Collegiality and the digitalized cage: advancing theory on multilevel leadership

The COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying surge in remote working has brought discussion of digitalization and artificial intelligence (AI) to the fore. However, what is notable in the leadership literature is the extent to which disruption of collegial interactions and dysfunctional leader-follower relationship consequences of digitalization at the organizational level have been largely neglected. By visiting theories of multilevel leadership, collegiality, and social exchange theory, this conceptual paper seeks to rectify the omission of a focus on multilevel leadership and collegial hubs in complex organizations. It develops a nuanced framework that explores in some detail potential changes in collegial and leader-follower interactions and relationships, relational scaffolding, resource dependence, and employment domains. The twin objective is to understand the dynamics and to identify the extent to which digitalization and AI will shape them.