Digital Leadership and Organizational Performance in the Era of Industry 5.0: The Mediating Role of Digital Transformation

Abstract

This article develops a bounded integrative synthesis of digital leadership, digital transformation and organizational performance in the Industry 5.0 context. It is explicitly conceptual rather than an empirical test. The evidence base combines five verifiable studies retained from the original manuscript with six supplementary foundational and peer-reviewed sources on Industry 5.0, digital transformation and digital-transformation leadership. Sources were appraised for topical relevance, methodological transparency and direct contribution to the proposed constructs. The thematic synthesis identifies recurring capability domains—strategic digital vision, technology/data competence, change and collaboration capability, and human-centric leadership—and explains how these may enable digital transformation through strategic alignment, capability development, process redesign and data-driven work. Digital transformation is consequently proposed as a plausible mechanism linking leadership capability to organizational outcomes. Four propositions are advanced for future empirical testing. No respondent-level data, original effect sizes, p-values or mediation statistics are reported. The contribution is a transparent, literature-derived conceptual framework, an indicative measurement architecture and an empirical validation protocol for subsequent research.