Digital Leadership and Maturity as a Key to Successful Digital Transformation: Country Case Study of Croatia

Organizations are facing a disrupted environment, which results in a need for managers who can quickly respond to volatile conditions. Such conditions lead to changes in traditional leadership and the construction of new leadership recognized by contemporary literature as digital leadership (DL). The main objective of this research paper is to examine the levels of DL and digital maturity (DM) in small and medium-sized Croatian companies in the context of digital transformation (DT). The research sample included 156 companies, and the results indicated relatively high levels of DL; indeed, nearly four companies achieved the highest level of DM. The results indicated a negative correlation between the level of DL and DM. Gender was shown to have an impact on the level of DL, while it was not indicated that gender has an impact on the level of DM.