Jul 2026· Journal of Educational Management Research· 0 citations
TL;DR
The study implies that educational institutions should develop a contextual digital leadership model that prioritizes human resource development as the foundation for sustainable digital transformation and improved educational management.
Abstract
This study aims to examine the role of digital transformation leadership in strengthening elementary school management and improving educational quality. The research employed a qualitative approach using a systematic literature review combined with a case study to explore leadership practices, challenges, and strategies for implementing digital transformation in primary education. The findings reveal that effective digital transformation leadership depends on the integration of a clear strategic vision, digital competencies, and an adaptive organizational culture. School leaders play a pivotal role in promoting technology adoption, enhancing teachers’ digital capacity, fostering collaboration, and establishing a sustainable digital learning ecosystem. Furthermore, continuous professional development and stakeholder engagement are essential for ensuring the successful implementation of digital initiatives. The study implies that educational institutions should develop a contextual digital leadership model that prioritizes human resource development as the foundation for sustainable digital transformation and improved educational management. Such a model can support schools in responding effectively to technological change while enhancing organizational performance and learning quality.
Objective: To analyze the role of transformational leadership in accelerating the digital transformation of technology-based school management in vocational high schools and to explore leadership strategies employed by school principals in supporting sustainable digital innovation. Method: A qualitative approach with a multi-case study design was employed at Mitra Sehat Mandiri Vocational High School Sidoarjo and Vocational High School 1 Sidoarjo. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, observations, and document analysis involving principals, vice principals, teachers, administrative staff, and school operators. The data were analyzed using the interactive model of Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña, while credibility was ensured through triangulation, member checking, and prolonged engagement. Result: The findings indicate that both schools have successfully integrated digital technologies into learning, administration, communication, and decision-making processes. Transformational leadership emerged as a key factor in establishing a digital vision, identifying the potential of educators and educational staff, facilitating professional development, and supporting organizational adaptation to technological change. Continuous principal support through infrastructure provision, training, mentoring, and evaluation significantly improved digital readiness and institutional effectiveness. Furthermore, the study identified two complementary pathways of digital transformation, namely system-driven and culture-driven approaches, which collectively contribute to sustainable organizational change. Novelty: To develop of a conceptual model of technology-based school management transformation that integrates transformational leadership, organizational culture, human resource readiness, and technological infrastructure as toward SDGs 4. The findings suggest that sustainable digital innovation in vocational education requires a balanced integration of system-oriented and culture-oriented transformation strategies.
Yohanes Eko Prasetyo Prasetyo, Yatim Riyanto, Nunuk Hariyati· Journal of Current Studies i...· 0 citations
Digital transformation has become a central management agenda for higher education institutions seeking to improve teaching quality, organizational resilience, and long-term educational sustainability. However, the managerial pathways through which digital leadership contributes to sustainable teaching innovation remain insufficiently explained. Drawing on digital leadership, organizational learning, and sustainable higher education literature, this study develops and tests a conceptual path model linking digital leadership, organizational learning, faculty professional development, institutional support, and sustainable teaching innovation. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 300 university faculty members and teaching-related personnel who had experience with digital teaching tools. Composite-score-based path analysis showed that digital leadership positively predicted organizational learning, faculty professional development, and sustainable teaching innovation. Organizational learning and faculty professional development also significantly predicted sustainable teaching innovation and served as indirect transmission mechanisms. Institutional support had a positive direct effect but did not significantly moderate the organizational learning–innovation relationship. The findings indicate that sustainable teaching innovation depends not only on digital infrastructure but also on leadership-enabled learning processes, faculty development, and institutional support. This study contributes an educational management strategy model that reframes sustainable teaching innovation as an organizational capability shaped by leadership, learning, professional development, and support mechanisms.
Haibao Cheng, Bih-Ni Lee, N. Hassan· Sustainability· 0 citations
It is suggested that sustainable education cannot be secured through investment in technological infrastructure alone, but rather through visionary leadership that integrates innovation, inclusivity, institutional resilience, and long-term adaptability.
A systematic literature review of Digital Educational Leadership and Educational Management in the context of digital education ecosystems suggests that effective digital educational leadership is characterized by strategic vision, digital competence, data-driven decision-making and the ability to foster innovation and collaboration.
Gerasimos Kalogeratos, Eleni Anastasopoulou, Triada Kapota et al.· International Journal of Adv...· 0 citations
This study analyzed digital collaborative leadership in strengthening vocational-school quality at SMKN 1 Rangkasbitung. The main problem was the persistence of administrative supervision, fragmented teacher-performance data, and limited real-time visibility of classroom learning and internship activities. A qualitative case-study design was used through document analysis, digital-practice observation, and semi-structured interviews with nine purposively selected informants: the principal, vice principals, information-technology team, teachers, and students. The findings showed that ESEMKA BESTARI and TEWAK functioned not merely as administrative applications but as governance instruments for reorganizing supervision, discipline, and data-based decision making. Transformative leadership built shared urgency for measurable quality improvement; innovative leadership institutionalized digital workflows; and collaborative leadership expanded accountability by positioning teachers and students as data producers. The study concluded that digital leadership becomes effective when technology adoption is accompanied by cultural reconstruction, ethical data governance, teacher capacity building, and continuous evaluation of platform usefulness.
Fathimah, Azzahro Hanifah, E. Sri et al.· Journal of Education and Tea...· 0 citations
This study explores how academic leadership influences pedagogical innovation and faculty adaptation to digital work in hybrid university environments. As higher education institutions increasingly adopt blended learning models, the role of leadership in facilitating, supporting, or impeding digital pedagogical transformation becomes critical. The research investigates the processes through which academic leaders enable or constrain staff engagement with learning technologies and curriculum redesign. An institutional case study was conducted at a hybrid-mode university in the UK, focusing on two faculties undergoing significant digital transformation. Qualitative data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with academic leaders and teaching staff, as well as a document review of strategic initiatives and teaching and learning policies. Thematic analysis was employed to identify patterns in leadership practices, faculty perceptions, and the institutional support mechanisms for digital transition. Key findings indicate that transformational and distributed leadership styles are significantly associated with greater faculty engagement, innovation in teaching design, and resilience in adapting to digital platforms. Conversely, managerialist and compliance-driven approaches foster resistance, confusion, and performative rather than authentic adoption of innovation. The study also reveals that innovation thrives when leadership combines strategic vision with localised pedagogical support, creating both top-down coherence and bottom-up creativity. By highlighting the interplay between leadership practice and pedagogical adaptation, this paper contributes to the growing discourse on the transformation of academic work in the digital university and offers a conceptual and practical framework for leading sustainable educational innovation.
E. Fragouli· Frontiers of Contemporary Ed...· 0 citations