Strategic Leadership 5.0: Reality or Illusion?

Whitehead, James and Mohamed Hashim, Mohamed Ashmel and Tlemsani, Issam and Gilani, Sayed Abdul Majid (2025) Strategic Leadership 5.0: Reality or Illusion? Journal of the Knowledge Economy. ISSN 1868-7873

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Abstract

This study initiates an exploration into strategic leadership within the context of the emerging Industry 5.0 (I5.0) era, integrating strategic leadership theory with the principles of Industry 5.0. Unlike Industry 4.0, which primarily focuses on managing technological capabilities, Industry 5.0 seeks to fundamentally transform business operations, societal consumption patterns and environmental protection by emphasizing a sustainable, human-centric and resilient industrial future. This shift is expected to have a significant impact on organisational performance. This conceptual study investigates how strategic leadership might adapt in this new era and explores the potential implications for organisational performance by mapping causal links between leadership and previous industrial epochs. It also identifies areas for future empirical research. Considering the diverse impact of factors such as inspirational vision, cognitive decision-making, strategic management and relationship building and maintenance, the study examines the potential effects of Strategic Leadership 5.0. It offers insights into decision-making and design thinking, proposes research directions and outlines a roadmap for developing Strategic Leadership 5.0 models aimed at enhancing organisational performance, with practical, theoretical, and implementable implications for policy.

Item Type:	Article
Identification Number:	10.1007/s13132-025-02785-8
Dates:	Date Event 20 May 2025 Accepted 5 July 2025 Published Online
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Strategic leadership, Strategic management, Industry 5.0, Sustainability, Resilience, Human–machine collaboration, Organisational performance
Subjects:	CAH17 - business and management > CAH17-01 - business and management > CAH17-01-02 - business studies
Divisions:	Business School > Management, Business and Marketing
Depositing User:	Gemma Tonks
Date Deposited:	09 Feb 2026 13:05
Last Modified:	09 Feb 2026 13:05
URI:	https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/16851

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