Journal of Education for Business

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Student perceptions of leadership skills necessary

for digital transformation

Jestine Philip & Mariya Gavrilova Aguilar

To cite this article: Jestine Philip & Mariya Gavrilova Aguilar (2021): Student perceptions of
leadership skills necessary for digital transformation, Journal of Education for Business, DOI:
10.1080/08832323.2021.1890540

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Published online: 26 Feb 2021.

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JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS
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ORIGINAL AND APPLIED RESEARCH

Student perceptions of leadership skills necessary for digital transformation

Jestine Philipa and Mariya Gavrilova Aguilarb
a
Department of Management, University of New Haven, Pompea College of Business, West Haven, CT, USA; bG. Brint Ryan College of
Business, Department of Management, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
Digital transformations help organizations revitalize business processes and customer rela- e-leadership; digital
tionships. Industry professionals and academicians recognize that leadership skills and tech- transformation; leadership
nology skills are complementary when managing a digital workplace. Using a classroom skills; management
education
exercise administered in multiple semesters, we attempted to capture student perceptions
of leadership skills and competencies they deem important in leading a company through a
digital transformation. Findings revealed that younger generations recognize digital literacy
for corporate leaders as a key skill alongside conventional leadership skills. We address the
need to enhance graduate and undergraduate business management curricula to provide
students an opportunity to examine and develop leadership skills to confidently lead amidst
the complexities of a digital workplace.

Introduction their behaviors to a transactional style (of assertive-

ness and autocracy) in male-dominated work teams.
An analysis by Heads! and Deloitte Digital (2015)
Such adjustment of behaviors is needed even when
revealed that digital disruption is continually impact-
ing various industries, including hi-tech, healthcare, the organization is going through changes or restruc-
telecommunications, retail, banking, and insurance. turing (such as a digital transformation). Managers
Since the early 2000s, several Fortune 500 companies display effective leadership during organizational
have become extinct (through mergers, acquisitions, change efforts when they are able to align follower
and bankruptcies) as a result of digital transforma- attitudes and behaviors with those of their own
tions (Siebel, 2017). Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) through positive influence. Past studies have explored
and governing boards are driving digital transform- how transformational behaviors of change implemen-
ation by collaborating across industries and countries, tors positively affect attitudes of change recipients
learning best practices from leading firms, and updat- (Bommer, Rich, & Rubin, 2005; Kanter, Stein, & Jick,
ing their digital strategy for improved value creation. 1992). If leader behaviors must become sufficiently
As companies face increasing demands to transform malleable to adjust to a given context, we contend
their businesses and strategies in a digital environ- that the post-secondary education setting is an appro-
ment, there seems to be a corresponding need to priate platform to shape these leader behaviors and
develop managerial attitudes with regards to digital emphasize the skills necessary to recognize and lead
transformations (Kiron, Kane, Palmer, Phillips, & digital transformations. Current and future managers
Buckley, 2016). Managers recognize that leadership (as students) are willing to learn and adapt, and in
skills and digital skills go hand-in-hand when manag- the classroom environment, they can do so without
ing in the digital workplace (Guest, 2014). having to bear real-time consequences of poor leader-
Management research informs that leaders must be ship and misguided management that they otherwise
skilled to seamlessly update their attitudes and behav- would face in the workplace when dealing with organ-
iors to positively influence followers’ attitudes and izational challenges.
behaviors. For example, Sharif (2019) found that while Business management educators must recognize that
women managers displayed behaviors related to trans- their responsibility now extends beyond imparting
formational leadership, they also occasionally adjusted foundational knowledge to students but rather

CONTACT Jestine Philip jphilip@[Link] Department of Management, University of New Haven, Pompea College of Business, West Haven,
CT 06516-1916, USA.
ß 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
2 J. PHILIP AND M. GAVRILOVA AGUILAR

