School Principals’ Perspectives and Leadership Styles for Digital Transformation: A Q-Methodology Study

The advent of generative AI (GenAI) and its growing use in education has sparked a renewed wave of school digital transformation. School principals are pivotal in advancing and shaping school digital transformation, yet little is known about how they understand and lead digital transformation in the age of GenAI, particularly within China's complex educational system. This study employed Q methodology to identify the perceptions and leadership styles of Chinese K-12 school principals toward school digital transformation in the age of GenAI. An analysis of a 30-item Q set with a P sample of 23 principals revealed four leadership types: Cautious Observation-Technological Gatekeeping Leadership, Moderate Ambition-Culturally Transformative Leadership, Moderate Ambition-Emotionally Empowering Leadership, and High Aspiration-Strategy-Driven Leadership. Overall, principals' stances on GenAI formed a continuum, ranging from cautious observation and skeptical optimism to active embrace. These perceptions and leadership styles were shaped by Confucian cultural values, a flexible central-local governance arrangement, and parents' high expectations for students' academic achievement. Furthermore, structural constraints in resource provision further heightened principals' reliance on maintaining guanxi-based relationships. This study enhances the understanding of the diversity of principals' leadership practices worldwide and offers actionable insights for governments and principals to more effectively advance AI-enabled school digital transformation.