Abstract:
This paper explores the e-leadership behaviours of Sri Lankan Small and Medium Entreprises and
the barriers to e-leadership in SME sector. To explore these research objectives a qualitative
method was used with 23 semi-structured face-to-face interviews with owners of fast-growing SMEs
in Sri Lanka. To understand the effective e-leadership behaviours the study used Gary Yukl’s
Hierarchical Taxonomy of Leadership Behaviours model. Findings confirmed that most SME
leaders use ‘Internet of things’ in performing their leadership roles. Among the four effective eleadership
behaviours described by Gary Yukl, most SME leaders use e-leadership for changeoriented
decision making while relationship-oriented leadership behaviours became the least
important. Theoretical contributions, limitations and future research directions are discussed in the
concluding section of the paper.