complementing existing understanding of business had been said in literature about MBA programs not
management in the context of contemporary organiza- sufficiently preparing students to become effective
tional changes. Lanzolla et al. (2020) list several areas managers. Researchers found that MBA students who
that are affected when businesses undergo digital trans- newly enter the workforce often lacked the necessary
formations, such as in the development of new business skills to deal with business issues and challenges
models, organizational design, organizational learning, (Benjamin & O’Reilly, 2011; Chia & Holt, 2008).
and even in the wider range of suppliers and customers Critics believed this to be true for management and
that now become available to them. Through engaging leadership courses as well (Richards-Wilson, 2002;
and level-appropriate curricula, management pedagogy Schatz, 1997). Bennis and O’Toole (2005) opined that
must familiarize students with the components required it is important to integrate interdisciplinary and prac-
to lead in the wake of such organizational changes in tice-driven components into the MBA curriculum in
the digital era. Students should be encouraged to order to present students with challenges and complex
explore the need for revitalization of the leadership business situations that would help them develop the
function and a manager’s role in the organization. necessary skills to navigate an organizational crisis.
Students who are instructed through a renewed mind- Empirical research by Benjamin and O’Reilly (2011)
set, when it comes time for them to make real-time showed that recent MBA graduates were often unpre-
decisions, will be better prepared to examine the situ- pared to handle corporate transitions that involved
ation by integrating technology to inform their educa- launching new initiatives and tended to over-rely on
tional awareness, personal reflection, and peer their existing managerial strengths even when situa-
collaboration. Management educators have the responsi- tions demanded that varied skills be displayed. The
bility to offer accurate and relevant information to stu- researchers attributed such a lack of skill adaptation to
dents that will allow them to make non-erroneous the poor relevance and applicability of academic lead-
personal and organizational decisions in the future ership knowledge that these students received toward
(Giacalone & Promislo, 2019). Consequently, there real-world management. Hence, the current approach
appears to be a growing awareness in pedagogical schol- to developing curriculum is insufficient and lacking in
arship about studying technology and its applications in preparing responsible and visionary leaders who can
organizational practice and higher education (Law & embrace change and successfully execute a digital
Baer, 2020; Law & Stock, 2019). transformation.
Anderson, Hibbert, Mason, and Rivers (2017) On a positive note, this gap seems to be changing
emphasized several existing concerns with the current at premier schools, where MBA and EMBA programs
state of management higher education including rele- are starting to integrate digital components into their
vance of skillsets with regards to existing job opportuni- curriculum. For example, EMBA programs at business
ties, and encouraged pedagogies to develop innovative schools at Rutgers University and University of
forms of learning to address turbulent business environ- California Irvine offer courses on digital strategies and
ments. Sowcik and Allen (2013) noted the increased digital transformation (Butler, 2018). Some MBA pro-
focus on leadership in organizations and how its value grams in Europe (e.g., Quadriga University in
in preparing a workforce suited for a global economy Germany and HWZ’s Executive MBA in Switzerland)
should be communicated in both organizations and offer leadership courses that specialize in digital trans-
business schools. They found that higher education formation and digital leadership, and Massachusetts
institutions responded by establishing or adding more Institute of Technology (MIT) and Carnegie Mellon
leadership courses in business, addressing the import- University offer technology-focused leadership content.
ance of leadership in their mission statements, creating
programs, building specialized centers, and offering
Purpose of the study
executive education. Business schools have also inte-
grated leadership in their assurance of learning frame- The current research offers a classroom exercise that
works (Brink, Palmer, & Costigan, 2018). captures student perceptions about digital leadership.
Essentially, we present an exercise that facilitates stu-
dents’ learning of the importance of digital leadership
The landscape of MBA curricula and digital
skills. Allen (2020) encouraged management educators
technology topics
to develop a digital mindset and use assignments and
Even prior to when discussions of the digital workplace share materials to prepare students for the digital
began to permeate businesses and universities, much workplace. Specifically, he argued that course
 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS 3

Table 1. Terms and definitions relating to digital.

Term Definition
Digital Disruption Changes in the fundamental attitudes, behaviors, and culture of an organization caused by digitalization
(Gartner, 2020).
Digital Transformation The strategic adoption of new digital technologies and tools to improve business processes and productivity
as well as to deliver better customer service and employee experiences (Citrix Systems, Inc, 2020).
Digital Strategy An effective re-thinking of business processes, customer relationships and management practices that drives
competitive advantage and value creation (Wald, de Laubier, & Charanya, 2019).
Digital Workplace A virtual version of the traditional organizational workplace that allows employees to connect securely to all
company applications and devices, anytime, anywhere using mobility services (Hewlett Packard Enterprise, 2020).
Mindsets Our beliefs, values, assumptions, and dispositions that incline us to perceive and respond in certain ways
(Knobel & Lankshear, 2006).
Digital Mindset Involves the display of traits and behaviors by organizational members that enable maximization of business
value from technology (Azzouzi, 2017).
Digital Leadership Involves display of agile leadership capabilities that enable the organization to create a culture of continuous
innovation by leveraging latest technologies within the business architecture (Tanniru, 2018).
Digital Skills Enhanced skillsets that enable managers and employees to effectively utilize machines, people, and
processes to achieve improved organizational outcomes (Davenport & Westerman, 2018).
Digital Competence Includes information management, collaboration, communication and sharing, creation of content and
knowledge, ethics and responsibility, evaluation and problem solving and technical operations
(Ferrari, 2012).

