THE MEDIATOR ROLE OF INDIVIDUAL MOTIVATION IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIGITAL LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL AGILITY

This research studies the relationship between digital leadership and organizational agility and the role of individual leadership in this relationship. It also studied if demographic features vary for digital leadership, organizational agility, and individual motivation. The survey form is made up of the “Digital Leadership Scale”, “Organizational Agility Scale”, and “Individual Motivation Scale”. The research universe comprises 480 private and public sector employees in the Istanbul district from May 2021 to July 2021. The obtained data were analyzed through t-test, ANOVA, and Process Analysis. Analysis results suggest that individual motivation has a mediator role in the impact of digital leadership and organizational agility. Besides, digital leadership, organizational agility, and individual motivation vary depending on such demographic features as gender, marital status, education status, employment sector, status, management type, and professional seniority. The conclusion highlights that digital improvement is necessary for successful leadership and suggests ways to boost agility and individual motivation in a workplace environment.


INTRODUCTION
Ever since the story of humankind began, the concept of leadership and its characteristics have changed.In ancient times, leaders were required to have a good command of weapons.They were expected to command an army on the battlefield successfully.However, with the advent of the information age, digitalization gained importance, and thus leaders were expected to have a good command of digital technologies and information systems (Glebova et al., 2020).As economic borders have disappeared in the globalized world, organizations are expected to act agile, quickly, and on time.The business world has digitalized, and digital literacy has become a prerequisite for leaders in a computer and internet-based business style.As business enterprises have changed their production and management styles, the business world has become more competitive.However, business enterprises have been capable of finding more opportunities through international trade.Nonetheless, the human factor and employee motivation drive a business enterprise to achieve its strategic goals.As a result, employees' motivation needs to be boosted.This research analyzes the relationship between digital leadership and organizational agility and the mediator role of individual motivation in that relationship (Tleuzhanova et al., 2019).
Demographic features are also studied to determine if they vary based on digital leadership, organizational agility, and individual motivation.It has been concluded that digital improvement is required for successful leadership.Accordingly, the conclusion includes some suggestions to increase organizational agility and individual motivation.The literature has no study on the relationship between digital leadership and organizational agility and the mediator role of individual motivation.Therefore, the study will contribute to the literature in that respect.

Conceptual Framework Digital Leadership
Digitalization offers excellent opportunities to people.Thanks to computer and internet technologies, business operation styles and methods have changed, which contributed to the development of digitalization (Machado et al., 2019;Öztırak ve Orak, 2022).Hence, what is expected of leaders has also changed.Leaders are required to adapt quickly to change and be able to make use of digital technologies and innovation (Petrucci & Rivera, 2018).Developed by Hambrick and Masson (1986), digital leadership is based on the upper-level theory.The upperlevel theory suggests that the decisions and activities of the group leader are based on the use of digital technologies through which the leader manages the leadership process.A digital leader sets a strategy and vision through information technologies, influences group members, and creates sustainable change (Eryeşil, 2021).Digital leadership is considered a reliable leadership style with its agile thinking and ability to create an open information network with the participation of group members (Petry, 2018).A digital leader should be able to analyze digital content, create online branding, constantly learn and integrate digital technologies, be capable of cyber conflict resolution and mediation features, have digital decision-making strategies, and use social media for social benefit (Miller, 2018;Ordu & Nayır, 2021;Öztırak ve Bayram, 2022).In so doing, the digital leader can change the organizational culture, inspire, and create a vision, collaborate by focusing on innovation, and realize the transformation (Oberer & Erkollar, 2018).Because technology is constantly changing, it can be said that only leaders who embrace this change can be successful.Digital leaders guarantee a swift adoption of innovation by changing and transforming those who follow them.

