Avolio [1] pointed out although Advanced Information Technology (AIT) had changed how organizations could build markets and relationships with their stakeholders, past leadership research had not addressed the leadership mediated by AIT. Avolio defined E-leadership “as a social influence process mediated by (Advanced Information Technology) AIT to produce a change in attitudes, feelings, thinking, behavior, and/or performance with individuals, groups, and/or organizations” [1].

Drawing on Lord et al. [2] view that leadership was dynamically generated by adapting to different contexts, tasks, subordinates or the requirements of a group or organization’s maturity stage and that leadership awareness is based on a larger society and culture, tasks and interpersonal context, Avolio et al. [3] studied leadership by “considering how AIT and leadership-in the broadest sense-affect each other over time, distance and cultures”. Thus, Avolio et al. [4] defined E-leadership “as a social influence process embedded in both proximal and distal contexts mediated by AIT that can produce a change in attitudes, feelings, thinking, behavior and performance”.

In an empirical study, Roman et al. [5] claimed that “E-leadership is a set of technology-mediated social influencing processes intended to change attitudes, feelings, thinking, behavior and performance, which are based on ability to communicate clearly and appropriately, provide adequate social interaction, inspire and manage change, build and hold teams accountable, demonstrate technological know-how related to ICTs and develop a sense of trust in virtual environments”. Roman et al. [5] also identified six e-competencies (the SEC model) that were critical to effective e-leadership: E-communication, E-social, E-team, E-change, E-tech and E-trust. Each competency contains a certain number of measurement indicators, making the concept of E-leadership more feasible for empirical research.

Benefits for Exercising E-leadership

The first advantage for E-leadership is that e-leaders can draw on information communication technology to unite organizations distributed in different regions and make full use of human resources and expertise in various regions to achieve the goal of the organization [4,6-8]. For example, Avolio and Kahai [4] pointed out that the emergence of virtual teams based on information communication technology enabled leaders to integrate members from different countries, cultures and time zones and to lead their members across time, space and culture. Jawadi et al. [7] also pointed out that organizations with virtual teams could use information communication technology to take advantage of expertise scattered in different places to solve the problems faced by the organization. From the global Perspective, Bartol and Liu [6] also claimed that virtual team made it possible for leaders and members located in different geographic locations, different functional departments and different scopes to carry out collaborative work on a global scale around the clock. On the same note, Derven [8] pointed out that global virtual teams could use a wider range of resources on a global scale to provide advantages for the development of the organization. Specifically, E-leaders in the global virtual teams could handle its challenge in business development and find business solutions from a global perspective [8]; E-leaders could achieve the advantages of economies of scale from a global perspective [8]; E-leaders could work around the clock [8]; E-leaders could use the best human resources on a global scale to realize the organizational goals [8]; E-leaders could accelerate product innovation and the introductions of new products to the market [8]; E-leaders could enhance their understanding of local market knowledge and increase the organization’s local presence [8].

The second advantage for E-leadership is that E-leaders can help organizations save operating expenses [6]. For example, Bartol and Liu [6] pointed out that because members did not need to work together on a face-to-face basis in virtual teams, not only could members use information communication technology for more frequent interaction and cooperation but also help organizations save travel expenses.

The third advantage for E-leadership is that e-leaders could have much higher leadership effectiveness than traditional leaders do [4,6,7,10,11]. For example, Avolio and Kahai [4] contended that virtual teams could enable leaders to communicate effectively with other business partners around the world. Likewise, Bartol and Liu [6] argued that with the help of advanced information communication technology, members of the organization could deal with many tasks simultaneous and cooperate with different teams, which would enhance the effectiveness of leadership. 

