Leadership architectures for digital innovation: extending upper echelons theory through expert-coded evidence articulated abstract

Purpose This paper investigates how leadership architectures shape digital innovation during organizational change. Specifically, it examines the interplay between chief executive officer (CEO) digital expertise, top management team (TMT) diversity and integration mechanisms through the lens of Upper Echelons Theory (UET). Design/methodology/approach An expert-coded dataset was constructed covering 12 firm-years from six global technology firms (2023–2024). Three senior coders independently evaluated CDE, TMT diversity, and integration structures using structured rubrics. Coder means were aggregated, and regression models with fixed effects, HC3 standard errors, and wild-cluster bootstraps were used to test four hypotheses. Findings The results provide partial support for the diversity–innovation relationship. TMT diversity relates positively to product launches and, less precisely, to digital revenue share, but negatively to patenting once CEO expertise and integration are controlled. Evidence of inverted-U moderation by CDE is pattern-consistent but imprecise. Integration mechanisms mediate diversity’s effect on innovation and strengthen the moderation when chief information officer/chief digital officer/chief digital officer roles are empowered. Research limitations/implications The study is based on a small sample (12 firm-years, 36 coder-stacked observations) concentrated in the technology sector. Findings should therefore be viewed as indicative patterns rather than definitive causal effects. Future research should replicate the design across industries and incorporate automated text analytics to scale expert coding. Practical implications Boards and executives should recognize that digital fluency at the top is valuable but must be balanced with empowered integrators to avoid excessive centralization. Diversity in the top team alone is insufficient; it must be coupled with integration structures to translate plurality into coordinated innovation during digital transformation. Social implications By highlighting how leadership structures influence digital outcomes, the study points to governance practices that can support more inclusive, collaborative and sustainable organizational change. Originality/value This research extends UET beyond demographic proxies by introducing substantive measures of CEO expertise and integration roles. It also demonstrates expert coding as a transparent and replicable approach to capturing executive cognition and organizational design in the context of digital transformation.