instructors have the opportunity to design and facili- Learning (SoTL) as described by Felten (2013). We do
tate learning that will help students “be better so through our inquiry, which is focused on student
informed of future trends, the technologies shaping learning, grounded in context, conducted in partner-
business, the applications of those technologies, and ship with students, and one that is methodologically
ethical considerations” (p. 372). Following Allen’s sound. Our study focuses on ways to encourage stu-
(2020) suggestion to incorporate disruptive technol- dent learning and understanding of organizational
ogy-related topics in course curricula and to challenge challenges and the skills needed to solve these chal-
students to think critically and creatively while devel- lenges. We synthesize relevant literature on e-leader-
oping a digital mindset and technology literacy, we ship and also summarize that developing leadership
introduced the topic of digital transformation in lead- skills needed for digital transformation should be a
ership classes at the MBA and upper undergradu- concern for both organizations and educational insti-
ate levels. tutions. This topic has not yet been explored in a
This study is framed as a starting point to encour- leadership curriculum context. In following the SoTL
age further and deeper conversations on this less com- methodology, we explore student perceptions using
mon topic in management pedagogy and pedagogical various ways including pre-topic and post-topic sur-
research. We synthesize relevant literature on the veys as well as skill rankings completed by students
importance of developing leadership skills in the con- both individually and after team discussions.
text of digital transformation. Knowing that current Furthermore, in the Recommendations section, we
organizational managers, business schools, manage- provide suggestions on how students can engage in
ment educators, and pedagogical researchers are the inquiry process. We note that data from students
beginning to acknowledge the inter-relationship of were collected in several semesters and we intend to
digital skills and leadership skills, we attempted to continue conducting this exercise in future semesters
identify whether students—essentially, the managers in order to expand the focus of this topic to better
of tomorrow—also recognize this need. If evident, this align with workplace demands for digital leader-
student perceptive understanding could be used to
ship skills.
advance pedagogical research agendas. With this in
mind, we proposed two research questions:
Terms and definitions relating to digital
RQ1: Which leadership skills do business students
perceive to be important in leading a firm’s digital Recognizing that we have included several terms relat-
transformation process? ing to digital in our introductory discussion, we pro-
RQ2: Is there a difference between student vide definitions offered by industry experts and
perceptions of which skills are important based on academic scholars in Table 1. We borrowed this for-
their gender and generation?
mat of presenting definitions in a tabulated form from
In this study, we follow the principles of good Allen’s (2020) article on digital mindset and tech liter-
practice according to the Scholarship of Teaching and acy in management education. We integrate
4 J. PHILIP AND M. GAVRILOVA AGUILAR

comprehensive definitions of digital into our research technology acceptance in student learning environ-
theme in order to assert that digital concepts (like ments. And more recently, e-leadership has been
digital skills and digital leadership) are not limited to studied in virtual contexts of Information and
technical knowledge or mastery of a specific software Communication Technologies (ICTs) like social
but rather that they encompass a variety of dimen- media, instant messaging, and file sharing (Liu et al.,
sions and components—including communication, 2018; Wu, Yu, & Hu, 2019). Given these past instan-
collaboration, ethical and cultural awareness, flexibil- ces, it is now time to give digital transformation—
ity, and continuous learning—that are all crucial to occurring in organizations through the application of
successfully leading an organization through dynamic even more advanced technologies like artificial
change (Van Laar, Van Deursen, Van Dijk, & De intelligence, machine learning, and robotics—an
Haan, 2017). e-leadership context.