Some researchers have empirically attested whether E-leaders who adopted E-technologies could improve their leadership effectiveness in the educational sector. For example, in one empirical research, Blau and Presser [10] investigated the impact of the adoption of the school data management system and the E-leadership on school effectiveness. The study was conducted in the form of semi-structured interviews, with data being collected with ten participants [10]. The findings of the research indicated that schools that adopted school data management system and e-leadership had increased their effectiveness through data-aided activities, such as electronic communication with teaching staff, students and parents [10]. Based on the findings, Blau and Presser [10] encouraged school principals to expand the use of digital technologies in the educational settings. In another empirical research, Bergen et al. [11] investigated the impact of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) pilot program on students' learning outcomes in the Upper Grand District School Board and York Region District School Board. The study was conducted in the form of a survey that provided a developmental evaluation of a virtual learning environment [11]. The findings of the study indicated that teachers who used VLE had changed their teaching practices and could be more flexible and efficient in terms of giving feedback to students. Compared with students who did not use VLE, students who used VLE show higher learning motivation and higher satisfaction. In addition, because VLE blurred the boundary between school and family, it made the interaction between students and teachers more flexible and convenient [11]. By employing qualitative modes of phenomenology,Akram and Khan [9] also studied the phenomena of the Learning Management System (LMS) in schools and explored the effectiveness of E-Leadership by secondary school principals through a learning management system. Akram and Khan pointed out that LMS was an important tool for school leaders to efficiently manage teaching information and student data. Not only leaders could use the latest data from LMS to define needs, set goals, teaching quality standards, plan interventions and evaluate progress, LMS could also be leveraged to establish two-way communication channels for principals, teachers, students and parents, which improved the effectiveness of principals’ E-leadership [9]. As result, Akram and Khan suggested that leaders should use the Learning management system to support traditional classroom teaching and distance education and to promote the communications among students, parents, teachers and principals. 

The fourth advantage for E-leadership is that E-leaders can improve the efficiency of decision making [4,7]. Avolio and Kahai [4] claimed that the emergence of information communication technology had changed the traditional power of accessing information. Whereas previously leaders often had exclusive access to information, nowadays employees could obtain relevant information even earlier than leaders and could express their dissatisfaction to the top management [4]. Similarly, Jawadi et al. [7] also argued that leaders in organizations could leverage information communication technologies to handle highly complex decision-making processes.

Challenges for Exercising E-Leadership

Technology: E-leadership is faced with the challenges that E-technology brings to organizations [12,13]. For example, Evans et al. [13] pointed out that in the process of integrating new technologies into existing organizational systems, E-leaders faced several challenges from E-technical aspects. In particular, E-leaders needed to deal with the problem that the adoption of new technologies was likely to slow down the efficiencies of software applications or even crash the current system in the organization [13]. Belitski and Liverage [12] pointed out that as far as E-leaders of small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries were concerned, first, they needed to clarify how to appropriately apply relevant E-technology in the management practice of the organization, especially to train employees to be able to use E-technology proficiently to plan and formulate organizational strategies. Second, due to the low utilization rate of E-technology in developing countries, leaders of SMEs from developing countries not only needed to integrate information technology and business development to improve customer satisfaction but also ensure that their customers could also improve the usage rate of E-technology [12].

Communication

From the perspective of organizational communication, several research has shown that E-leadership faces the problem of insufficient knowledge transfer and ineffective organizational communication due to physical distance and cultural distance among leaders and team members [14-16]. For example, in one empirical study, Reed and Knight [15] assessed the communication-related risk on virtual team projects. The study was conducted in the form of a survey, with data being gathered from over 150 IT professionals [15]. The findings of the research indicated that because certain implicit knowledge could hardly be transferred among members in a virtual context, insufficient knowledge transfer exerted a negative impact on the productivity of virtual project management [15]. As a result, Reed and Knight suggested that E-leaders needed to make sure that tacit knowledge may be shared in the organization through electronic means.

Savolainen [16] claimed that E-leaders also faced the problem of how to improve technology-mediated leadership with limited communication with their subordinates. Savolainen argued that because the technology-mediated communication between leaders and subordinates in organizations often only involved short and scattered moments in their work and life, E-leaders would be unable to fully understand all aspects of their subordinates and could only provide limited guidance and assistance. Considering the spatial distance between members in virtual teams and the cultural distance faced by multinational virtual teams, Lilian [14] pointed out that distance was considered as a key factor affecting effective communication between E-leaders and subordinates. Communication based on information technology tended to easily lead to the distortion of information transmission between leaders and team members and ultimately negatively affected the effectiveness of E-leadership in the organizations [14].

Organizational Size and Organizational Culture

From the perspective of organizational scale and organizational culture, several studies have found that the organizational size and organizational culture would affect the effectiveness of the virtual team's E-leadership [6,13]. Bartol and Liu [6] argued that although many virtual teams operated only within an organization, virtual teams that cross organizational boundaries were beginning to appear, which compelled E-Leaders to face the difficult problem of how to improve their leadership effectiveness within the scope of larger virtual organizations. However, when a new technology was introduced into organization, the size of the organization would affect the effectiveness of the organization's E-leadership [6]. For example, Evan et al. [13] claimed that “the implementation of a new institutional information system is challenging at the best of times but implementation on a region-wide basis brings new challenges”. In addition, from the perspective of organizational culture, Evans et al. held the view that the organization culture would influence the effectiveness of E-leadership and he proposed that organizations should reinforce “a culture of continuous learning” [13] to improve the success of implementing a regional oncology information system.