Organizational Agility
Agility is the ability to think quickly and smartly.The concept of organizational agility has been used since 1990, and it refers to the ability of organizations to respond quickly to changes triggered by internal and external factors by using their resources (Zitkiene & Deksnys, 2018).Organizations can survive when they think faster than their competitors, take action swiftly, meet customer demands, and use the changes and opportunities in the environment and adapt to the changing environment (Akkaya & Tabak, 2018;Ravichandran, 2018).Businesses that immediately perceive internal and external opportunities and threats and use appropriate resources gain competitive advantage.Proactive, agile, and flexible organizations can use technological and economic changes more readily in organizational management and production (Belousova et al., 2020).
Organizational agility has two essential components: rapidly perceiving and responding to the environment.Agile organizations quickly realize innovation opportunities and risks and take proper action, particularly in turbulent conditions with high uncertainty and the winds of change (İmamoğlu et al., 2021).Agile organizations are organizations whose employees and leaders are also agile, have a flexible organizational structure, and adapt quickly to change.Organizational agility is determined by flexibility, responsiveness, a culture of change, speed, integration and low complexity, quality, customized products, and activating core competencies.It can be said that agile organizations allow employees to develop in continuous learning, are flexible in making decisions and expressing thoughts, and are competent with their equipment (Akkaya & Bayram, 2021).These organizations have foresight, team spirit, and an eye for trends.

Individual Motivation
Motivation can change an individual's behavior.Both internal and external sources can feed.Intrinsic motivation is emotional, and extrinsic motivation is cognitive (Liu & Hou, 2017).Intrinsic motivation is the individual interest, desire, and job satisfaction felt for the activity.Intrinsic motivation tools include workplace independence, the importance of the job, participation in work, responsibility, diversity, creativity, opportunities to use one's talents and skills, and being appreciated.Nonetheless, extrinsic motivation is the repulsive effects caused by the external environment.Extrinsic motivation tools include organizational policy and management, salary, status, supervision, interpersonal relations, job security, and working conditions (Hygiene) (Aslan & Doğan, 2020).Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation tools affect individual motivation.Motivation is a significant force that boosts the productivity of the employees and the organization by ensuring willingness and motivation.Motivation is the absence of any internal or external desire to perform an activity.Reputation, reward expectation, and mutual benefit represent external motivation, and altruism represents internal motivation factors (Yıldırım, 2019).These tools can help boost employees' motivation for work and create positive changes.The leader is responsible for determining which tools are more influential in boosting employee motivation.

Research Objective
The study aims to determine the mediator role of individual motivation in the relationship between digital leadership and organizational agility.

Research Model and Hypothesis
The study assumes that individual motivation has a mediator role in the relationship between digital leadership and organizational agility.Accordingly, the following hypotheses have been proposed: H1: Digital leadership affects organizational agility.H2: Digital leadership affects individual motivation.H3: Individual motivation has a mediator role in the relationship between digital leadership and organizational agility.H4: Individual motivation varies significantly based on demographic variables.H5: Digital leadership varies significantly based on demographic variables.H6: Organizational agility varies significantly based on demographic variables.Research Method SPSS 24.0 was used to carry out data analysis.The scale scores were calculated, and the kurtosis and skewness coefficients were examined to determine the conformity of the scores to the normal distribution.The kurtosis and skewness values obtained from the scales are between +3 and -3 for normal distribution (Hopkins & Weeks, 1990;De Carlo, 1997) 28,61 8,18 -0,331 -0,484  0,944  Digital Leadership  480 18,00  90,00  63,84 8,27 -0,350 -0,521  0,974  Reputation  480  4,00  24,00  15,23 3,97 -0,360 -0,535  0,891  Altruism  480  4,00  24,00  15,96 3,97 0,621  -0,974  0 It was concluded that the kurtosis and skewness coefficients were between -3 and +3, and the scores showed a normal distribution.Parametric test techniques were used in the study due to the normal distribution of scores.Cronbach's alpha coefficient gives the reliability level of the scale.Analysis results concluded that the scales were highly reliable since Cronbach's alpha coefficient of digital leadership, individual motivation, and organizational agility was between 0.80<α<1.00.The sub-dimensions were also found to be highly reliable.The t-test and ANOVA test were used to analyze the variation of the scale score according to demographic characteristics.T-test was used for demographic variables with two groups, and the ANOVA test was used for the variables with k (k>2) groups.

Research Universe and Sampling
The research universe comprises employees from private and public sectors in Istanbul between May 2021 and July 2021.The necessary ethics committee approval for the research with no 2021/06-08 and dated 20.05.2021 was obtained from Istanbul Esenyurt University.Through the convenience sampling method, 480 working people were reached with an online survey between 25 May and 25 July 2021.