Theoretical background The role of transformational leadership

Digital leadership and E-leadership When discussing leader behaviors, research on trans-
As a relatively nascent term, digital leadership has formational leadership is particularly relevant.
been previously discussed in management literature as Transformational leaders are capable of inspiring and
e-leadership. E-leadership is defined in terms of the motivating employees by considering employee feed-
relevant qualities displayed by leaders when interceded back, displaying empathy, encouraging intellectual
by digital technologies that result in positive influen- stimulation among followers, and enabling employees
ces on the attitudes and behaviors of organizational to rethink existing organizational assumptions and
followers (Avolio, Sosik, Kahai, & Baker, 2014). frameworks (Judge & Piccolo, 2004; Sosik, Avolio, &
Consistent with this literature, in this study we seek Kahai, 1997). Essentially, transformational leaders
to understand leadership’s role in digital transform- consistently communicate a vision to inspire followers,
ation, through an analysis of leader skills and compe- thereby, reforming employee behaviors to align with
tencies and what business students perceive to be their vision. For a firm to undergo a successful digital
necessary to lead a successful digital transformation. transformation, it is crucial that the digital leader
For the purposes of this study, the terms e-leadership effectively communicate the strategy for this trans-
and digital leadership are used interchangeably. formation and enable employees to truly believe and
buy-in to this vision. Transformational leadership style
has also been studied in a classroom environment and
E-leadership over the years has been found to yield positive outcomes for practic-
Avolio, Kahai, and Dodge (2000) discussed the critic- ing students (Pounder, 2008).
ality of context as an integral part of the leadership
construct under study. In past research, e-leadership Theoretical design of survey questionnaire as
has been explored in the context of various technolo-
related to leadership
gies as they emerged over the years in organizational
practice. For example, Kahai, Sosik, and Avolio (2003) As part of the class exercise administered in MBA and
studied leadership styles to invoke followers’ creative upper-level undergraduate courses, students completed
behaviors when using communication technologies a survey questionnaire. The initial survey question—
that were developed in the 1990s, like electronic meet- that pertained to understanding how students would
ing systems (EMS). Avolio et al. (2000) studied how rate technology skills amidst other leader skills—was
to modify and practice e-leadership in the context of borrowed from Kiron et al. (2016) and Kane, Phillips,
advanced information technologies (AIT) like emails, Copulsky, & Andrus (2019) study on digital trans-
Customer Relationship Management (CRMs), formation and digital leadership. Their studies recog-
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and other soft- nized that digital disruption and digital
ware systems as they were advancing. Discussions on transformation required enhancements of leadership
e-leadership have also occurred with regards to tech- skills and competencies. Through this classroom exer-
nology emergence in educational institutions. For cise, our purpose, was to capture student perceptions
example, Mishra, Henriksen, Boltz, and Richardson of the necessary leadership skills. Thus, we adminis-
(2016) studied e-leadership and transformational lead- tered the questionnaire in several semesters to both
ership in educational systems that navigated undergraduate and graduate students and in various
 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS 5

formats (as described in the Methods section). Methods

Specifically, in one of the semesters, students were
Overview of exercise
asked to rank various leadership skills individually.
Then, they worked in teams and reached a consensus This exercise was conducted in three semesters in an
on the ranking of leadership skills that they had com- attempt to gather student perceptions of digital trans-
pleted individually. Individual and team ratings helped formation at various stages of their business educa-
us better understand whether the individual opinion tion, such as at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
of students of each generation differed. It should be The exercise was also conducted prior to a discussion
noted that at the start of the semester, students had of this topic in class and then after the subject matter
randomly self-selected themselves into teams and each was taught. Consistent with SoTL’s method of con-
team consisted of students of various ages. This class- necting the inquiry to student learning (Felten, 2013),
room task of ranking the skills while participating in our goal was to identify students’ viewpoints on this
multi-generational teams aligns with e-leadership topic when they were initially unaware (either inside
because leadership styles in organizations often or outside the classroom) of this topic’s importance in
require upgrading and scholars are aware that leader- leadership and after they were taught this topic in
ship theories need to be adapted to include the prior- class. We further discuss the class exercise conducted
ities and needs of a multi-generational workforce in various semesters as Study 1 and Study 2 to dem-
(Aube, 2015; Keene & Handrich, 2015). For instance, onstrate perception changes. Conducting the exercise
it is known that Millennials define and view leader- in multiple semesters also allowed us to analyze
ship much differently than their older generational results for different student sample sizes.
counterparts, such as preferring service leadership to Study 1 was conducted in an undergraduate leader-
servant leadership (Balda & Mora, 2011). Younger ship class at a business school in the U.S. The class
generations are also technologically more advanced. consisted of 17 students, who were mostly seniors.
Hence, present day corporate leaders who are Gen They first completed the survey before the topic of
Xers and Baby Boomers will need to critically examine digital transformation was discussed and then retook
and adapt their leadership skills and managerial prac- the same survey again after the topic was taught. All
tices to ensure they are responding to the changing 17 students were either Millennials or post-
business environments. Millennials. In the Before stage, students completed
In addition to listing the skills, students also cre- the survey questionnaire answering the question
ated a list of competencies that they deemed neces- “What is the most important skill an organizational
sary. According to Li, Liu, Belitski, Ghobadian, and leader should have to succeed in a digital workplace?”
O’Regan (2016) and Henderson and Venkatraman (presented in the article by Kane et al., 2019) at the
(1999), e-leadership includes developing specific capa- start of a class period. Respondents were asked to rate
bilities in the areas of strategy, technology, competi- the following skills from topmost to lowest priority:
tiveness, and service. In particular, they discuss agile/ transformative vision, forward looking, understands
transformational leadership and hybrid skills needed technology, change-oriented, strong leader skills.
for leading in digital work environments that are often Following the completion of the survey, the class
uncertain and constantly changing. Therefore, the task period then consisted of a lecture on adaptive leader-
of asking students to make competency lists is befit- ship (Heifetz, 2004) and digital transformation as a
ting to this narrative. Creating competency lists for contemporary technical challenge for which leaders
leaders is a recognized research approach for measur- need to find adaptive solutions. Ensuing the class lec-
ing leadership outcomes/results during crises because ture, the After stage occurred four days later, when
comparing a leader’s behaviors and actions against students retook the same survey to rate how they pri-
prescribed competencies can offer deeper insights into oritized the importance of those leader skills.
areas for improvement (Yusko & Goldstein, 1997). Study 2 was conducted in two semesters, where
According to Giles (2016), three of the top 10 leader- students from MBA leadership courses at the same
ship competencies revolve around being open to new business school were asked to read the article on
ideas—i.e., being flexible to change one’s opinions and digital leadership entitled, How Digital Leadership
providing safe opportunities for employees for trial Is(n’t) Different (Kane et al., 2019). Then, they were
and error. In our student survey, we attempted to asked to answer the same survey question as Study 1.
learn whether students would capture this theme of (They were instructed to rate skills in the survey based
leader openness and flexibility. on their own viewpoints regardless of the ratings in
6 J. PHILIP AND M. GAVRILOVA AGUILAR

