Adaptive Leadership as a Systemic Enabler of Business Model Transformation in the Digital Economy: A Bibliometric and Exploratory Study

Abstract

Organizations currently operate in a volatile business environment, struggling to keep up with the accelerated technological evolution. Operating in this fast-paced changing framework characterized also by an increasing environmental complexity and fast-tracked digital transformation, adaptive leadership has emerged as a critical capability for organizations undergoing business model transformation. The purpose of this paper is to explore the intersection of adaptive leadership and business model transformation through a mixed-methods approach that combines bibliometric analysis and an exploratory conceptual investigation. Based on a dataset extracted from Scopus and Web of Science covering the period of 2022– 2025, the study identifies key research trends, thematic clusters, and structural gaps in the literature. The bibliometric analysis covering 12,028 scientific documents from 4,216 sources, reveals a rapidly expanding field, registering 33.81% annual growth rate and an increase in scientific production from 1,890 publications in 2022, to 4,528 in 2025. The findings also highlight a strong international collaboration dynamic involving 26,965 authors identifying adaptive leadership, sustainable development, innovation and artificial intelligence as dominant research themes. The results indicate journals such as Sustainability, Frontiers in Psychology, and Journal of Business Research being the most influential publications sources, while China, US and UK emerging as leading contributors to scientific production. These findings reveal a fragmented field dominated by micro-level behavioral perspectives and lacking integrative frameworks linking leadership, transformation, and organizational performance. To address this gap, an exploratory conceptual model, Business Soul2$oul, is proposed, a systemic perspective on aligning human potential, leadership processes, and organizational transformation. This perspective responds to real-world challenges leaders face in aligning strategic organizational change with human adaptability. The paper contributes to the literature on innovative business models by proposing a systemic perspective on adaptive leadership as a multi-level enabler of business model transformation and by outlining directions for future research and managerial practice.