Digital leadership when utilizing software-as-a-service for strategic planning and implementation

Abstract

The emerging field of research on digital leadership has defined the constructs and features of digital leaders but lacks insights on how contemporary management can be enhanced through specific technologies. To ensure digital leaders capitalize on strategic opportunities, we employ virtual ethnography to analyze the effective use of software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications for strategic planning and implementation, i.e., strategic management SaaS. Our study explores how these strategic management SaaS can aid managers in shaping, visualizing, communicating, and implementing firm strategies. Using a critical realist lens on sociomateriality, we develop a framework illustrating that the utilization of strategic management SaaS affordances (actions with the SaaS) is multilayered and socially biased. To strategically leverage such software, managers should continuously reassess (1) the technical design and management philosophy behind SaaS, (2) its implemented features and user abilities within the firm, (3) users’ perceptions and personal agendas, and (4) SaaS providers’ support abilities.