Human Resource Management

From the perspective of human resource management, several studies have shown that E-leadership is faced with how to effectively manage employees to deal with the lack of trust and cohesion in virtual groups [1,14,16]. For example, Avolio et al. [1] argued that an effective way to improve the efficiency of virtual groups was to ensure that geographically dispersed teams could play a synergistic role so that their collective work efficiency would be greater than the sum of the efficiencies of various dispersed groups. However, in order to create the synergy needed, Avolio pointed leaders had to deal with the lack of trust among virtual team members. Similarly, Savolainen [16] also pointed out that in technology-mediated communication, lack of trust was also a major challenge facing E-leaders. Savolainen argued that because the presence of leaders and follower were limited by time and distance, it would not help to build the trust that seemed to be vital both for leader's comprehension of the followers’ work status and followers’ motivation to more openly share their lives with their E-leaders. In the same way, Lilian [14] also argued that because the team members in the virtual team had incomplete knowledge system, issues such as how to build an efficient virtual team by enhance the organizational cohesion and trust among team members were still important challenges facing E-leaders. As far as the global virtual teams are concerned, Jarvenpaa and Leidner [17] also held the view that E-leaders faced the issue of how to build trust in cross-cultural virtual teams that cross national boundaries Bartol and Liu [6] argued that a lack of trust in multinational virtual teams would undermine the members’ commitment to the organization.

Some research has shown that E-leadership faces the challenge brought by the alienated relationship among members in virtual teams [6,7,13]. For example, Bartol and Liu [6] pointed out that because the formation of virtual teams was often based on the project management in organizations, the membership of virtual teams needed to be adjusted frequently and therefore were not stable. Even in some cases, the members of the virtual team may never meet each other. Jawadi et al. [7] pointed out that although verbal cues, facial expressions and spatial closeness of members were considered to be key factors for creating good interpersonal relationships in traditional organizations, the computer-based communication in virtual teams completely replaced face-to-face interaction among team members. Thus, an important challenge faced by E-leaders in virtual teams was how to effectively manage the relationship among members of the team [7]. Evans et al. [13] also contended that the distance between members in a virtual team would have a negative impact on the effectiveness of leadership. Specifically, Evan et al. argued that if the E-leaders in organizations failed to fully communicate with the members of the organization on important related issues, such as the reasons for introducing new technologies, their members not only would lack of relevant knowledge of the leaders’ intentions of introducing new technologies but also likely to resist the changes introduced by the organization.

International Management

From the perspective of international management, the extant research have shown that physical distance, time-related issues, cultural and value differences are all important factors that may affect the effectiveness of E-leadership [4,14]. For example, Lilian [14] pointed out that on the one hand, the physical distance and time-related issues between virtual team members could negatively affect the efficiency of communication between virtual team members; on the other hand, Avolio and Kahai [4] also pointed out that because leaders in virtual team needed to integrate and lead members from countries of different cultural and time zones, cultural distance would also significantly affect the effectiveness of communication among virtual team members. Avolio and Kahai elaborated that because different national cultures and different values cause the members of the virtual team to form various communicative habits and working methods, they were likely to hinder the effectiveness of the work in the virtual team. In this sense, Avolio and Kahai held the view that virtual team leaders needed to pay special attention to the possibility of conflicts that might emerge among members in diversified virtual teams.

Some scholars have attested the challenges brought by the global virtual team to E-leadership in several empirical research [16,18]. For example, Karpova et al. [18] studied how teams could utilize technology to tackle the problems brought by global virtual teams. By employing qualitative modes of questionnaire, interviews and posting on discussion boards, Karpova et al. [18] found that the seven hours' time difference between Denmark and USA created obstacles for the virtual team to discuss and make decisions simultaneously. Karpova et al. [18] also found that due to the lack of non-verbal information in a face-to-face environment, it was not easy for virtual team leaders and members to establish mutual understanding when communicating in a conference call. Karpova et al. emphasized that although web cameras could be used to offer nonverbal cues, web cameras cannot effectively help users make eye to eye contact and therefore cannot completely replace face-to-face interaction. In another empirical study, Savolainen [16] explored the challenges E-leaders faced in an e-context of business management. The study was conducted in the form of interviews, with data being gathered via interview with five E-leaders from different industries and large organizations in Finland [16]. The result from the study indicated that the cross-cultural context had increased the difficulty of exercising leadership for E-leaders [16]. Thus, Savolainen claimed that “geographical distance, different cultures, timezones and behavioral etiquettes was told to require the leader to have the ability to pay attention to one's followers in various manners, depending on the location”.

