Liderazgo digital en Latinoamérica: Competencias clave para
gerentes
J. Manage. Hum. Resour. (July - December 2025) 3(2): 1-8
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16753840
ISSN 3091-1850
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Digital Leadership in Latin America: Key Competencies for
Managers
Arlenis I. Mursulí
Empresa de Fuentes Renovables de Energía, La Habana, Cuba.
Received: 27 March 2025 / Accepted: 19 June 2025 / Published online: 31 July 2025
© The Author(s) 2025
Arlenis I. Mursulí
·
Ronald Linares
Abstract This study examines key digital leadership compe-
tencies in the Latin American context, aiming to identify priority
skills for managers leading technological transformation processes
in both public and private organizations. The investigation was con-
ducted using a sequential explanatory mixed-methods approach. In
the rst phase, a systematic review of scientic literature indexed
in databases such as Scopus and Web of Science was conducted to
dene a solid conceptual framework. In the second phase, a struc-
tured survey was administered to 126 managers from ve Latin
American countries, complemented by semi-structured interviews
with organizational experts. The results showed that interpersonal
competencies were the most valued by participants, followed by
digital techniques and strategic competencies. Adaptive and ethi-
cal competencies received lower relative weighting, which poses
challenges in terms of sustainability and digital governance. Factor
analysis and the AHP method enabled the identication of distinct
digital leadership proles and a ranking of competition dimensions
based on their perceived impact. The study’s conclusions highlight-
ed the need to strengthen comprehensive training programs that
encompass both soft and technical skills, as well as ethical skills,
and to create institutional conditions that facilitate the eective de-
velopment of digital leadership. Recommendations were proposed
for universities, human talent managers, and decision-makers in the
public sector.
Keywords digital leadership, management competencies, organi-
zational transformation, interpersonal skills, digital ethics.
Resumen Este estudio analizó las competencias del liderazgo
digital en el contexto latinoamericano, con el objetivo de identicar
aquellas habilidades prioritarias para gerentes que lideran procesos
de transformación tecnológica en organizaciones públicas y priva-
das. La investigación se desarrolló bajo un enfoque mixto de tipo
secuencial explicativo. En una primera fase, se realizó una revisión
sistemática de literatura cientíca indexada en bases de datos como
Scopus y Web of Science, para delimitar un marco conceptual só-
lido. En una segunda fase, se aplicó una encuesta estructurada a
126 gerentes de cinco países latinoamericanos, complementada con
entrevistas semiestructuradas a expertos del ámbito organizacional.
Los resultados evidenciaron que las competencias interpersonales
fueron las más valoradas por los participantes, seguidas por las
técnicas digitales y las estratégicas. Las competencias adaptativas
y éticas obtuvieron una menor ponderación relativa, lo cual plan-
tea desafíos en términos de sostenibilidad y gobernanza digital. El
análisis factorial y el método AHP permitieron identicar perles
diferenciados de liderazgo digital y jerarquizar las dimensiones
competenciales según su impacto percibido. Se destacó la nece-
sidad de fortalecer programas formativos integrales que incluyan
habilidades blandas, técnicas y éticas, así como de generar condi-
ciones institucionales que permitan el desarrollo efectivo del lide-
razgo digital. Se propusieron recomendaciones para universidades,
responsables de talento humano y tomadores de decisiones en el
sector público.
Palabras clave inteligencia emocional, desempeño laboral, en-
tornos híbridos, gestión del talento humano, psicología organiza-
cional.
How to cite
Mursulí, A. M., & Linares, R. (2025). Digital Leadership in Latin America: Key Competencies for Managers. Journal of Management and Human Resources,
3(2), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16753840
Empresa de Fuentes Renovables de Energía, La Habana, Cuba.
J. Manage. Hum. Resour. (July - December 2025) 3(2): 21-26 22
Introduction
The rise of digital transformation has recongured orga-
nizational dynamics globally, aecting not only production
processes but also leadership styles, management structures,
and how individuals and teams interact. In Latin America,
this transformation has been uneven but sustained, with
countries such as Chile, Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil lea-
ding the way in digitalization initiatives. At the same time,
other economies face limitations in infrastructure, training,
and access to technologies (CAF, 2021). This scenario re-
quires managers, as key leaders of organizational change, to
develop a renewed set of skills to address the challenges of
the digital environment eectively.
Digital leadership, understood as the ability to mobilize
people and organizations toward technological innova-
tion and cultural transformation through the strategic use
of digital tools, has become an essential competency for
contemporary leaders (Northouse, 2021). This type of lea-
dership is characterized by its exible, collaborative, and
results-oriented approach, focusing on continuous learning,
change management, and the ethical integration of emerging
technologies, such as articial intelligence, big data, and co-
llaborative platforms (García-Peñalvo et al., 2022).