Data Collection Tools
The questionnaire form used in the research consists of 4 parts.The first part focuses on demographic characteristics, the second on the "Digital Leadership Scale", the third on the "Organizational Agility Scale", and the fourth on the "Individual Motivation Scale".A 5-point Likert scale (1= Strongly Disagree, 2= Disagree, 3= Undecided, 4= Agree, 5= Strongly Agree) was used in the questionnaire.A 7-question form was created for demographic information, such as gender, age, educational status, the employment sector, status, level, management type, and professional seniority.
The second part includes the Information Leadership Scale (18 items) developed by Ulutaş and Araslan (2018) to measure the digital leadership perceptions of the participants.It has two subdimensions: communication and information.The Cronbach Alpha coefficients were 0.942 on the information leadership scale, suggesting that the measurement tools were highly reliable.
The third part includes the Organizational Agility scale (17 items) developed by Akkaya and Tabak (2018).It consists of four sub-dimensions: competence, flexibility, responsiveness, and speed.The Cronbach Alpha value was acceptable at 0.80, suggesting that the scale was reliable.
The fourth part includes Wasko and Faraj's (2005) scale and the remaining one item, the Individual Motivation Scale (12 items), developed by Chang and Chuang.It has three subdimensions: reputation, altruism, and reward.The scale was adapted by Yıldırım (2018).
Reliability analysis results were 0.921 for reward, 0.885 for mutual benefit, 0.877 for reputation, and 0.912 for altruism.Of all factors loads, only the first question item for reputation was calculated to be,660.In general, factor loads are above 0.7.Since all factor loads are more significant than 0.5, the items in the scale are compatible with each other.It is seen that the internal consistency values of the items in the scales used are at a significantly higher level than the generally accepted value of 0.70.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
According to analysis results, the distribution of individuals based on their demographic characteristics suggests that 51.3% are women, 71.3% are between the ages of 18-30, 47.5% have a college education, 72.5% are private sector employees, 75.6% have a non-managerial position,42.4% of them are lower-level managers, and 66.9% of them have less than three years seniority in the workplace.Removal of digital leadership and sub-dimensions, individual motivation and sub-dimensions, and growth and sub-dimensions showing the gender dimension.shows the evaluations to obtain the motivation evaluation (p<0.05).According to the average scores, it was observed that they had higher scores than women.
According to the results of the ANOVA conducted to analyze digital leadership and its subdimensions, individual motivation and sub-dimensions, and organizational agility and subdimensions in terms of age, communication sub-dimension, knowledge sub-dimension, digital leadership score, reward sub-dimension, individual motivation score, flexibility sub-dimension shows a statistically significant difference in terms of age (p<0.05).According to the average scores, it was observed that those aged 18-30 had higher scores than those aged 31-40.The reputation sub-dimension shows a statistically significant difference in terms of age (p<0.05).It has been observed that those who are older than 41 have higher scores than those aged 31-40.
There are statistically significant differences in terms of the competence sub-dimension, responsiveness sub-dimension, speed sub-dimension, and organizational agility score (p<0.05).
According to the average scores, it was observed that those aged 18-30 had higher scores than those over the age of 41.
According to the results of the ANOVA conducted to analyze digital leadership and its subdimensions, individual motivation and sub-dimensions, and organizational agility and the subdimensions differences in terms of educational status, communication sub-dimension, knowledge sub-dimension, digital leadership score, reputation sub-dimension, reward subdimension, individual motivation score, competence sub-dimension, flexibility sub-dimension, responsiveness sub-dimension, speed sub-dimension, organizational agility score show statistically significant differences in terms of educational status (p<0.05).According to the average scores, it is observed that those who have an associate degree education have higher scores than those who have postgraduate education.The Altruism subdimension has a statistically meaningful difference in the educational background (p<0,05).Average scores suggest that those with undergraduate degrees have higher scores than those with postgraduate degrees.
According to the results of the t-test conducted to analyze the difference between digital leadership and its sub-dimensions, individual motivation and sub-dimensions, and organizational agility and sub-dimensions in terms of the sector in which they work, digital leadership and its sub-dimensions, individual motivation and sub-dimensions, and organizational agility and sub-dimensions in the sector in which they work.shows a statistically significant difference in terms of (p<0.05).According to the average scores, it is observed that private employees have higher scores than those working in the public sector.
According to the results of the t-test, which was conducted to analyze digital leadership and its sub-dimensions, individual motivation and sub-dimensions, and organizational agility and subdimensions in terms of status, digital leadership and its sub-dimensions, individual motivation and sub-dimensions, and organizational agility and sub-dimensions were statistically significant in terms of status.shows a significant difference (p<0.05).According to the average scores, it is observed that non-managers have higher scores than managers.
According to the results of ANOVA conducted to analyze the difference between digital leadership and its sub-dimensions, individual motivation and sub-dimensions, and organizational agility and sub-dimensions in terms of seniority of managers, competence subdimension, responsiveness sub-dimension organizational agility score shows statistically significant differences in terms of seniority of managers (p<0.05).According to the average scores, it is observed that those with lower-level managers have higher scores than those with upper and lower-level managers.Analysis results suggest a statistically meaningful difference in the seniority of managers for the Speed subdimension (p<0,05).Average scores suggest that middle-level managers have higher scores than senior lower-level managers.
According to the results of ANOVA conducted to analyze the difference between digital leadership and its sub-dimensions, individual motivation and sub-dimensions, and organizational agility and sub-dimensions in terms of seniority in this workplace, communication sub-dimension knowledge sub-dimension, digital leadership score, competence sub-dimension, flexibility sub-dimension, responsiveness sub-dimension, speed sub-dimension, and organizational agility score show statistically significant differences in terms of seniority in this workplace (p<0.05).According to the average scores, it is observed that those who have worked in this workplace for less than 3 years have higher scores than those who have worked for more than 8 years.Analysis results suggest a statistically meaningful difference in the workplace seniority for the Reputation subdimension, Reward subdimension, and Individual Motivation score (p<0,05).Average scores suggest that those who work for less than three years have higher scores than those who work for 3 to 7 years.

