The dearth of leadership competencies to transform traditional industries to Industry 4.0 is a barrier to global production. This study explains the deficiencies in leadership competencies that hinder the transformation of traditional industries to Industry 4.0.
Leadership was explained into transactional leadership, digital leadership and Leadership 4.0. Then, the network of relationships between these leadership constructs was plotted in a path diagram to learn the mediating effect of digital leadership.
The results indicate that a lack of digital competencies to coordinate tasks, share information and solve problems in a digitalized environment is the barrier to the transformation.
The findings can be used in human resources (HR) management. In addition, the findings provide evidence to present the contingency theory as a universal theory of leadership.
The study is the first to assess the mediating effect of digital leadership on transactional leadership to explain the changes to strategic leadership due to the emergence of Leadership 4.0.
