Dr Nuttawuth (Wuth) Muenjohn

This introductory chapter sets the foundation for Leadership and Digital Transformation by examining the dynamic and evolving relationship between leadership and the rapid advancement of digital technologies. As innovations such as artificial intelligence and big data analytics continue to reshape how organisations operate, compete, and create value, they also introduce complex challenges related to governance, ethics, and organisational identity. Adopting an interdisciplinary perspective, the chapter highlights that digital transformation extends beyond technological change, representing a broader social, organisational, and institutional shift. It emphasises the critical role of leadership in navigating uncertainty, harnessing digital opportunities, and addressing emerging risks. The chapter further situates the contributions of the volume within existing academic debates, exploring how leadership both shapes and is shaped by digital transformation.

This chapter presents a new assessment tool the Positive Leadership Questionnaire (PLQ), examining a positive leadership style based on integration of transformational, authentic, servant, spiritual, and ethical leadership styles and facilitated by meditation. Thematic analysis of reflections collected from semi-structured and longitudinal interviews revealed that the integrated version of positive leadership style roots in meditation and resilience is an interspersed characteristic in it. PLQ assesses the integrated version of the positive leadership style. It is an original contribution. PLQ examines the positivity of people-managers measuring positive leadership in a wholesome manner compared to the current positive leadership style bridging the gap lying in the deficiencies of current assessment tools. The future pathway lies in studying the strength and robustness of this assessment tool to counter the research limitation of the small number of participants in this study. The application of PLQ objectifies the productive use of mind training and wellbeing programs in organizations.

This chapter explores the implications of frugal innovation for socio-economic development. Two case studies, eRanger motorcycle ambulance and Tata Swach water purifier, are examined using the qualitative content analysis methodology. The findings suggest that frugal innovation’s developmental effect is nuanced; while it may enhance living conditions at the micro level and serve as a useful stop gap measure for managing developmental challenges, it might not be adequate for addressing the underlying factors of socio-economic underdevelopment. Related theoretical and practical implications highlight the need to recognise the developmental capabilities and limitations of frugal innovation in order to ensure its appropriate use for purposes of development.

Frugal innovation is associated with social, economic, and environmental benefits. The process by which this innovation is embedded in organisational DNA, and the mechanisms by which its related beneficial outcomes eventuate however, remain unclear, as these have not been clarified in the literature. Using the concept of workplace innovation, and by means of conceptual research methodology, this chapter explores the process by which a frugal workplace innovation environment is created and develops a conceptual framework to depict relationships between various frugal workplace innovation predictors and related outcomes. The resultant conceptual framework identifies two independent variables, one mediating variable, and one outcome variable. This chapter extends the field of innovation management by the contribution of a framework for conceptualising not only frugal workplace innovation, but workplace innovation in general, and also for predicting workplace innovation-related outcomes. It lays the groundwork for the development of a testable workplace innovation theory.

Organisations are becoming increasingly aware of the impact of innovation and finding ways to cultivate innovation for performance improvement. Based on the resource-based view theory, this study aims to identify the relationship between workplace innovation and organisational performance in entrepreneurial ventures across Australia and Pakistan. Cross-sectional quantitative method was used to collect the data from top executives working in entrepreneurial ventures in both countries through an online and hardcopy survey. The results demonstrated that workplace innovation has a positive impact on organisational performance in a developed country, yet this relationship is non-significant in a developing country, showing a significant difference in both countries. The findings of this study extend the literature of workplace innovation and empirically justify that there is a need to practically implement workplace innovation as a business growth strategy in ventures across developing countries.

The ethical dimension of innovation, a hitherto neglected research area, has started attracting scholarly interest. This is of particular relevance considering the increasing rate of ethical infractions that characterise the innovation and technology landscape. Though the need for ethical and responsible innovation is being highlighted in the extant literature, there appears to be a lack of research focus on related unethical practices. In this chapter we draw attention to the concept of unethical innovation process and highlight practices that characterise such a process. Using Theranos, a medical technology firm as our case study, and content analysis as our methodological approach, we explored the characteristics and facilitating factors of the unethical innovation process. The findings highlight eight major related characteristics and eleven major facilitating factors. This chapter makes three significant contributions to the field of innovation management by doing the following: it introduces the concept of unethical innovation process; highlights the major related characteristics; and identifies the major related facilitating factors.

The role of innovation and creativity in the contemporary tourism industry is significant in sustaining competitive advantage. Of all factors related to employees’ behaviour, leadership has been found to be one of the most influential in supporting and encouraging subordinates’ creativity and innovation. The key purpose of this study is to examine the influence of perceived innovation-enhancing leadership behaviours on employees’ creativity and innovation. A quantitative survey of 292 hotels and resorts in Australia was conducted. The empirical findings indicate that the innovation-enhancing leadership behaviours relate positively and significantly to employees’ creativity and innovation. The findings of this study will enable industry practitioners to develop innovative and sustainable organisational strategies in the competitive tourism industry, as well as useful directions for leadership coaching programs.

This chapter explores the overall demographic, economic and key labour market challenges and opportunities within the Australian economy in the light of the trends associated with the onset of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and its impacts on the future of work. It addresses labour market challenges for the Australian economy, including the growth industries and social and demographic issues, prior to focusing on three key sectors - healthcare; information and communications technology (ICT); and tourism and hospitality. The chapter deals with a discussion of the key issues and implications of these trends and the related issues for governments, labour market planners and human resource practitioners. Two-thirds of current ICT workers currently in Australia are in technical, professional, management and operational roles, and 51% are employed in industries outside of ICT. In Australia, tourism and hospitality data are captured by the Australian Bureau of Statistics under the heading of 'Accommodation and Food Services' and is published in the Tourism Satellite Account.

This chapter outlines the survey instrument that underpins the reporting of the information contained in all but two of the country studies. Individual factors are associated with the effects of these choices on employees, workplaces, jobs and skills. Finally, organisational factors include the impacts on the organisation as a whole due to the adoption of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies. In addition, the proposed conceptual framework includes the individual and organisational factors moderating the relationships between strategic factors. The extant literature demonstrates strong empirical support for the Technology Acceptance Model as an analytical framework for examining the links between the 4IR and the Future of Work. The survey also comprised questions designed to provide an understanding of the current technological stage of the organisations being surveyed, the current skill levels of employees, and the different types of technologies being used in organisations. A further section comprised questions regarding the role of government policies.

This study established a new three-dimensional model identifying the relationship between design leadership, workplace values ethic (WVE) and workplace innovation. Based on an analysis of 696 usable questionnaires distributed among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand and Vietnam, our results revealed that WVE influences leadership behavior. In addition, design leadership has a significant effect on the four dimensions of workplace innovation, thus confirming an interactionist theory perspective. Furthermore, examining the under-researched Thai and Vietnamese SME context, the findings indicated that the relationship between WVE and workplace innovation is mediated by leadership behavior. In this way, the study extends the design leadership, innovation and values literatures.