Changing role of leadership and impact of social media : case study of public officials in Lanzhou City, China

This study explores the changing leadership role of executives in public sector organizations in Lanzhou city (China) in response to new developments and innovations in organizational and social life. As the internet and technology has transformed the workplaces, so do the managing and leading; and this is one of the crippling challenge for the leadership. Gone are the days of conventional motivational tactics; employees of today are more informed, knowledgeable and smarter than ever before; they can be better enticed through the power of social media. The study involves gleaning empirical data from the mid and upper-mid career officers working in various public sector departments. The findings show that the public officials cannot stay away from the social media and use it frequently at workplaces to connect with their friends and family, and to lesser extent for the organizational purposes, and they adopt the transformational leadership style. The findings of this study are useful to help understand leadership styles adopted by the public sector officials and how the social media impacts their work behavior.