Table 2. Overall descriptive statistics. (i.e., pragmatic, decisive, flexible, collaborative, accom-
Mean S.D. modating of employee requirements) was the topmost
Transformative Visiona 2.67 1.36 priority for 43% of students and transformative vision
Forward Lookinga 3.09 1.33
Understands Technologya 3.09 1.43 (i.e., knowledge of market and trends, business acumen,
Change-Orienteda 2.92 1.30 problem solving) was the topmost priority for about
Strong Leader Skillsa 2.65 1.55
Age Category/Generationb 3.15 0.62 15% of students.
Genderc 1.57 0.59
Job Leveld 3.00 1.77
Overall Tenuree 3.12 1.19 Study 1 (after topic introduction)
N ¼ 138.
a
Transformative Vision, Forward Looking, Understands Technology, For the first question, about 72% of individual
Change-Oriented, Strong Leader Skills were coded from 1 ¼ highest pri-
ority to 5 ¼ lowest priority.
respondents rated understands technology in the top
b
Age Category was coded as 1¼ Baby Boomer, 2 ¼ Generation X, three leadership skills for a digital leader. For the
3 ¼ Millennial, 4 ¼ Post-Millennial.
c
Gender was coded as 1 ¼ Male, 2 ¼ Female, 3 ¼ Other.
same question, strong leader skills was the topmost
d
Job Level was coded as 1¼ Entry-Level, 2 ¼ Lower-Management, priority for 43% of students (same as Before) and
3 ¼ Upper-Management, 4 ¼ Self-Employed, 5 ¼ I am currently transformative vision was the topmost priority for
not working.
e
Overall Tenure was coded as 1 ¼ Less than 6 months, 2 ¼ Over 6 months about 15% of students (same as Before).
but less than 1 year, 3– ¼ Over 1 year but less than 5 years, 4 ¼ Over Post topic introduction in Study 1, the percentage
5 years but less than 10 years, 5 ¼ Over 10 years but less than 20 years,
6 ¼ Over 20 years. of students who rated technology in their top 3
increased slightly from 65% to 72%. The percentage
the article). A total of 121 individual responses and 19 who rated leader skills and transformative vision as
team responses were captured across the two semes- their top priority remained the same. In addition, a
ters. Students also worked in teams to discuss, and if quarter of the sample claimed that their rating of
needed, revise their individual rankings. Lastly, they technology “went up” compared to their previous rat-
were asked to consider a firm going through a digital ing after the class lecture and discussion on digital
transformation process. In addition, the survey asked transformation. When asked about their perception of
students to assist the CEO of the organization appoint technology for leaders, students’ qualitative comments
a digital leader, and in that regard, create a list of revealed that they now had an appreciation for why
three competencies and a job title for this potential analytics-based decision-making was important for
leadership position. Students also made recommenda- modern-day organizational leaders to understand.
tions on whether the CEO should appoint an external Students also revealed that the topic discussion, “ …
digital leader or not. Study 2 survey consisted of both changed my perspective but not my rating … ” and
quantitative and qualitative questions and data ana- believed that while technology was “absolutely import-
lysis involved statistical and preliminary text analyses. ant … it is becoming an essential skill for everyone
in the workforce, not just management and organiza-
tional leaders.”
Data analyses and results
Table 2 provides the descriptive statistics for the
Study 2 (before topic introduction)
close-ended survey questions for both studies.
Analyses for Study 1 and Study 2 and subsequent A total of 76 students were asked to read the article
results are distinguished as Before and After topic on digital leadership, without being provided a
introduction to describe potential perception changes. prompt about digital transformation by the instructor.
We distinguish this group in Study 2 as Before to cap-
ture their original perceptions because they were given
Study 1 (before topic introduction)
no instructional intervention on this topic before
For the first question, “What is the most important completing the survey. For the first question, as with
skill an organizational leader should have to succeed in Study 1, over half of the individual respondents
a digital workplace?, about 65% of individual respond- (about 57%) rated understands technology in the top
ents rated understands technology (i.e., decision-making three leadership skills for a digital leader. When asked
based on analytics, using social and mobile platforms to answer the same question as a team, only 10% (i.e.,
to engage with the leader’s team(s)) in the top three 2 out of 19 teams) of the sample believed that tech-
leadership skills for a digital leader (rated priority 1, nology should be the highest priority skill. For the
2, or 3). For the same question, strong leader skills same question, strong leader skills was the topmost
 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS 7