According to the “Digital Governance Index for Latin
America” report (ECLAC, 2023), more than 70% of the
organizations surveyed recognize that the lack of digital
skills among their management teams constitutes a signi-
cant barrier to the adoption of disruptive technologies. Li-
kewise, a recent study by the Inter-American Development
Bank (IDB, 2022) highlights that the lag in the development
of digital skills among Latin American leaders represents a
bottleneck for moving toward more agile, sustainable, and
innovative organizational models.
In this sense, digital leadership competencies are not res-
tricted to the mastery of technological tools, but encompass
cognitive, emotional, and social dimensions. These inclu-
de skills such as digital strategic vision, collaborative lea-
dership, emotional intelligence, knowledge management,
resilience to change, and ethics in digital environments
(Goleman, 2022; Kane et al., 2019). Developing these com-
petencies requires deliberate training processes, human capi-
tal policies informed by data analytics, and management mo-
dels that foster digital and inclusive organizational cultures.
While there have been specic advances in Latin Ameri-
ca—such as executive training programs in digital leaders-
hip at elite universities or corporate digital transformation
policies in sectors like banking, telecommunications, and
healthcare—systematized empirical evidence on key digital
leadership competencies remains scarce. In particular, there
is limited knowledge about how these competencies mani-
fest in the practice of managers in Latin American organi-
zations, what factors inuence their development, and what
gaps are perceived in their training.
Recent academic literature has begun to systematize di-
gital leadership models in European and North American
contexts ( Antonacopoulou & Bento, 2023; El Sawy et al.,
2020), but few studies address this topic from a Latin Ame-
rican perspective, considering the sociopolitical complexity,
labor informality, the gender gap in management positions,
and the structural limitations of the regional environment.
This theoretical and practical gap hinders the formulation of
leadership policies and programs that are truly adapted to the
local context.
Within this framework, this study aims to identify and
analyze key digital leadership competencies in Latin Ame-
rican managers, combining a systematic review of academic
literature indexed in Scopus and WoS databases with an ex-
ploratory empirical study applied to a sample of leaders from
organizations across dierent sectors. The hypothesis is that
digital leadership in Latin America is at an uneven stage of
maturity, with the incipient development of specic critical
competencies, inuenced by institutional, cultural, and orga-
nizational factors.
This approach enables a comprehensive view of digital
leadership, encompassing both structural elements (infras-
tructure, ICT policies, and organizational culture) and sub-
jective elements (soft skills, leadership styles, and attitudes
toward technology) to propose a competency model tailo-
red to the Latin American environment. The research also
aims to provide concrete recommendations for management
training programs, the design of digital transformation stra-
tegies, and the formulation of public policies to foster the
development of managerial talent.
This article is structured in ve sections. First, this contex-
tual and theoretical introduction is presented. The research
methodology used is then described, combining a qualitative
approach with complementary quantitative techniques. The
main results obtained from both the systematic review and
the empirical work are then presented. The discussion sec-
tion compares the ndings with the international literature
and reects on their practical and theoretical implications.
Finally, the conclusions and future research directions are
presented.
Digital leadership is not only a desirable skill but also a
J. Manage. Hum. Resour. (July - December 2025) 3(2): 21-2623
necessary condition for organizational sustainability in the
post-pandemic era. In Latin America, where digital divides
intersect with an urgent need for innovation, managers have
the opportunity—and the responsibility—to lead transfor-
mation with a people-centered vision, leveraging technology
and oriented toward inclusive development.
“The future of management will not be digital by deni-
tion, but by competence: it is not about using technology, but
about leading with it” (Santos & Benavides, 2024, p. 34).
Methodology
This study uses a sequential explanatory mixed-methods
approach to identify and analyze key digital leadership com-
petencies among Latin American managers, integrating a
systematic literature review with empirical data collection.
In the rst phase, a PRISMA-guided review of 413 peer-re-
viewed articles from high-impact databases (2018–2024)
narrowed to 32 relevant studies helped construct a matrix of
core digital competencies. In the second phase, a quantitative
survey (25 items, 5 competency dimensions) was conduc-
ted with 126 mid- and senior-level managers across Mexi-
co, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Argentina, complemented
by semi-structured interviews with 12 experts. The survey
showed strong reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.89) and was
analyzed using SPSS (descriptive stats, factor analysis, clus-
ter analysis), while AHP assessed the perceived importance
of competencies. Qualitative data were analyzed in Atlas.
ti using grounded theory, revealing themes such as cultural
resistance, institutional barriers, and competency develop-
ment strategies. This methodological triangulation provided
a holistic view of digital leadership, capturing both the con-
ceptual and practical challenges in a region marked by orga-
nizational and technological diversity. The approach oers a
replicable model for designing future training programs and
comparative research across Latin America).