Operational Management

From the perspective of operations management, E-leadership also faces challenges in decision-making, knowledge management and process management [4,8,19]. In terms of decision-making, Avolio and Kahai [4] pointed out that because information communication technology had changed the way information was obtained, stored, understood and transmitted in an organization, it had made an impact on the traditionally rigorous leadership system by pressing leaders to make decisions in a faster way. Avolio and Kahai argued that in the past leaders often had exclusive rights to information but nowadays employees could get relevant information faster than leaders. If employees were not satisfied with the leadership’s actions, they could express their dissatisfaction to the top management and the entire workforce through information communication technology. In terms of organizational knowledge management, Crampton [19] pointed out that virtual teams faced the challenge of how to ensure that each player in the team to have access to mutual knowledge. Crampton held the view that if the virtual team could not handle the problems related to mutual knowledge, it would lead to low efficiency of the team, low willingness of team members to cooperate with each other and even the failure of teamwork. In addition, Derve [8] also held the view that although organizations could rely on global virtual teams to promote organizational development and innovation, E-leaders of virtual teams in organizations often faced the problem of not having a clear process to ensure the successful operation of their work.

How to Exercise E-leadership

Technology: Several studies have shown that leaders need to use advanced information technology to promote their decision-making ability and leadership [14,20-22]. For example, Garcia [21] pointed out that leaders needed to use information communication technology to obtain relevant information on all levels of the organization to improve their E-decision making skills. In particular, because subordinates were more willing to follow extraordinary leaders, E-leaders therefore needed to use information communication technology to effectively handle important matters to improve their effectiveness. Chua and Chua [20] also emphasized that school leaders should improve the information communication technology knowledge and skills of their followers by providing training and other educating methods in order to eliminate the negative factors that affect the effectiveness of E-leadership. 

Given that E-leaders needed to actively respond to the negative impact of physical and cultural distance on E-Leadership, E-leaders needed to leverage a variety of information and communication technologies to increase the social intimacy of their teams and compensate for the alienated relationships among their team members [14]. Likewise, in an empirical study, Gomes [22] investigated the usefulness of digital technologies in educational environment and suggested that leaders should leverage multiple educational technologies, such as using data warehouse systems to integrate new data sources to help educators observe and analyze trends, patterns and causal complexity in learning situations, using RSS feeds to make themselves aware of the latest technologies that can bring organizations a competitive advantage, paying attention to the issue of actively opening up the platform. 

However, considering the inherent shortcomings of information technology, E-leaders should also promote other opportunities for members to interact with each other [4,16,18]. For example, Avolio and Kahai [4] argued that although information communication technology could bring advantages to leaders and followers, considering that communication through electronic media would also increase the chance of misunderstanding, leaders needed to keep balance during the use of traditional technology and information communication technology. In the same way, Savolainen [16] proposed that considering that face-to-face meetings would give rise to intensive interactions more efficiently, it was therefore still necessary for leaders and members to engage in traditional face-to-face communication. This finding was also affirmed by Karpova et al. [18] who argued that given that the lack of nonverbal cues was an important challenge faced by virtual teams and even the use of webcams by team members could not completely replace face-to-face interaction, E-leaders should help their members to establish social and emotional bonds by encouraging them to exchange more information among themselves.

Communication

Extant research has shown that E-leaders need to leverage various methods to enhance the communications in the organization [4,14,21]. For example, first of all, Avolio and Kahai [4] contended that as information communication technology change the way organizations managed and led their employees, leaders should actively use information communication technology to build more interconnected relationships. Second, leaders should consciously use personal pronouns such as “we” when communicating in multicultural groups [4]. Third, in order to overcome the challenges brought by physical and cultural distance to virtual teams, leaders should take the initiative to transform challenges into opportunities by adapting themselves to local conditions. On the one hand, E-leaders could respond to the specific cultural needs by adopting the language and communication methods of members of other countries [14]; on the other hand, E-leaders could also actively carry out team building activities to make full use of the diversification brought to the virtual team and strengthen the close cooperative relationship between diversified teams [14]. Fourth, E-leaders could inspire and encourage different members of a virtual team to communicate and participate in more social activities, thereby enhancing the cohesion of the team [14]. 

