Defining E-leadership as Competence in ICT-Mediated Communications: An Exploratory Assessment

While many aspects of the dramatic shifts caused by digital government have made enormous progress, the leadership of those who serve the public via electronic means has yet to take a significant step forward. This article addresses three questions: How significant has e-leadership become? What are the challenges in trying to create a more comprehensive model of defining and measuring e-leadership? And, based on current knowledge, what skill and behavioral elements are candidates for a concrete e-leadership model? The authors develop and test an original model that focuses on e-leadership as a competence in virtual communications (i.e., the use of ICT-mediated communications) and the digital opportunities and challenges that are created. The results provide strong support for the proposed model. The article concludes with a discussion of a future agenda for e-leadership research that can be developed in a manner that is fruitful for theory and practitioners.