priority for 44% of students and transformative vision leadership skills, such as possessing a transformative
was the topmost priority for about 15% of students. vision and strong conventional leadership skills.
The following was discovered with regards to the
second research question about differences in student
Study 2 (after topic introduction) perceptions based on gender and generation across
A total of 45 students were first asked to read the art- studies. While there were no differences between the
icle on digital leadership, after which, a class lecture rankings based on respondents’ gender, all individuals
and discussion of digital transformation followed. who believed that a good understanding of technology
Because students were primed about this topic prior must be the topmost or second highest priority for a
to completing the survey, we utilize this sample to digital leader (37%) were largely Millennials and post-
capture post-intervention perceptions. For the first Millennials. In addition, 90% of the students who
question, 67% students rated understands technology rated technology as their highest priority skill had up
in the top three leadership skills, about 47% students to 5 years of work experience. This represents a strong
rated transformative vision, and 18% students rated indication that a vast majority of students, who will
strong leader skills as their topmost priority for a likely become future managers, already see the
digital leader. importance of technology skills for leading in today’s
Similar to Study 1, after topic introduction in digital age.
Study 2, the percentage of students who rated technol- Beyond using statistical analyses, the following text
ogy in their top 3 increased from 57% to 67%. analyses was performed for the collective sample of
Interestingly, unlike the undergraduate students, in Study 2. We summarized data through visual repre-
the MBA samples (i.e., Study 2), the percentage of stu- sentations, which have shown to enhance the clarity
of research findings (Dickinson, 2010). A particular
dents who rated leader skills and transformative vision
type of visual image that is popular in text analysis is
changed in the Before and After samples. Specifically,
“word clouds,” where the most frequently appearing
the After sample placed more value in possessing a
words in the analyzed text are depicted using different
transformative vision as a skill (an increase from 15%
font sizes. In the current study, two word clouds were
to 47%). Hence, the increased appreciation among
created in RStudio—one for each set of qualitative
MBA students for not only technology skills, but also
data obtained for the digital leader’s competencies and
for possessing a transformative vision (through know-
job titles, respectively. The word cloud for
ledge of market trends) suggests that they were able
“Competencies” is shown in Appendix A and the
to perceive leadership skills for digital transformation
word cloud for “Job Titles” is shown in Appendix B.
and digital strategies after this topic was taught and
The most frequently appearing words in the
discussed in class. Competency statements were—vision, digital, trans-
These numbers suggest that the intervention of formation, trends, innovation, risks, among others.
teaching the topic resulted in changes in student per- Some example statements were, “Ensures shared vision
ceptions. In both studies, over 50% of students already towards digital transformation”; “ … has a clear vision
believed that understanding technology was crucial for of … digital transformation”; “Possesses strong trans-
an organizational leader before the topic was intro- formative vision and knowledge of market and trends.”
duced. Additionally, the mean rating for understands These statements indicate that students perceive that a
technology (M ¼ 3.09) of the 5 rated skills (see Table leader who wishes to take the company through a
2) reveals that the collective sample of students placed digital transformation must possess traditional stra-
mid-level priority to digital skills. Hence, we infer that tegic leadership abilities such as establishing clear
students view technology skills as important but do goals, being able to take risks, and being comfortable
not believe that this skill should be the highest prior- with market uncertainties and changes. The
ity or sole skill necessary to lead in the digital work- Competency word cloud also included words like
place. In other words, understanding new and latest being flexible and aware, in example statements like
technologies remains at mid-level importance in “ … aware of new technology … ”; “Must remain
leader skills. Hence, sufficiently answering our first flexible to adapt to the need for the constant
research question regarding which leadership skills innovation,” which again suggest that what makes a
business students perceive to be important, we derive digital leader successful is not merely possessing tech-
that students foresee digital leaders displaying technol- nical skills but rather having an acute alertness of
ogy skills in congruence with other conventional technology’s role in organizational dynamics and
8 J. PHILIP AND M. GAVRILOVA AGUILAR

