offers a comprehensive framework for nurturing leaders who navigate ambiguity and advance justice, care, and integrity across diverse educational environments. Full article

Against the background of profound transformation within the construction industry, the construction industry ecosystem serves as a vital vehicle for regional economic development. Its resilience has become a key factor in influencing the sustainable development of industry. From an ecological perspective, this paper integrated the cusp catastrophe model and Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) method, using data from Shandong Province to investigate the evolutionary state of the construction industry ecosystem and the diverse concurrent paths driving the system toward high levels of functionality. This study found that: (1) the resilient development of the construction industry ecosystem in Shandong Province presented a differentiated pattern, characterized by dual-core leadership, relative strength in the east, and weakness in the west, and localized catch-up. (2) The results from the cusp catastrophe model indicated that construction industry ecosystems in different regions were primarily undergoing stable evolution, though some cities faced the risk of functional degradation due to the combined effects of insufficient resilience and severe shocks. (3) fsQCA identified three equivalent configuration paths for achieving high system functionality: the “resilience accumulation path”, “resilience synergy path”, and “resilience transition path”, as well as three equivalent configuration paths for low system functionality: the “low resilience-low shocks dependency path”, “low-resilience, fixed-type path”, and “low resilience-high shocks imbalance path”. (4) These paths demonstrated that recovery was the key factor determining a system’s level of functionality. Full article