Process Analysis
A modern approach based on the Bootstrap technique, known for its valid and reliable results, was used to analyze the mediation effect (Williams & MacKinnon, 2008;Hayes & Rockwood, 2017;Hayes, 2018).Table 3 shows the mediator role of the Individual Motivation dimension in the effect of the Digital Leadership dimension on the Organizational Agility dimension.During the process analysis, indirect effects were examined to examine the mediating effect of Individual Motivation.According to the analysis results, Digital Leadership has a statistically significant effect on Organizational Agility (p<0.05).Digital Leadership has a statistically significant effect on Individual Motivation (p<0.05).According to the model combining the independent and mediator variables, the coefficient of digital leadership decreased from 0.6102 to 0.4154 when mediating variables were added to the model, and thus, the digital leadership's effect on Organizational Agility decreased.Whether there is a mediator effect or an indirect effect (a.b) is determined by the values with the 95% reliability range (RR) in the bootstrap analysis.Accordingly, if the bottom and top-level values for the reliability range for the indirect effect (a.b) value do not include the zero (0) value, the indirect effect is considered significant, suggesting a mediator effect.According to these results, Individual Motivation mediates the effect of digital leadership on Organizational Agility.Literature analysis suggests that the study results align with previous studies on Digital Leadership, Organizational Agility, and Individual Motivation.Mihardjo and Sasmoko (2018) conclude that digital leadership influences digital transformation and innovation.Klein (2020) focuses on leadership qualities in the age of digital transformation and concludes that leaders must have digital literacy skills to accomplish digital transformation; they need to be supportive and quick to achieve their goals.Ordu and Nayır (2021) also studied the definition of digital leadership and its importance.Gök and Aydemir (2021) state that digital leadership influences crisis management, and the exchange of information has a mediator role in that relationship.Telli (2022) highlights that business enterprises need digital leadership throughout the digital transformation journey, and digital leadership is needed to constitute transformative leadership.Eryeşil (2021) underlines that digital leadership is necessary for the digital age.Basri and Zorlu (2018) point to the importance of making organizational agility a part of organizational culture.

