Bank leadership in the digital age: Fostering meaningful employee experiences through transformation

Indonesia’s banking sector faces digital transformation challenges, with mobile banking growth of 52% projected for 2025, while digital literacy gaps (49.68% financial literacy) and cultural barriers threaten workforce engagement. This study investigates how Indonesian bank leaders foster meaningful work during digital transformation by examining technology factors, workforce readiness, and growth acceleration strategies within Otoritas Jasa Keuangan regulatory oversight and collectivist cultural contexts. Using qualitative methodology, in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 senior executives across 8 Indonesian banks representing government-owned, private, foreign, and digital institutions between December 2022 and February 2023. Data analysis followed the Gioia methodology, progressing from first-order concepts to theoretical themes and aggregate dimensions. The findings reveal six critical leadership practices enabling meaningful work creation: agile leadership promoting experimentation and psychological safety, tech-forward leadership integrating AI strategically, emotional intelligence managing virtual teams, recognition systems celebrating innovation, regulatory–ethical balance maintaining compliance while enabling innovation, and co-creation approaches involving customers. These practices operate across micro (individual), meso (team), and macro (organizational) levels, requiring sophisticated leadership orchestration rather than simple technology adoption. The study contributes theoretically by extending the human–individual–technology–organization–process framework for Indonesian contexts, refining meaningful work theory for digital environments, and developing an integrated leadership typology. Practically, the research provides evidence-based frameworks for banking leaders and transformation officers implementing human-centered digital transformation that preserves relationship-oriented values while enabling technological innovation within regulatory frameworks.