displaying malleability. This perception is also sup- their organization’s digital strategies for sustained
ported by prior studies, where employees rate man- competitive success.
agerial soft skills of leadership and collaboration This study contributes to business management
higher than technological skills in leading a digital pedagogy in higher education by outlining research
transformation for the organization (Kiron et al., and exploring the skills students perceived corporate
2016). The Job Title word cloud displayed words like leaders must possess for digital leadership. We also
transformation, technology, innovation, progressive, cre- summarized any suggestive differences among student
ative, and example titles such as Director of Digital perceptions based on their gender and generation
Transformation, Chief Technological Officer, Chief group. As graduate course instructors, the authors
Progressive Officer, Director of Technological could have cited research findings to MBA students to
Integration, Director of Digital Development, and emphasize the importance and relevance of digital
Digital Strategist. The high frequency of words like leadership. However, in an attempt to understand
chief, director, and officer in the word cloud indicates what these future leaders consider and believe about
that students envision the digital leader as occupying skillsets digital leaders need, we emphasized the pur-
a strategic-level position in the organization. pose of initiating discussions on technology in behav-
Overall, more than 90% of students were in favor ioral management classes. Gathering student opinions
of appointing a digital leader. The students who were on trending themes like digital leadership will allow
opposed to appointing an external leader for digital management educators to customize course content
transformation believed the change process should be on such topics based on their student composition.
distributed within various departmental units in an Furthermore, conducting similar exercises to capture
perceptions at the beginning of a semester would also
organization and cited the cultural and mindset shift
minimize instructor-biased content taught to students
needed for the digital transformation would be better
and could result in more student engagement based
handled by existing internal leadership. These sugges-
on their topic preferences. In addition, instructors
tions represent student opinions regarding how
could adapt course activities and content depending
employees would traverse the operational, cultural,
on the generational composition of students in each
and affect-related changes as their organizations
semester’s class. For example, instructors could assign
undergo a digital transformation. In a way, these com-
student teams composed of a balanced mix of post-
ments reflect student (i.e., follower) attitudes, if and
Millennials, Millennials, Gen Xers, and Baby Boomers.
when their current or future employer would be
Alternatively, in semesters when the class age demo-
forced to implement digital changes. graphic skews older, there could be increased focus on
why this topic is important. Furthermore, concepts
Discussion like emotional intelligence that have been well-
established in research as being particularly useful for
The times we live in, there is no denying that organ- effective leadership can be taught around digital trans-
izational leadership shares an unavoidable mutual formation (George, 2000; Weinberger, 2009).
relationship with technology, with the latter having In this study, we emphasized the co-existence and
the potential to reshape the former (DasGupta, 2011). reciprocated influence of leadership and technology
Industry leaders who maximize this relationship for a and the urgency it has created in shaping the mindsets
successful transformation of their firm’s capabilities as of future managers. From a pedagogy perspective, one
well as their own leadership abilities will advance their of the most interesting and noteworthy findings of
organizations into the future as sustainably competi- this study was that students who rated digital skills as
tive entities. We know that digital transformation their highest or second highest priority (a total of
could disrupt existing organizational rules and struc- 37%) were largely either Millennials or post-
tures. A leader’s attitude toward technology will Millennials. Clearly, these younger generational stu-
impact how they manipulate their organization’s dents value digital skills in a leader more than their
structures to effectively appropriate these digital tech- Gen X and Baby Boomer classmates. Bokek-Cohen
nologies within their business architecture and influ- (2018) reconceptualized the digital divide that exists
ence employee opinions and behaviors (Chatterjee, between older and younger individuals in terms of
Grewal, & Sambamurthy, 2002). Going forward, their ability to acquire digital skills and referred to
organizational leaders will need to adapt their skills, late-career employees who acquire technology skills
competencies, attitudes, and behaviors to complement post completion of formal education as digital
 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS 9

