AI-powered leadership: a systematic literature review

Abstract

PurposeIn this era of rapid technological advancement, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a crucial factor in reshaping organisational dynamics, notably in the realm of leadership. This systematic literature review (SLR) aims to investigate the emerging relationship between AI and leadership, focussing on defining AI-powered leadership, identifying prevalent themes, exploring challenges, and uncovering research gaps within the relevant literature.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 73 papers was chosen after carefully applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria to 1,387 research articles that were initially sought. Using the methodological framework presented by Denyer and Tranfield (2009), our study adopted a four-step procedure to obtain insights from the corpus of literature. The papers were analysed by employing content and thematic analysis to address four key questions.FindingsThe review explores various definitions of AI-powered leadership proposed in the literature based on real-world situations. The study further synthesises significant themes in the existing literature, such as the past, present and future of AI and AI in various facets of organisational leadership, transitional management, and urban management. The review revealed a range of key challenges in AI-powered leadership, including ethical dilemmas, complications in human-AI interactions, hurdles in AI implementation within leadership contexts, and long-term risks associated with AI integration. In addition, this study identified areas within AI-powered leadership research that require further investigation by revealing significant research gaps in the papers.Originality/valueBy adopting a comprehensive approach, this research advances understanding of the complex relationship between AI and leadership dynamics, thus facilitating comprehension of the current body of knowledge and enabling future scholarly investigations in the AI-powered leadership domain.