Leadership dimensions and behaviors in business schools’ forced digital transformation

Abstract

The digital transformation in business schools during the COVID-19 pandemic is unique since external factors, not internal initiatives, drive it. This event is called 'forced digital transformation.' It raises new challenges for business schools to ensure that the transformation continues in the future since the post-pandemic situation has encouraged social and economic activities to return offline. As the situation begins normal, less external pressure can result in declining creative initiatives from business schools to explore more opportunities from digital technologies. Consequently, the digital transformation process that started during the pandemic could stagnate. One of the essential factors that play a role in encouraging continuous digital transformation is leadership. Leadership is believed to be the core of every digital innovation process. However, research investigating the role of leadership in business schools' digital transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic is still limited. Therefore, this study aims to describe leadership's role in structural and behavioral changes during forced digital transformation in business schools by applying a systematic literature review.