Contemporary communication conduit among exemplar school principals in Malaysian schools

Emelia Fantoza Saraih,Mas Nida Md Khambari,Su Luan Wong,Soaib Asimiran

doi:10.1186/s41039-022-00179-x

Emelia Fantoza Saraih, Mas Nida Md Khambari + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s41039-022-00179-x

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Abstract

Digital Leadership is relatively a new field of leadership study which focuses on leveraging the technology and Internet in support of one’s leadership practice. Currently, very little is known how Malaysian school principals practice Digital Leadership particularly in support of their communication practice. Therefore, this qualitative study was undertaken with the aim of understanding Digital Leadership among principals from four High Performing Schools (HPS) in Malaysia. Semi structured interviews were employed involving four exemplar school principals as the main respondents and 12 school staff as secondary respondents to the study. Findings of the study indicate that social media have become the contemporary communication conduit among exemplar Malaysian school principals and this medium has become more prominent than face-to-face interaction. Findings have also suggested that it may have a positive relation with job performance and productivity. The aforesaid findings have meaningful implications for all school principals to better integrate social media in their communication practice within members of the schools and those outside the school, including the stakeholders.

Highlights

With the current developments in education—innovation and new technologies, the omnipresent nature of technology and its impact on the education system, contemporary research seems to validate the view that a technology-related leadership style that fosters Information and communication technology (ICT) use in schools is deemed favorable (Brown et al, 2016)
When asked about using technology as a conduit in their internal and external communication, all four school principals admitted that they rely on social media as an important medium of communication in today’s world
The school principals’ communication practice can be described by the Contemporary Communication Practice: WhatsApp and Telegram theme. This theme can be further described through five categories: Preferred medium of communication, Social media is the latest trend, important and a necessity at present and in future, Social media as an effective communication medium, The Systematic Group in WhatsApp and Telegram and Communication occurs all the time categories

Summary

Introduction

With the current developments in education—innovation and new technologies, the omnipresent nature of technology and its impact on the education system, contemporary research seems to validate the view that a technology-related leadership style that fosters ICT use in schools is deemed favorable (Brown et al, 2016). Effective leadership must include leadership in technology (Brown et al, 2016). With the advance of technology and Internet proliferation in this digital age, technology is ubiquitous in the workplace and personal space, and people are being more receptive to technology than ever before. Technology, should be reflected in the study of contemporary leadership practice. The trend of including technology into leadership research is a recent development given that digital leadership

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