The Effect of Digital Leadership on Sustainable Innovation Performance in Libyan Telecommunications Firms: The Mediating Roles of Knowledge Sharing and Employee Engagement

This study discusses the influence of Digital Leadership (DL) on Sustainable Innovation Performance (SIP) in telecommunications companies. In addition to examining the direct effect of Digital Leadership, the study focuses on the mediating roles of Knowledge Sharing (KS) and Employee Engagement (EE). A sample of 412 employees was collected by a simple cross-sectional survey. A partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach was used for analyzing results. The study reveals that Digital Leadership directly and positively enhanced Knowledge Sharing but did not lead to a significant direct influence on Employee Engagement and Sustainable Innovation Performance. Moreover, Knowledge Sharing did not significantly influencing Sustainable Innovation Performance, a condition that was the strongest predictor of Sustainable Innovation Performance emerging from Employee Engagement. The mediation analysis shows that neither Knowledge Sharing nor Employee Engagement mediates the relationship between Digital Leadership and Sustainable Innovation Performance. The objective contribution of this study is to shed light on the idea that Digital Leadership and Sustainable Innovation Performance are not directly related but may instead reflect other circumstances or contextual conditions. The research offers practice advice in showing that Employee Engagement benefits organizational sustainable innovation results by urging companies to consider not only Digital Leadership strategies but also alternative strategies that foster employee involvement.