With the rapid development and wide application of digital technology, the digital economy is promoting profound changes in the modes of production, living and governance, and has become a key force in changing the pattern of global competition. In order to improve their competitiveness and achieve sustainable development in the complex and changing digital environment, many enterprises are accelerating digital transformation. Manufacturing enterprises as the micro embodiment of the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, promoting their successful digital transformation not only helps to enhance their own competitive advantage, but also has great significance for the construction of a manufacturing power and digital China. Digital transformation is a transformation process characterized by dynamism, continuity and adaptability, which is essentially the use of digital technology to achieve insights into external stimuli and make agile responses, and most companies do not have a smooth ride in the digital transformation process. In this context, it is crucial to have an agile workforce adapted to the digital transformation and upgrading of manufacturing enterprises. Therefore, how to better cultivate and improve employee agility has become a focus of attention in both the academic and business worlds.
Existing research on the factors affecting employee agility mainly focuses on organizational and individual factors, and few scholars have explored its impact on employee agility from a leadership perspective. Existing research shows that leadership is an important antecedent variable that affects employees' psychology, attitude and behavior. Digital leadership is a concept developed for successful digital transformation and refers to the ability of leaders to create a clear and meaningful vision for their organization's digital transformation, to encourage employees to actively participate in their organization's digital transformation, and to lead their organization's members in executing and successfully implementing their digital transformation strategy. Digital leadership reflects the strong willingness of leaders to change, and leaders will actively promote the digital transformation of the enterprise. In addition, leaders focus on improving employees' digital capabilities during the transformation process, and are happy to provide employees with more information sharing and work autonomy. This helps to stimulate employees' sense of efficacy and passion for their work, encouraging them to take the initiative to learn new skills, adapt themselves to changes in the environment, and present greater flexibility in their work. Therefore, this study investigates the mechanism and boundary conditions of digital leadership on employee agility with employees in manufacturing companies as the research object.
This study uses the questionnaire survey method to collect data, and after screening and eliminating invalid data, a total of 570 valid samples are obtained. Descriptive statistical analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, homology bias test, etc. are conducted by SPSS and AMOS to verify the hypotheses. The results show that digital leadership has a positive effect on employee agility; digital self-efficacy and harmonious work passion play a partially mediating role in the relationship between digital leadership and employee agility; and openness to change has a positive moderating effect between digital leadership and the relationship between employee agility, digital self-efficacy, and harmonious work passion.
The results of this study have enriched and deepened research in relevant fields, and have certain theoretical innovation and practical significance. First, the antecedent research on employee agility is enriched from a leadership perspective. Combined with the context of digital transformation, exploring the impact of digital leadership on employee agility not only enriches the theoretical research results on employee agility, but also has important practical significance. Second, following the cognitive-affective personality systems theory, this study reveals how digital leadership impacts employee agility through the dual paths of digital self-efficacy and harmonic work passion, filling the theoretical caps in the existing literature. Third, the boundary conditions of digital leadership on employee agility are clarified by introducing individual-level openness to change as a moderating variable. Finally, this study provides managerial recommendations on how to improve employee agility, including cultivating digital leadership, stimulating employees' digital self-efficacy and harmonious work passion, and enhancing employees' openness to change.