Int. J. Hum. Capital Urban Manage., 9(1): 17-28, Winter 2024 Internatonal Journal of Human Capital in Urban Management (IJHCUM) Homepage: htp://www.ijhcum.net/ ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER The efect of digital leadership on the performance of businesses: the mediatng role of organizatonal entrepreneurship A. Arabiun 1,* , M. Tajpour 2 , M.R. Zahedi 3 1 Department of Technological Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Entrepreneurship, University of Tehran, Iran 2 Department of Industrial Management, Faculty of Management, University of Tehran, Iran 3 Department of Entrepreneurship, Alborz Campus, University of Tehran, Iran BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The digital age has led to signifcant changes in all aspects of human life, including the way businesses operate. It is expected that the digitalizaton process of this type of business will accelerate in the coming years, therefore the results of this research can have a great impact on increasing their productvity and economic growth. In this context, the current study aims to investgate the impact of digital leadership on the performance of businesses, with a partcular focus on the mediatng role of organizatonal entrepreneurship. METHODS: This research is applied in terms of research purpose and descriptve-survey method. The statstcal populaton of this study consists of 601 employees and managers working in the printng and publishing industry in Tehran province. The sample size was determined using Cochran’s formula, and a total of 235 individuals were selected using available sampling techniques. Data was collected using standard questonnaires, and SmartPLS4 sofware and structural equaton modeling were utlized to analyze the data. This approach allows for the examinaton of the complex relatonships between digital leadership, organizatonal entrepreneurship, and business performance in the publishing industry. FINDINGS: This research examines the ft of a model at three levels of measurement: structural, general, and combined reliability. The R2 (equal path squared) values for organizatonal entrepreneurship and the performance of printng and publishing businesses are 0.739 and 0.653, respectvely, indicatng a strong level of ft for the structural model. The t-statstc was used to check the assumed relatonships between the variables, with seven sub-hypotheses used to measure the main hypothesis. The t-coefcients relevant to the seven existng relatonships have been confrmed, supportng the main hypothesis. CONCLUSION: Businesses that adopt digital leadership strategies are more likely to develop new digital facilites and make signifcant changes in their strategy-making processes and organizatonal culture. These fndings emphasize the importance of digital leadership in the publishing industry and suggest that businesses that embrace digital leadership strategies are more likely to succeed in the digital age. The insights gained from this study can be used to develop efectve digital leadership strategies to help publishing businesses thrive in an increasingly digital world. ARTICLE INFO Artcle History: Received 02 April 2023 Revised 19 July 2023 Accepted 03 August 2023 Keywords: Digital Leadership Mental Framework Organizatonal Entrepreneurship Social Capital Virtual Team ABSTRACT DOI: 10.22034/IJHCUM.2024.01.02 NUMBER OF REFERENCES 48 NUMBER OF FIGURES 2 NUMBER OF TABLES 4 Note: Discussion period for this manuscript open untl Aptl 1, 2024 on IJHCUM website at the “Show Artcle. *Corresponding Author: Email: arabiun@ut.ac.ir Phone: +989123731137 ORCID: 0000-0002-6542-0933