Digital Leadership for Successful Digital Transformation in the Public Sector

In an environment where rapidly developing technology has transformed almost every field, the public sector has begun to accelerate its attempts to capture this change and integrate its institutions into this process. Digital transformation of the public sector, which is based on the desire of citizens and institutions to use online services, offers a number of benefits such as getting rid of paper-based workflows, reducing bureaucracy, cost savings, and ensuring fast and efficient workflows. However, alongside the benefits of digital transformation, it also brings some challenges. One of the most important challenges in this process is related to what needs to be done regarding the development of new digital leadership competencies. The necessity of considering not only what digital transformation entails, its advantages, and disadvantages, but also how to manage it highlights the importance of understanding the concept of digital leadership. Digital leadership, defined as the discipline of guiding the organization towards digital transformation, stands out with features such as approaching issues from a global perspective, having digital literacy, being participatory and innovative, and having risk management ability. Based on this foundation, the aim of this study is to define digital transformation in the public sector, analyze the elements of digital leadership necessary for successful digital transformation in the public sector, and reveal its importance for organizations. Through this analysis, a perspective on the relatively new concept of digital leadership, which has found a significant place in the literature, will be presented specifically within the context of the public sector.