Limitations and Further Recommendations
The data collection period for the study coincided with the Covid-19 outbreak and thus has some limitations since the responses to the survey questions might be influenced by the pandemic circumstances.The Covid-19 outbreak may have prevented the study group from responding objectively since the outbreak not only influenced public psychology but also introduced a fully remote working style.Furthermore, the research data on public and private sector employees were collected only in the Istanbul district, which may have prevented the generalization of the result.It is possible to obtain healthier results in future studies when a wider sample group is used.Future studies might focus on different sectors and regions in Turkey to compare and contrast the results.Moreover, Organizational Motivation can also be studied within sustainable human resources and organizational behavior, and the results can be compared to Individual Motivation.

Figure 1
Figure 1 illustrates the research model on the individual motivation's mediator role in the relationship between digital leadership and the organizational agility of private sector employees.

Figure
Figure 1.Research Model

Joiner ( 2019 )
indicated the importance of Organizational Agility for leadership.Akkaya et al. (2019) conducted a study on industrial manufacturing companies and concluded that there is a significant relationship between Organizational Agility and an executive's dynamic skills.Çetinkaya and Akkoca (2021) concentrated on the relationship between Organizational Agility and leadership, and Communication has a significant role in the relationship.Özdemir and Özer (2018) researched motivation tools, and Orhaner ve Mutlu (2018) refers to the impact of job satisfaction on healthcare personnel's motivation.Uysal et al. (2019) conclude that mobbing affects employee motivation.Yücel (2019) states that executives affect employee motivation.Yılmaz (2019) highlights that personal reinforcement impacts organizational trust and employee motivation.Akça and Fakıoğlu (2019) and, Aksoy (2020),Eriş and Özdil (2020) also studied the factors influencing employee motivation.Furthermore,Roozi and Tetik (2022) conclude that organizational culture influences employee motivation.CONCLUSIONAnalysis results confirm the study hypotheses.Leadership is a factor that has positive or negative effects on organizational activities and the ones who follow the reader.The leader's agile, fast, innovative, and transformative characteristics will affect the organization's agility and the group members' motivation.Employee motivation will ensure the effective and efficient fulfillment of the objectives.Learning development activities can be organized regularly so that leaders or potential leaders can have the necessary know-how and skills to use technology effectively during managerial processes.When employees can be trained in digital literacy, the company will have an innovative workforce with high performance.Renewing technology is not enough on its own.Employees also need to be trained to use the technology.Lack of technology and technologically capable employees challenge achieving digital transformation.A sustainable digital transformation can be achieved by assigning personnel for the transformation process and creating an atmosphere open to suggestions and new ideas.There is a need for agile organizations and digital leaders who support, guide and motivate their employees as role models.Digital leaders should endeavor to create and protect intellectual capital and operate to increase employees' motivation accordingly.Such motivational tools as empowerment, reward, appreciation, promotion, gifts, and bonuses can boost individual motivation.Creating an agile organizational culture will boost employee performance and support innovative attitudes.Agile organizational culture can help create an innovative vision.Digital leaders with an innovative perspective should operate in a structure open to change.They should have the skills to develop new business models and innovation strategies and have the vision to transform the organization Örgütsel Davranış Araştırmaları Dergisi Journal of Organizational Behavior Research Cilt / Vol.: 8, Sayı / Is.: 2, Yıl/Year: 2023, Sayfa/Pages: 200-215 digitally.They should seek and find innovative talents and competencies to use new information technologies efficiently.

Table 1 .
Descriptive Statistics of Scale Scores, Test of Normality and Reliability Coefficients . The Descriptive Statistics of Scale Scores, Test of Normality, and Reliability Coefficients are given in Table 1 below.
Table 2 below includes Correlation Analysis.

Table 3 .
The Mediator Role of the Individual Motivation Dimension in the Effect of Digital Leadership Dimension on the Organizational Agility Dimension *p<0,05 meaningful impact, p>0,05 meaningless impact; Process, DL: Digital Leadership, OA: Organizational Agility, IM: Individual Motivation