immigrants. With such differences in ability and atti- from other business schools should be considered and
tude toward digital skills existing among generations, analyzed to gain further insight on the importance of
it becomes imperative to begin discussions in manage- this topic in business school curricula.
ment undergraduate and graduate courses to find With regards to future research, when implement-
ways to transform micro concepts (that presently cater ing such class exercises in a graduate or undergradu-
to older generations) to resonate with the attitudes of ate leadership or management course, and consistent
the younger workforce. For managerial practice, this with Felten’s (2013) principles for good practice in
finding adds to already existing evidence that organ- SoTL, we offer the following recommendations
izational leaders often have to adapt management for pedagogy.
styles and disregard stereotypes and assumptions if
they are to effectively motivate, engage, and retain Recommendation 1
younger workers (Ferri-Reed, 2014). The relevance and variability of digital skills required
for a successful digital transformation are specific to
the industry domain and firm. Hence, it is crucial to
Implications for students
consider the context rather than generalizing the
This classroom exercise helped students reflect on the importance of these skills. As Sowcik and Allen
latest emerging trend of digitalization occurring in the (2013) observed, leadership is an interdisciplinary
business world and evaluate how prepared they were topic that has its roots in various fields including edu-
to embrace or denounce it. This research offers cation, psychology, sociology, philosophy, communica-
insights into whether students wanted the topic of tion, organizational behavior, and ethics. Thus, a
digital leadership skills incorporated in their manage- discussion of digital skills in an MBA class will be
ment courses. This exercise was unique for a business rigorous if students are presented with context
leadership class because traditional curricula do not dependent information. Alternatively, instructors can
delve into digital topics. Hence, students were intro- allow students to self-select a context based on their
duced to thinking about digitalization beyond the current or prior work experience. Webber, O’Neill,
technical and strategic lenses through which they are and Dossinger (2020) also recommend adapting class
accustomed to viewing it (in computer science, busi- activities to include contextual details on the internal
ness analytics, and strategic management courses) and and external environment of the firm. In adapting this
realized the importance and relevance of this topic in to any management or social sciences classroom,
managing employees. This approach presents an instructors should emphasize the interdisciplinary
opportunity for students to familiarize themselves nature of leadership topics and further explore how a
with employee issues surrounding digital transform- digital transformation may be informed by technical
ation as they enter the workforce. fields like engineering and behavioral sciences like
social psychology and sociology.
Limitations and recommendations for
Recommendation 2
future research
Pedagogical scholars must consider how they would
As a limitation of this research we recognize the pos- encourage a digital mindset among students to aid lit-
sibility of social desirability bias because in one of the erary understanding of this topic area. Educators have
studies students were asked to first read an article on a critical role in driving student behaviors to continu-
digital leadership, which might have impacted their ally prepare them to display strong leadership during
perceptions of the importance of digital skills in a digital transformations. Creating a digital mindset in
leader. Applying a suggestion method of coping with business students early on in their careers would
this bias (Nederhof, 1985), students were asked to enable them to effectively maximize technology util-
respond to forced-choice items in the close-ended ization without compromising the human elements of
question relating to skill rating and were asked to rate managing and leading. Amazon uses an artificial intel-
the different skills from (1) through (5) without the ligence (AI) system to fire its warehouse workers
option of repeating a score on two skills. Another based on productivity numbers (Hanly, 2019). The AI
limitation was that the present sample consisted only system could generate warnings or firing notice letters
of students from one higher education institution, automatically without any input from the worker’s
with a rather small undergraduate sample. More sam- supervisor, thereby entirely discounting the manager’s
ples from both undergraduate and graduate students contribution in an employee’s performance
10 J. PHILIP AND M. GAVRILOVA AGUILAR

management. We contend that shaping a digital competencies they deem most important for organiza-
mindset in business students will enable them to tional leaders to succeed in a digital workplace. The
develop managerial attitudes that value the capabilities study results revealed that students, particularly
of emerging technologies without disregard for Millennials and post-Millennials, many of whom have
employee emotions that accompany the use of these not yet entered the workforce full-time or secured
technologies. An effective digital leader is curious to their first employment, already understand the
learn and apply new digital concepts without fore- importance of digitization and its relevance to busi-
going their core leadership morals (Bower & ness leadership. Our recommendations for implement-
Konwerski, 2017). ing similar classroom exercises stem from the need to
enhance both graduate and undergraduate business
Recommendation 3 management curriculum to ensure that our students
We suggest initiating the discussion on the topic of have an opportunity to examine relevant management
digital technologies either a week prior to the start of practices in contemporary contexts and develop digital
the semester (as an individual student exercise) or leadership skills to confidently lead amidst the com-
within the first couple of weeks of the semester (exer- plexities of a digital workplace. Lastly, and import-
cise comprised of individual and team tasks). Doing antly, developing a digital mindset among students
so would help instructors to tailor-make digital class could provide a platform for a plethora of questions,
content and activities based on the student body com- agendas, and discussions for pedagogical literature.
position each semester. Moreover, it would allow The current article illustrates the numerous possibil-
instructors to capture pre-topic and post-topic student ities for building a robust research agenda for this
perceptions on this subject matter and assess whether topic of leadership skills and digital transformation.
students grasped the topic the way it was intended to
be understood. The practice of doing pre-course sur-
Acknowledgements
veys of students is already an established method in
pedagogy because such surveys provide course We are thankful to our colleagues and anonymous confer-
instructors with information about the level of know- ence reviewers for their feedback.
ledge of incoming students (Wirth & Perkins, 2005).
We intend this exercise/survey to serve as the first References
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Appendix A Appendix B

Word Cloud of Competencies Word Cloud of Job Titles