Digital Leadership and Sustainable Teaching Practices: Examining the Mediating Role of Faculty Digital Competence in Northern Jordanian Higher Education

Abstract

This study aims to quantitatively examine the direct and indirect relationships between digital leadership and sustainable teaching practices in higher education institutions in Northern Jordan, using a cross-sectional research design. Specifically, the study employs structural equation modeling (SEM) to investigate the mediating role of faculty digital competence in the relationship between digital leadership and sustainable teaching practices.. The results prove the importance of institutional strategy and present digital leadership as positively impactful as it affects faculty digital competence (beta = 0.983, p< 0.001) and sustainable teaching practices (beta = 1.451, p< 0.001). Most importantly, the mediating effects of faculty digital competence on were tested, and all the paths were shown to be statistically significant in the model. Nevertheless, there was one negative significant (but not unduly significant) path between competence and sustainable practices (beta = -0.633, p= 0.022), which led to a significant but non-uniform mediation effect. Also, the fact that the negative path coefficient was found, and the mediating effect was inconsistent provides a theoretical addition, which challenges the linear assumptions of digital adoption models and reveals a key, hitherto undiscussed suppressor effect of advanced competence on sustainability. The paper concludes that although digital leadership can effectively lead to digital skills development, university leaders should have a strategic approach to the implementation of this competence in the direction of simplicity and institutional replicability to guarantee genuinely sustainable pedagogical results. This study offers important, context-driven knowledge pertaining to the digital transformation in the Middle East.