The Rise of Distributed Leadership Systems: A Qualitative Study of Power Redistribution in Digital Organizations
Keywords:
distributed leadership, digital organizations, power redistribution, digital transformation, qualitative study, algorithmic governance, TehranAbstract
This study aimed to explore how power is redistributed through distributed leadership systems in digital organizations and to identify the organizational mechanisms through which leadership authority becomes shared, negotiated, and technologically mediated. This qualitative study was conducted using an interpretive research design. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 24 managers, team leaders, digital transformation specialists, product owners, and senior experts working in digital organizations in Tehran. Participants were selected through purposive sampling with maximum variation in organizational role, industry background, and managerial experience. Interviews continued until theoretical saturation was achieved. Each interview lasted between 45 and 75 minutes and focused on experiences of leadership decentralization, decision-making authority, digital coordination, algorithmic control, and cross-functional collaboration. Interview data were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic analysis supported by NVivo software. Coding was performed in three stages: open coding, axial categorization, and selective theme development. Credibility was strengthened through member checking, peer review, and continuous comparison of emerging codes. The analysis generated five main categories: digital visibility and transparency as a source of power redistribution; expertise-based authority and role fluidity; platform-mediated coordination and algorithmic governance; participatory decision architectures and cross-functional coalitions; and the persistence of hierarchical control beneath distributed leadership rhetoric. Participants described digital organizations as environments in which formal managerial authority increasingly interacts with data access, technical expertise, network centrality, and collaborative platforms. Although leadership became more distributed in product, innovation, and problem-solving processes, power redistribution remained uneven because strategic decisions, resource allocation, and performance evaluation often continued to be controlled by senior executives. The study shows that distributed leadership in digital organizations is not simply a democratic dispersion of authority but a complex sociotechnical system in which power is redistributed through digital infrastructures, expertise networks, and collaborative routines while remaining constrained by formal hierarchy and algorithmic control.
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