Navigating Change Management through Strategic Leadership: Examining Digital Transformation in the Indian Armed Forces

Saurabh Bhargava

doi:10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i03.77773

Navigating Change Management through Strategic Leadership: Examining Digital Transformation in the Indian Armed Forces

Author(s)	Mr. Saurabh Bhargava
Country	India
Abstract	Digital transformation is increasingly important for improving operational effectiveness and decision-making in defence organisations. Although frameworks for implementing large digital projects are well established, their execution remains challenging, especially in highly structured and mission-critical organisations such as the Indian Armed Forces. Most existing studies on leadership and digital transformation focus on commercial or public-sector organisations, leaving limited empirical evidence from defence settings. This study examines the role of strategic leadership in supporting digital transformation in the Indian Armed Forces through the implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system for managing high-cost assets. The study also analyses change management as a factor that influences this relationship. A quantitative approach was adopted, using survey data collected from 146 respondents drawn from defence services, academia, and industry. Reliability testing and regression analysis were used to examine the proposed Leadership–Change–Transformation (LCT) framework. The results show that strategic leadership has a positive and significant effect on ERP- enabled asset management. However, the impact of leadership is much stronger when effective change management practices are in place. The findings indicate that leadership alone is not sufficient to ensure successful digital transformation without structured support for managing organisational change. This study extends existing leadership and transformation research to the defence context and offers practical insights for defence organisations pursuing digital modernisation. It highlights the importance of leadership commitment, organisational preparedness, and effective change management in achieving sustainable digital transformation.
Keywords	Strategic Leadership; Digital Transformation; Change Management; Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP); Asset Management; Indian Armed Forces.
Field	Sociology > Data / Information / Statistics
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 3, May-June 2026
Published On	2026-06-08
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i03.77773

View / Download PDF File

About IJFMR Fees & Payment Current Issue Publication Archive	Submit Research Paper Track Submission Status Publication Guidelines Publication Ethics Peer Review & Plagiarism	Join as a Reviewer Editors & Reviewers Reviewer Referral Program Get Reviewer Membership Certi.	Website/Journal Policies Usage Policy Content Policies Privacy Policy

Contact Us		+91-9687-828-838	editor@ijfmr.com

International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research

A Widely Indexed Open Access Peer Reviewed Multidisciplinary Bi-monthly Scholarly International Journal

Navigating Change Management through Strategic Leadership: Examining Digital Transformation in the Indian Armed Forces

Share this