However, considering that even if E-leaders had good communication skills in real-life context, it did not necessarily mean that they could also communicate well in a network environment, E-leaders needed to actively develop E-communication skills [21]. Especially nowadays when employees, who could have access to information from multiple channels with the help of information technology, were able to question the instructions given by the leaders, E-leaders needed to clearly communicate his intentions to the employees [4].

Coordination

Extant research has shown that E-leaders needed to coordinate well both at the team level and the organizational level to enhance their leadership effectiveness [14,23]. For example, at the team level, Lilian [14] pointed out that considering the challenges that spatial distance brought to virtual teams, E-leaders needed to provide sufficient coordination for the successful development of virtual teamwork. Lilian argued that although virtual teams were often short-term project management teams that drew on information communication technology to quickly respond to pressure from the outside of the organization, the fact that virtual team members were often located in different time zone hindered the coordination of work within the team. To this end, Lilian suggested that leaders must effectively coordinate the professional knowledge and skills of team members from different time zones to improve the performance of virtual teams.

At the organizational level, Li et al. [23] pointed out that on the one hand, E-leaders needed to optimize the priority of enterprise resource allocation supported by technology; on the other hand, E-leaders also needed to make full use of internal and external data of the entire enterprise ecosystem to create a competitive value for the organization and make a tangible difference to their business.

Organizational Culture

Several empirical studies have shown that E-leaders needed to establish an organizational culture that is conducive to improving E-leadership effectiveness [23,24]. For example, Martínez-Sánchez et al. [24] empirically studied “the contribution of Human Resource (HR) commitment practices to firm performance through the adoption of workplace practices that require the organizational climate”. The study was conducted in the form of a survey, with data being gathered via 156 Spanish firms [24]. Martínez-Sánchez et al. [24] pointed out that E-leaders needed to establish an organizational culture that could promote work autonomy and work responsibility of HR. Martínez-Sánchez et al. [24] argued that if employees’ work autonomy was higher, their coordination ability and self-efficacy in telework would be higher. Therefore, it was particularly necessary to create an organizational culture that was conducive to facilitate employees’ work autonomy and work responsibility in organizations [24].

In another empirical study, Li et al. [23] pointed out the importance of an agile organizational culture for E-leaders in the business field. The study conducted by Li et al. [23] studied how leaders in SMEs could leverage the digital technology to formulate their business strategy in order to achieve sustainable growth. A qualitative approach was employed and data for this study were collected using interviews with 42 successful European SME leaders [23]. The findings of this study indicated agile organizational culture not only could contribute to teamwork and continuous improvement of the organization but also could enable organizations to maintain a close communication relationship with customers [23]. At the same time, Li et al. [23] also argued that leaders needed to implement agile strategies, including setting clear indicators and clear priorities in the organization, implementing necessary process reengineering and developing and selecting employee skills to effectively respond to market needs.

Chua and Chua [20] also proposed in their empirical study that E-leaders in educational sectors needed to build an organizational culture within the organization that was conducive to improving e-leadership effectiveness. The study conducted by Chua and Chua investigated how to enhance the effectiveness of e-leadership in schools with a virtual learning environment. The methodological approach taken in this study is a mixed methodology [20]. The findings of this research indicated that in order to enhance the E-leadership effectiveness, school leaders should create a culture suitable for e-leadership within the organization by setting up various rewarding systems for E-learning, promoting the construction of infrastructure adapted to E-learning, giving sufficient support for leaders and participants in schools implementing virtual learning and cultivating a lifelong learning mentality [20].

Considering the important role of trust in the human resource management in virtual teams, extant research has shown that E-leaders needed to adopt different methods to enhance employees’ trust in organizations [14,16,24]. For example, Martínez-Sánchez et al. [24] argued that E-leaders needed to cultivate a climate of trust in the organization and implement HR commitment practices to realize the success of E-leadership. Specifically, Martínez-Sánchez et al. [24] pointed out that because the trust and cooperative atmosphere between leaders and employees were extremely important for the successful implementation of telework in the organization, “employees also need to have access to HR commitment practices that focus on investing on and providing sufficient training toward employees”.

