Strategic Leadership in the Age of Agentic AI: Redefining Executive Decision-Making and Organizational Control
Abstract
Agentic artificial intelligence is reshaping how organizations plan, coordinate activities, allocate resources, monitor risks, and make strategic decisions. Unlike conventional AI systems that primarily provide predictions or recommendations, agentic AI can interpret objectives, plan actions, use organizational tools, coordinate workflows, and execute tasks with varying levels of autonomy. This shift creates important implications for strategic leadership, particularly regarding executive authority, decision rights, accountability, and organizational control. This study examines how strategic leaders can redefine executive decision-making and governance structures in organizations adopting agentic AI systems. Drawing on dynamic capability’s theory, agency theory, organizational control theory, and socio-technical systems theory, the study develops a framework that links strategic leadership capability, AI governance maturity, executive oversight, agentic AI autonomy, accountability clarity, and organizational performance. A mixed-methods approach is proposed, combining survey evidence from executives and AI governance professionals with qualitative interviews involving senior leaders, digital transformation managers, and risk professionals. The study investigates how leadership capabilities, governance arrangements, and control mechanisms influence decision quality, trust in AI-enabled processes, and organizational resilience. The proposed framework emphasizes the importance of clearly defined decision boundaries, human approval thresholds, explainability, auditability, escalation procedures, and continuous governance review. The study contributes to strategic leadership and AI governance research by positioning executives not simply as final decision-makers, but as architects of human-AI decision systems. It offers practical guidance for organizations seeking to balance agentic AI autonomy with responsible executive control, ethical accountability, and long-term strategic value.