Scale development study within the scope of understanding digital leadership in Turkey and the mediating role of digital culture in the relationship between digital leadership and sustainable employee performance

This study primarily focused on the characteristics and competencies of today's digital leaders, their active role in digitalization, and conducted a scale development study encompassing digital leadership. In the second practical part of the study, it was hypothesized that managers who exhibit digital leadership characteristics and competencies positively impact sustainable employee performance through the mediating role of digital culture. Our initial study, as part of the scale development research, was conducted with 222 call center employees in Turkey who actively work and frequently use digital media. It was then decided to test the scale with a larger, mixed sample of individuals working in sectors that actively utilize technology. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS 25, AMOS, and SmartPLS 4 software packages. Reliability analyses of the scales included in the study, demographic findings, factor analyses, correlation analyses, and hypothesis testing were conducted to measure the relationships between the hypotheses. According to the research findings, a digital leadership scale consisting of 13 items and three dimensions was initially developed. Subsequent research revealed that managers demonstrating digital leadership characteristics enhances high sustainable employee performance. In addition, it was concluded that digital culture has a mediating effect between digital leadership and sustainable employee performance, with the mediating role in this relationship. Keywords: Digital Transformation, Digitalization, Digital Leadership, Sustainable Employee Performance, Digital Culture.