11. Conclusion

The post-industrial and post-structuralist era of leader-followership has set the stage for multiple leader-follower identities and new organizational structures to emerge. In today's virtual reality, individuals should be able to freely exchange leading and following roles according to organizational or contextual needs. Such a mindset may lay the groundwork for mutual accountability between situational and role-based leaders and encourage multiple-role identity leader-followers to emerge. In other words, followers can become leaders and leaders can become followers because one does not exist without the other. Thus, a new generation of hybrid leader-followers and less-hierarchical organizational structures are on the horizon, where the members of virtual organizations may lead and follow not based on their static positions or positional authority but according to their skills, expertise, and competencies.


11.1 Limitations

This study has source and topical limitations. The sources used in this chapter are limited to available peer-reviewed and research-based articles, books, thesis, and dissertations in the following digital databases: Google.com, Scholar.google.com, ABI/INFORM Complete (ProQuest), Academic Search Complete (EBSCO), Business Source Premier (EBSCO), Communication & Mass Media Complete, JSTOR Business Collection, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, SAGE Premier, and Springer e-Journals. Additionally, due to the chapter limitation, the following topics have not been addressed in this study: cybersecurity leadership, leadership in game-based environments, leadership in the Second Life, leader identity in the virtual world (avatars vs. authentic leaders), automation, robotization, and leadership, artificial intelligence and leadership.


11.2 Implications for future research

Literature on all four categories of digital leadership discussed in this chapter is scarce particularly when it comes to comparing theoretical and practical differences between leadership in pre-digital and digital age. More empirical data is necessary to measure the effectiveness of contemporary models of leadership such distributed, shared, collective, and adaptive approaches for the digital age. Also, further research is needed in the following areas:

  • The power dynamics among e-leaders and e-followers in virtual organizations.
  • How leader and follower identities are formed in the virtual world and their sustainability over time.
  • Whether or not the process-based understudying of leadership is more applicable and relevant to leadership in the digital age.
  • Feasibility of the LFT conceptual framework in cyber leadership for maximum fluidity and flexibility in decision-making processes.