Apart from the efforts aimed to build trust in formal organizational settings, Savolainen [16] also believed that E-leaders needed to expand informal social relationships with subordinates to enhance the trust in organizations. By employing a qualitative mode of case study, the study conducted by Savolainen [16] investigated the challenges of leaders in technology-mediated interaction. Savolainen recommended that E-leaders not only should communicate with their subordinates on work matters but also keep in touch with their subordinates in informal ways. Savolainen argued that this was because establishing social relationships with subordinates informally could enable leaders and subordinates to understand each other's daily lives and feelings, which was extremely beneficial for establishing trust in technology-mediated interactions. In addition, as far as multinational virtual teams are concerned, Lilian [14] also held the view that it was the responsibilities of E-leaders to build trust in the teams that cross national boundaries. Lilian suggested that by establishing a relationship of mutual trust between virtual team members, e-leaders could reduce the perception of uncertainty among team members, enhance the cohesion between team members and encourage team members to exert synergy to work together to achieve the goals of the organization.

Motivation

Considering the importance of motivation to improve employee work efficiency, extant research has shown that E-leaders still needed to motivate employees psychologically [21,24]. Martínez-Sánchez et al. [24] argued that leaders could reduce employee turnover rate and improve the effectiveness of their E-leadership by actively improving employee welfare. Specifically, Martinez-Sánchez et al. argued that if the organization could invest more in its employees, such as providing employees with health insurance, childcare and other benefits, not only it could effectively motivate and retain employees but also actively promote the practice and use of telework. García [21] also argued that because the degree to which subordinates followed the leader depended on how much they trust the leaders, E-leaders needed to establish an E-trust skill that includes being empathic toward followers and empowering followers.

Operational Management

Several studies have shown that E-leaders needed to ensure that the operation management adopted by the organization help to improve the effectiveness of E-leadership [20,23]. In terms of operation management, Li et al. [23] pointed out that leaders needed to implement architectural workforce management. Architectural workforce management “refers to the landscape and architectural vision to build up human capital to provide the requisite infrastructure and expertise”. That is to say, whether the organization was purchasing new resources from external service providers, renting new resources, training existing employees in the organization or cooperating with other organizations, leaders needed to ensure that the organization had secured appropriate strategic resources for developing digital business. On the same note, Chua and Chua [20] also held the view that “The practice of e-leadership in implementing a VLE should be in line with the needs”, such as, “global cooperation and leading for changes and enhancing the cooperation of the school with external parties”. 

In addition, Chua and Chua [20] also pointed out that leaders needed to implement digital entrepreneurship in operation management, which required E-leaders to act as disruptors of innovation. “Innovative disputer refers to a person who unravels the complexity of IT, increases accessibility to technology and is open to new ideas, with the ability to work with peers on getting the right things done”. In addition, Chua and Chua argued that organizations not only needed disruptive innovation to promote business development but also to stimulate the foresight of the senior management team to develop new solutions for digital business so as to be successful in entrepreneurship. However, Li et al. [23] also emphasized that while digitizing the core business to better protect value, the leader also needed to be well aware of the risks associated with the digitization of business and the negative impact of these risks on the brand value of the organization.

Leadership and Ethics

Extant research has shown that that E-leaders in the organization needed to exercise visionary and charismatic leadership [21,25]. For example, Mohammad [25] assessed whether or not E-leaders needed to be technology guru and business wizards. Mohammad argued that if E-leaders already had a professional technical background, they could indeed be more comfortable in dealing with technical issues. However, whether or not E-leaders were experts in new technologies was not important and what really mattered was that they needed to have a strategic vision to point out the direction for the development of the organization [25]. At the same time, E-leaders also needed to pay special attention to the development of technology and issues on how these new technologies could affect the development of the organization [25]. In the same way, García [21] also held the view that E-leaders needed to have strategic thinking and use e-visions to manage E-team effectively. Besides, Garcia also pointed out that because Charisma was an important element of leadership, E-leaders must also develop their own E-charisma through various forms. In addition, considering that it was easier for leaders to share their passion with other members by face to face in traditional team, E-leaders in virtual teams also needed to pass on their passion and abilities in the E-team through socialization processes such as ceremonies [21]. From an ethical point of view, Garcia also argued that in order to establish a high ethical standard in organizations, E-leaders needed to launch an E-ethics program and other related monitoring and evaluation mechanisms within the organization.

E-leadership is a relevantly new idea born with the arrival of the digital era. This article reviewed related literature regarding the conceptual definition and operational definition of E-leadership, benefits for exercising E-leadership, challenges for exercising E-leadership and how to Exercise E-leadership. Given that the definition of E-leadership have received increasing attention and become an important aspect of leadership research, leaders in organizations are suggested to pay special attention to developing their e-leadership.

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