DIGITAL LEADER AND TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Abstract

In the present research, an attempt is made to combine the types of educational leadership with the digital skills of the leader. The research was conducted with the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), which was updated with additional questions related to specific e-skills, according to the European Union study "e-Leadership: Skills for Competitiveness and Innovation. A particular focus of the study was on e-leadership skills" (European Commission's Directorate General Enterprise and Industry 2004), which characterize a leader as digital leader. The sample was collected in two-time stages, the academic year 2018-2019 by the Senate of the Technological Educational Institute of Western Greece and the academic year 2019-2020 by the Senate of the University of Patras, Greece. The findings indicate that digital leadership has a strong positive correlation with transformational leadership and at the same time the high degree of transformational leadership coexists with the high degree of implementation of digital leadership in Higher Education. It was also found that the high degree of transformational leadership coexists with the high degree of implementation of digital leadership in Higher Education. In conclusion, like all Organizations, Universities need to transform their practices and continue to adapt in order to be effective in the age of the Internet. To sum up, it is necessary to draw on the digital skills that characterize a leader and to see the concepts inextricably linked: digital transformation and leadership.