Results and discussion
The study’s results provide a comprehensive and nuanced
understanding of digital leadership competencies in Latin
America. From a quantitative perspective, the data collected
reveal a clear hierarchy of assessments among the dierent
competency dimensions considered. The most highly rated
dimension was interpersonal skills, with an average score of
4.5 out of 5 on the Likert scale used, followed by digital
technical skills (4.3), strategic skills (4.1), adaptive skills
(4.0), and, nally, ethical skills (3.8). These results suggest
that the region’s leaders place a high value on relational and
communication skills in digital environments, even above
technical mastery or strategic vision (Figure 1).
This predominance of interpersonal skills aligns with
previous ndings, which indicate that eective leadership
in digital environments requires a strong ability to man-
age emotions, motivation, and collaboration through virtu-
al means (Goleman, 2022; Salas & Hernández, 2021). In a
context characterized by distributed teams, asynchronous
communication, and hybrid environments, empathy, active
listening, conict resolution, and inspirational leadership
emerge as crucial competencies. In the words of one of the
directors interviewed: “It is no longer about managing from
an oce, but about knowing how to connect with people
without seeing them every day”.
Second, digital technical skills were highly valued, espe-
cially those related to the use of collaborative tools, knowl-
edge management platforms, and a basic understanding of
data analysis. However, a deeper analysis of the qualitative
interviews reveals a troubling dichotomy: although leaders
recognize the importance of these skills, many express inse-
curity in applying them directly. Nearly 40% of interviewees
admitted that they rely on their technology teams or exter-
nal consultants to understand and apply advanced digital
tools. This nding reinforces the thesis of García-Peñalvo
Figure 1. Average score by digital leadership competence dimension.
J. Manage. Hum. Resour. (July - December 2025) 3(2): 21-26 24
et al. (2022), who warn that digital leadership should not be
confused with the instrumental use of technology, but rath-
er with the ability to make informed and strategic decisions
about its organizational integration.
Strategic competencies, although valued, show a slight de-
cline in importance compared to what is expected in digital
transformation contexts. Although these capabilities include
systemic vision, change planning, and innovation orienta-
tion, their average rating was lower than that of technical
and interpersonal skills. One possible explanation may lie in
the persistent short-term culture that prevails in many Lat-
in American organizations, particularly in the public sector,
where political cycles limit long-range strategic planning
(Cortés, 2022).
Regarding adaptive competencies, the result (4.0) indi-
cates that while leaders recognize the need to be resilient,
exible, and capable of learning in dynamic environments,
they still encounter practical diculties in integrating these
capabilities into their leadership practices. Most interviewees
associate adaptability with improvisation, rather than with a
deliberate strategy of continuous learning and improvement.
This point was highlighted by Antonacopoulou and Bento
(2023), who argue that adaptability should be cultivated as
a conscious competency, based on organizational reection
and the ability to learn from mistakes, rather than as a reac-
tive response to chaos.
The lowest-rated dimension was ethical competencies,
which constitutes an important warning in a scenario of in-
creasing automation, use of algorithms for decision-making,
and massive exploitation of personal data. The average score
(3.8) indicates an underestimation of the role played by the
principles of transparency, fairness, privacy, and digital re-
sponsibility in leadership. The interviews conrmed this
trend: only three of the twelve experts consulted explicitly
mentioned the need to integrate ethical criteria into digital
decision-making. This weakness aligns with studies such as
that of Kane et al. (2019), which indicate that organizational
leaders tend to focus on operational eciency and economic
performance, neglecting critical analysis of the social and
ethical impacts of the technologies they implement.
The AHP table developed with expert judgment reinforces
this hierarchy. Interpersonal skills were considered the most
prioritized dimension with a relative weight of 26.3%, fol-
lowed by digital technical skills (24.5%) and strategic skills
(21.0%). Adaptive and ethical skills obtained signicantly
lower values (17.2 and 11.0%, respectively). This pattern not
only conrms the descriptive results but also allows us to
infer that, from a practical perspective, decision-makers pri-
oritize those skills with an immediate impact on daily man-
agement, relegating those that, although fundamental, have a
more delayed or symbolic return.
The results of the exploratory factor analysis empirically
validated the theoretical grouping proposed in the instru-
ment’s construction, identifying ve dierentiated factors
that explain 78.6% of the total variance. The internal con-
sistency of the questionnaire was robust (α = 0.89), which
supports the reliability of the results obtained. Furthermore,
the cluster analysis allowed the managers to be classied
into three main proles: “relational leaders” (who stand out
for their high scores in the interpersonal dimension but low
in the others); “functional leaders” (with high technical and
strategic competencies but deciencies in soft skills); and
“integral leaders,” who showed balanced development in
all dimensions, although they represented only 23.8% of the
sample.
