Open Access

Influence Of Digital Leadership on Perceived Gender Equality,

Collegiality, Wellbeing, And Organizational Commitment Among
Academic Staff at Malaysian Tertiary Institutions

Yuk Fong Chin 1, Sabariah Sharif 2, Fung Lan Yong 3

1
Jesselton University College, Malaysia
2
Universiti Malaysia Sabah
3
Jesselton University College, Malaysia
Corresponding Author: sabariah@ums.edu.my

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of digital leadership on perceived gender equality, collegiality,
wellbeing and organizational commitment among academic staff at Malaysian tertiary institutions. A review of the available
literature indicates that there is a lack of empirical findings on digital leadership in relation to these four psychosocial
constructs within the Malaysian context. The respondents of this study consisted of 100 academic staff based in five private
tertiary institutions in Malaysia. The SPSS 26 was utilized to analyze the data which was collected online using close-ended
questionnaires. Besides the item “gender equality”, there were no significant differences concerning the respondents’
perceptions of digital leadership. In addition, the Kruskal-Wallis H test showed no significant differences related to the age
groups, academic credentials or work experiences of the respondents regarding how they perceived the correlations between
digital leadership with collegiality, wellbeing and organizational commitment.

：Academic Staff, Digital Leadership, Collegiality, Gender Equality, Malaysian Tertiary Institutions, Wellbeing,
Organizational Commitment

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of Received April 17, 2023, Accepted August 4, 2023
*Corresponding Author
the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial
Email: sabariah@ums.edu.my
License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits

unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in

any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

©

Globally, the highly dynamic nature of the
digital age has resulted in a pressing need for novel
leadership approaches which are capable of
competently driving and sustaining digital
transformation initiatives among organizations. In
the current sociocultural milieu, which
emphasizes more on innovativeness and less on
rigid structures, it is becoming increasingly
difficult for leaders to solely rely on direct,
hierarchical power and structured processes to run
an organization (Meyer and Allen, 2012).
Modern Tertiary Institutions (TI) are
becoming highly digitalized, leveraging on a
broad array of digital services to strengthen their
organizational capabilities and sustainability
(Klein, 2020). This makes it harder for educational
leaders to maintain traditional leadership styles,
necessitating them to explore new, digitalization
enabled leadership approaches like Digital
Leadership (DL). It is becoming increasingly vital
for (TI) leaders to integrate digital citizenship
behaviors within their daily functions toward more
effectively handling the novel challenges that they
face today. (DL) is a highly viable solution for the
Malaysian higher educational (MHE) sector too,
considering its objective of becoming a global
higher educational hub and exporter.
As a workforce feeder to any country’s economy,
it can be readily seen why (TI) within today’s
rapidly evolving digital landscape need to focus
on (DL). This has a great potential to inspire
innovation and change within the (MHE) contexts.
However, there is a gap in the available literature
concerning digital leaders who are capable of
leading change in (MHE) wherein digital
competencies are fast becoming the norm, rather
than the exception. The available literature also
shows a lack of empirical findings linking (DL)
with perceived gender equity, collegiality,
wellbeing and organizational commitment among
academic staff at Malaysian (TI).
Digital leaders need to be technologically
savvy, people-centric, and have the ability to take
calculated risks within unstructured and
ambiguous settings, in addition to possessing a
strong situational and emotional awareness, which
would enable them to empower workers and
create supportive and focused work environments
(Korn Ferry Institute, 2018).
As highlighted by Petrucci and Rivera (2018), the
iGen are taking over the workforce, resulting in
rapidly changing organizational leadership trends.
Thus, there is a growing need for digital leaders
who are capable of dealing with elements like real-
time feedback, advanced people analytics, agile
team networks, personalized learning and artificial
intelligence, while focusing on shared values and
vision, change management and talent
development so as to fulfil organizational goals.
Lim and Teoh’s (2021) study involving digital
leadership on the performance outcomes of private
(TI), showed that digital learning culture,
professional excellence and digital citizenship
tended to significantly influence performance
outcomes, implying that leaders should emphasize
digital learning culture, digital citizenship and
professional excellence for their institutions to
thrive in an emerging market.
Karakose et al.’s (2021) findings point toward (DL)
skills revolving around technological applications
and management skills needed to augment digital
transformation within (TI). Similarly, Jagadisen et
al. (2022) found that (DL) significantly impacted
workers’ cooperation, innovation and dynamic
capabilities, implying that leaders should align
their workers’ capabilities with digital technology
to increase their competitive advantage and
business opportunities.
Wajcman et al. (2020) state that gender divides
 Chin, Sharif & Yong
tend to persist, regardless of a nation’s overall
technological attainments, socioeconomic
performances, or location. It is the same within the
digital realm whereby in spite of the various
measures and initiatives as well as greater
emphasis on equality, women are still vastly
underrepresented. The researchers add that
emerging digital educational infrastructures often
offer little educational access for girls in
underdeveloped and developing nations. Further,
the masculine associations with STEM often
create gendered divisions, biases and stereotypes,
thus limiting the number of women in such fields.
Pittman (2019) states that the gender gap within
Malaysia’s workplace is due to various factors
such as unequal literacy rates, and because of such
gender stereotyping, a gap exists within the STEM
fields due to an overall societal tendency to
perceive girls as merely being future mothers and
housewives. Thus, there is a lacking presence of
women in leadership, business, labor market and
decision-making positions although many of them
have tertiary qualifications.
As emphasized in the World Economic Forum
(2020), in terms of gender equality, Malaysia
ranked 104th out of 153 countries, with women
here being still far behind in (DL) when compared
to other developed countries, with only a handful
of them holding positions which require a high
digital literacy. This is especially so among
women from rural or disadvantaged backgrounds,
who are unable to acquire the relevant digital skills
because of poor accessibility to the necessary
facilities and technological platforms.
Anjumin (2022) highlights that Malaysia lags
behind many ASEAN nations in gender equality,
