Micro politics and emotions in digital leadership and communication

Over the past decades, digital tools have been increasingly employed in organizations as a means of communication. Leaders and followers alike have the option to interact with each other using emails, instant messaging, social networks, or mobile phones, and often, as in the case of remote workers, they don’t have the option to interact face-to-face.
With the pervasiveness of digital tools, researchers point out that there is a need for a better understanding of the mechanisms behind digital interactions, such as transmission or perception of emotions. Emotions in leadership are important, although the understanding of these in the context of digital leadership and communication is limited.
With this study, we aim to contribute to a better understanding of interactions in the context of digital leadership, from a sociology of emotions perspective. Two interviews are analyzed through the theoretical lenses of micropolitics of emotions.
Amongst our findings, we find that remote work makes it more difficult to elicit obligation from subordinates, while access to communication tools might make leaders feel obligated to stay in touch constantly. Exploring digital leadership and communication through the lenses of micropolitics of emotions allows us to emphasize aspects of digital leadership that haven’t been previously explored.