From a qualitative perspective, the semi-structured inter-
views revealed a shared perception of the dizzying and of-
ten disorganized nature of digital transformation in organi-
zations. Several interviewees expressed feelings of “digital
fatigue,” resulting from the proliferation of tools, platforms,
and technical demands without a coherent strategy. Cultural
barriers were also identied, such as adherence to vertical
hierarchies, low tolerance for error, and a lack of incentives
for innovation. As one innovation manager at a Colombian
technology company put it: “Here, we reward those who do
not make mistakes, not those who try new things. You cannot
lead digital transformation like this.”
At the same time, the collected discourses allow us to
identify emerging best practices. Some leaders expressed the
importance of creating spaces for peer learning, promoting
reverse mentoring (where young people train senior leaders
in digital skills), and fostering cultures of transparency and
collaboration that enhance decentralized innovation. These
strategies align with the principles of distributed leadership
and organizational learning proposed by Northouse (2021)
and El Sawy et al. (2020), who argue that the most eective
digital leadership is not hierarchical, but facilitative.
In the comparative discussion with international studies,
a notable convergence is observed around the importance of
soft skills as a pillar of digital leadership. However, regional
specicities also emerge. Unlike European or Asian coun-
tries where digital transformation is institutionalized and reg-
ulated, a fragmented model predominates in Latin America,
with signicant progress in specic sectors (such as banking
and telecommunications) but deep gaps in the public sector
and SMEs. This suggests the need to adapt digital leadership
models to the structural, cultural, and economic conditions
of the Latin American environment (CAF, 2021; IDB, 2022).
Finally, the integrated analysis shows that building digital
leadership in Latin America requires a three-pronged strat-
egy: (1) structured training in interpersonal and technical
skills based on a continuous learning approach; (2) main-
streaming ethical criteria into digital decision-making; and
(3) creating institutional and cultural conditions that enable
J. Manage. Hum. Resour. (July - December 2025) 3(2): 21-2625
innovation with equity and sustainability. If these dimen-
sions are not addressed simultaneously, digital leadership in
the region could perpetuate the same structural inequalities
that technology was intended to resolve.
In practical terms, the study oers specic recommenda-
tions for key players in the organizational ecosystem:
• For educational institutions and universities, it is rec-
ommended to redesign graduate and executive edu-
cation programs that transversally integrate digital,
ethical, adaptive, and strategic competencies into the
curriculum.
• For human resources managers, it is suggested to im-
plement digital skills assessment systems, personal-
ized management development plans, and cross-men-
toring processes.
• For the public sector, it is proposed to create regulato-
ry frameworks that govern the ethical use of technolo-
gies and establish minimum digital literacy criteria for
positions of responsibility.
• For organizational leaders, it is recommended to make
an active commitment to their digital transformation,
creating spaces for continuous learning, promoting
distributed leadership, and playing an exemplary role
in the ethical use of technology.
Conclusions
This study conrms that digital leadership in Latin Ame-
rica is a crucial factor for organizational development amid
rapid technological change, growing inequality, and increa-
sing pressure to adapt. Through a mixed-method approach
combining literature review and empirical research, the
study identies key digital leadership competencies—inter-
personal, technical, strategic, adaptive, and ethical—while
revealing signicant gaps between their perceived importan-
ce and actual practice. Interpersonal skills, particularly com-
munication, empathy, and trust-building, are rated as most
important; yet, technical and strategic skills often remain
underdeveloped or delegated. Adaptive skills are applied re-
actively rather than strategically, and ethical competencies—
vital in a digital age—are often overlooked or reduced to
legal compliance. The ndings reveal asymmetry in leader-
ship development across sectors and countries, which hin-
ders inclusive digital transformation. The study recommends
systemic training, competency assessment, and institutional
reform to foster more ethical, exible, and collaborative
leadership. Ultimately, leading in the digital era demands a
cultural shift, not just technological adoption, and opens re-
search pathways into longitudinal competency development
and cross-sectoral comparisons.
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Conicts of interest
The authors declare that they have no conicts of interest.
Author contributions
Conceptualization: Mursulí, A. I., & Linares, R. Data
curation: Mursulí, A. I., & Linares, R. Formal analysis:
Mursulí, A. I., & Linares, R. Research: Mursulí, A. I., &
Linares, R. Methodology: Mursulí, A. I., & Linares, R. Su-
pervision: Mursulí, A. I., & Linares, R. Validation: Mur-
sulí, A. I., & Linares, R. Visualization: Mursulí, A. I., &
Linares, R. Writing the original draft: Mursulí, A. I., &
Linares, R. Writing, review and editing: Mursulí, A. I., &
Linares, R.
Data availability statement
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study
are available from the corresponding author on reasonable
request.
Statement on the use of AI
The authors acknowledge the use of generative AI and
AI-assisted technologies to improve the readability and cla-
rity of the article.
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