although there are continuing cries of Malaysian
women against gender discrimination in job
recruitment, employment, workplace inequalities,
promotion opportunities, wrongful dismissals,
election candidacies, etc. Sey and Kinglsey (2022)
list four factors which deter Malaysian women
from (DL): 1) People-related, i.e., due to lacking
human capital or people’s behaviors, beliefs and
attitudes; 2) Structural, being related to socio
economic systems and political institutions; 3)
Policy-related, i.e., policies which are
disadvantageous for women; 4) The Covid-19
pandemic which has shown the glaring disparities
in digital accessibility and entrepreneurship
opportunities amongst the genders. However, the
fourth factor is keenly debated, with many opining
that the pandemic has equally provided women
with various e-commerce opportunities (Isa et al.,
2022).
In their study concerning academic reviews,
promotions and tenures (RPT), Dawson, et al.
(2022) found that although most (TI) did not
acknowledge collegiality as an RPT factor, it did
impact decisions related to RPT. In Jeyaraj and
Wald’s (2023) study involving Malaysian private
(TI), they found collegiality to be a driver for
research output through collaborations. They also
found that Malaysian (TI) had difficulties in
cultivating collegiality due to established
organizational hierarchies and other sociocultural
norms. The researchers add that although
Malaysian academics perceived collegial
leadership and intellectual collegiality as
important, they felt unsupported and disengaged
under the dominant top-down leadership style.
In Mat Nazali et al.’s (2021) study of employees
from Malaysian public (TI), they found their
respondents’ wellbeing to be influenced by
physical, psychological, environment health and
their social relationships. Significant predictors of
physical and psychological health were found to
be depression, medical illnesses, number of
dependents, and job promotions. The predictors of
social relationships were campus location,
depression and job promotion, while those of
environmental health were age, educational level,
depression, job promotion and illness. The
findings indicated healthy younger staff with
tertiary education as experiencing a better life
quality, and staff without promotional prospects
and those from suburban areas as experiencing a
lower life quality.
Arokiasamy and Huam (2019) found significant
positive links amongst organizational culture,
leadership styles, job satisfaction
organizational commitment. In another study by
Al-Mamary (2021), it was seen that leadership
styles, specifically transformational leadership
significantly influenced organizational
commitment levels, which in turn affected
organizational citizenship.
Considering the scarcity of empirical
findings regarding (DL) within the contexts of
Malaysia, this study provides deeper insights
concerning this phenomenon, particularly from
the standpoint of (TI). Also, the study adds to the
body of knowledge concerning the psychosocial
factors associated with (DL), particularly with
regard to perceived gender equity, collegiality,
wellbeing and organizational commitment among
academic staff at Malaysian (TI). The study
findings also offer deeper insights on how (DL)
could enhance Malaysian (TI) staff’s psychosocial
attitudes toward attaining sustainable long-term
successes.
The objectives of this study were to determine:
(1) The respondents’ perceptions of (DL) based
on their demographics
(2) The correlations between (DL) and gender
equality (GE)
(3) The correlations between (DL)
collegiality (Co)
(4) The correlations between (DL)
organizational commitment (OC)
(5) The correlations between (DL)
employees’ wellbeing (EW)
Instruments
and
This study’s data collection was done via
online questionnaires, which were meant to glean
deeper insights on respondents’ perceptions of
(DL). The benefits of online questionnaires are:
better response rates, cost effectiveness,
expedience, immediate accessibility, flexibility,
etc. (Regmi et al., 2016). Along with questions
concerning the respondents’ demography, the
Likert scale questionnaire consisted of concise
questions relating to gender equality, collegiality,
wellbeing and organizational commitment. The
questionnaire was pilot tested before the actual
study to establish its validity and reliability.
Sample
This study’s sample size was (n=100),
made up of employees based in five private (TI) in
Malaysia. The help of the respective institutions’
HR department was sought when selecting the
respondents. Statisticians hold that with regard to
surveys, based on the central limit theorem, n=30
should adequately increase the confidence interval
of the findings and hence make them justifiable
(Stark, 2017). This study focused on four
independent variables, i.e., age, genders, academic
credentials and job experience and thus, the
findings generated by the current sample size
should be reliable and valid.
Data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 at the
0.05 level of significance. The Mann-Whitney U
test was conducted toward discerning any gender
differences associated with the respondents’
perceptions of the importance of (DL) and its
and
correlations with GE, Co, OC, EW. The Kurskal-
Wallis H test was conducted to determine if age,
and academic credentials and work experience had any
significant effect on the respondents’ perceptions
and of (DL) and its correlations with GE, Co, OC, EW.
 Chin, Sharif & Yong

