Digital leadership as a mediator in the relationship between digital transformation and quality of work life among primary school teachers in the Al-Jouf region

Abstract

Despite growing research interest in digital transformation in education, the mechanisms through which institutional technological change translates into improvements in teachers’ professional quality of life remain insufficiently explored, particularly within Arab educational contexts. This study investigated the mediating role of digital leadership in the relationship between digital transformation and quality of work life among primary school teachers in the Al-Jouf region, Saudi Arabia. A quantitative descriptive-correlational design was employed, with three psychometrically validated scales administered to a stratified random sample of 377 teachers. Pearson correlation and structural equation modeling with bootstrap resampling (5000 iterations) were used to test hypotheses. Results revealed significant positive correlations among all three constructs. Path analysis yielded results consistent with a full-mediation pattern, in which digital leadership accounted for the relationship between digital transformation and quality of work life, and the direct effect of digital transformation became statistically nonsignificant once digital leadership was controlled for . The model accounted for a substantial proportion of variance in quality of work life, representing a large effect size. These findings establish that the professional benefits of digital transformation initiatives in primary schools are contingent upon effective digital leadership as a mediating mechanism, with implications for policy and leadership development.