The Impact of Digital Leadership on Organizational Performance in Iraqi Private Universities and Colleges: The Mediating Role of Digital Transformation

Abstract

Purpose: With the Iraqi private colleges and universities striving for sustainability and remain competitive in a volatile educational landscape, the issue of leadership in the process of technological change has become critical. The research is based on an empirical examination of the impact of Digital Leadership on Organizational Performance in the context of digital transformation in Iraq, using a structured questionnaire to gather data, including 103 academic administrators and senior faculty members. Findings: The results indicate that Digital Leadership positively directly affects Organizational Performance and a strong influence on Digital Transformation. Moreover, Digital Transformation has a significant positive impact on Organizational Performance. More importantly, the mediation analysis showed that although the direct impact of digital leadership on the institution is positive, a significant part of the value is only achieved when it is implemented through successful digital transformation processes (digital leaders). Such leaders should be the most active agents of the re-engineering of institutional processes, turning the leadership vision into the actual digital ecosystems to realize the full potential of organizations