A Systematic Literature Review of Agile Leadership and Talent Management in Developing Workforce Agility

Abstract

The increasing pace of digital transformation and the growing complexity of today's business environment have highlighted the importance of agile leadership in enabling organizations to manage talent effectively and sustain workforce agility. Traditional approaches to leadership are no longer adequate to address the challenges of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) and adaptive, collaborative, and people-centered leadership has become essential. The purpose of this study is to survey and synthesize the literature regarding the current state of agile leadership research; and the relationship between agile leadership and talent management, agility of the workforce, and innovation performance. A systematic literature review (SLR) was carried out as per the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and the relevant studies published (2020-2026) were in the major academic publication databases. After application of the predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, 16 high quality studies were selected, and analyzed using thematic synthesis. The results show how agile leadership styles, namely servant, shared, empowerment, emotional intelligence and adaptability play a major role in building psychological safety in the organization, employee engagement, workforce agility and organizational innovation. The strategic use of talent management, such as AI-empowered recruitment, the DHRM (digital HRM), continuous learning, and inclusive leadership, plays a crucial role in boosting organizational resilience and competitiveness. Some of the implementation issues identified in the review are cultural resistance, the agility-stability paradox, gaps of digital capability and the challenges of dealing with remote and hybrid workforces. Although the findings show that agile leadership has great potential to enhance talent management, agility in the workforce and organizational innovation, these abilities depend on the organizational context, industry specificity, and change readiness. Further investigations into the agile leadership in various industries, organizations, and cultural contexts in the future will help to increase the amount of evidence and improve the external validity of existing results