Executives’ paradoxical leadership and digital transformation: role of resource orchestration

Purpose Executives must navigate the paradoxes and conflicts that emerge in the process of digital transformation (DT) to ensure the success of companies’ transformations. However, research on this topic has not yet examined whether – and how – executive paradoxical leadership influences corporate DT. This research draws on the paradox perspective and resource orchestration theory to explore the differential mediating effects of resource orchestration on the relationship between executive paradoxical leadership and corporate digital transformation. Design/methodology/approach On the basis of 249 survey responses, this study employs stepwise regression and Bootstrap methods to test both the main and the mediating effects. The results remain significant after subgroup analyses are conducted and the number of samples is increased. Findings The results of this research are as follows. (1) When the level of executive paradoxical leadership (both present–future and organization–environment paradoxical leadership) is higher, companies are more likely to adopt a high degree of DT. (2) Resource orchestration plays differential mediating roles in this relationship. Specifically, the higher the level of present–future paradoxical leadership is, the more likely companies are to adopt a high degree of digital transformation via resource structuring rather than resource bundling or resource leveraging. Conversely, the higher the level of organization–environment paradoxical leadership is, the more likely companies are to adopt a high degree of digital transformation via resource bundling rather than resource structuring or resource leveraging. Originality/value This research has significant theoretical and practical implications regarding the ways in which executives can leverage different forms of paradoxical leadership to drive firms’ DT.