Digital leadership has emerged as a critical determinant of organizational success in an era characterized by rapid technological advancement, yet the field suffers from significant theoretical fragmentation and lacks a systematic integration of its evolving knowledge base, presenting substantial challenges for both practitioners and scholars seeking to advance theoretical understanding. This study aims to provide a more comprehensive perspective on the evolution and future research directions of digital leadership. A science mapping-based review is conducted to systematically examine and visualize 960 rigorously selected papers from the Web of Science (WOS), with no time constraints, covering all relevant publications from 1991 to 2024. The methods employed include regional co-occurrence, document co-citation, keywords clustering, and keywords burst to uncover the underlying structure and development of the field. The findings of this study reveal the development of foundational research in digital leadership, demonstrating the integration of methodologies and theories from other disciplines. Furthermore, the study identifies three research trends: green sustainable development, human-centered leadership and cross-cultural leadership. The contribution of this study is the construction of a knowledge map of digital leadership, providing a comprehensive understanding of digital leadership. To further illustrate the application of this map, the construction industry is used as a case study.

Digital technologies could facilitate green development by enhancing energy efficiency. However, existing research on coupling coordination between digital infrastructure and green development remains scarce. To fill this research gap, this study analyzes the spatio-temporal variations and barriers of coupling coordination. An evaluation index system is established and then the coupling relationship and the barrier factors between digital infrastructure and green development are analyzed. A provincial analysis is conducted by using data from China. The results in the study indicate (1) coupling coordination between digital infrastructure and green development exhibits a relatively low state, characterized by an overall upward trend; (2) noteworthy disparities are observed in the spatio-temporal pattern of the coupling coordination degree, reflecting the overall evolutionary trend from low to high coupling coordination, along with the characteristics of positive spatial correlation and high spatial concentration; and (3) obstacle factors are analyzed from the aspects of digital infrastructure and green development, emphasizing the construction of mobile phone base stations and investment in pollution control, among other aspects. This study contributes valuable insights for improvement paths for digital infrastructure and green development, offering recommendations for optimizing strategies to promote their coupled development.