The Wilcoxon signed rank test was then

performed toward determining the demographic details. The findings indicate the
significance levels for each item (GE, Co, OC, mean values concerning the importance of (DL) as
EW) based on the 3.5 hypothesized score. being approximately 63.5 for both male and
female respondents. This shows that the
respondents strongly perceived (DL) as being
Table 1 shows the study respondents’ important for their respective institutions.

Table 1 Independent Variables: Descriptive Statistics

Genders (%) Mean Values

Males 47.45 63.56
Females 52.55 63.54
Age Range
25-35 15.25 63.52
36-45 35.14 63.54
46-55 27.57 63.51
Above 55 22.04 62.91
Academic Credentials
Diploma 9.16 63.52
Bachelors 26.08 63.49
Masters 32.23 63.82
PhD 32.53 63.37
Work Experience
1-3 Years 13.14 63.48
3-5 Years 28.24 63.51
5-10 Years 31.52 63.52
≥ 10 Years 27.10 63.45
Mean Values: Strong=63-70; Moderate= 56-62; Weak= 49-55
Table 2 delineates the respondents’ perceptions concerning the correlation of (DL) with GE, Co, OC, EW,
based on gender differences. Significant findings are denoted by (p ≤ 0.05).

Table 2 Gender Differences: Mann-Whitney U test

Items: The correlations between (DL): p-values

Gender equality (GE) 0.024*
Collegiality (Co) 0.216
Organizational commitment (OC) 0.145
Employees’ wellbeing (EW) 0.953

As seen in Table 3, the p-values of the Kruskal- credentials or work experiences of the respondents’
Wallis H test indicate that the age range, academic did not play a significant role in their perceptions
 of DL’s correlation with GE, Co, OC and EW.

Table 3 The Kurskal-Wallis H Test

Items: The correlations between (DL): Age Academic Work

Credentials Experience
Gender equality (GE) 0.865 0.634 0.846
Collegiality (Co) 0.358 0.576 0.577
Organizational commitment (OC) 0.165 0.531 0.645
Employees’ wellbeing (EW) 0.321 0.978 0.333

To uncover any significance in the way the
respondents perceived the correlation of (DL) with
GE, Co, OC, EW, with regard to the median score
of 3.5 which had been hypothesized, the one
sample Wilcoxon test was done. The significance
level for the test was set at the 0.05. It was seen
that all of items showed statistical significance and
were associated with median scores that were
above 3.5. Thus, the respondents chose the higher
scores in relation to how they perceived the
correlation of (DL) with GE, Co, OC and EW (see
Table 4).

Table 4 Significance Levels: The one sample Wilcoxon test

Items: The correlations between (DL): p-values

Gender equality (GE) < 0.001
Collegiality (Co) < 0.001
Organizational commitment (OC) < 0.001
Employees’ wellbeing (EW) < 0.001

The respondents’ agreement levels concerning the with (GE) was perceived to be the least, whereby
correlations of (DL) with GE, Co, OC and EW is 7.7 % of the respondents disagreed that this was
condensed and delineated in Table 5. The the case. Besides, (GE), the agreeableness of the
components demonstrating the highest agreement respondents about the co-relatedness of (DL) with
were organizational commitment, employee Co, OC and EW ranged from 80 to 90 %.
wellbeing and collegiality. The correlation of (DL)
Table 5 Level of Agreement: (DL)’s Correlation With GE, Co, OC and EW

Level of Agreement (%) Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly

Disagree Agree
Gender Equality (GE) 0.0% 7.7 % 19.2 % 39.7 % 33.4 %
Collegiality (Co) 0.0% 0.0% 7.3 % 39.4 % 53.3 %
Organizational Commitment (OC) 0.0% 0.0% 10.7% 28.6% 60.7%
Employees’ Wellbeing (EW) 0.0% 0.0% 8.7 % 33.7 % 57.5 %

academic credentials or work experiences were

not linked significantly with the respondents’
As indicated by the findings, the age range, gender,
perceptions of (DL). This echoes the findings of
 Chin, Sharif & Yong

other similar studies concerning leadership because of the sample population’s small,
behaviors (Ehlers, 2020). The respondents also homogenous nature. Also, the focus of the study
indicated that (DL) was crucial toward their was on only five, private Malaysian (TI).
institutions maintaining their competitive edges Additionally, due to close-ended, online
over the long term, which is in line with questionnaires being prone to issues concerning
Antonopoulou et al.’s (2021) findings. The cause and effect relationships, there could be
correlation of (DL) with Co, OC and EW were potential biases in the study findings. Future
associated with median scores, indicating that the studies could employ open ended, face to face
higher scores were selected by the participants. interviews when investigating this phenomenon.
Most of the respondents agreed that (DL) was Also, additional measures could be considered, for
strongly correlated with the above components. instance, utilizing larger, random samples to
This is of particular significance, especially in further ensure the findings’ consistency.
consideration of Kaguhangire-Barifaijo and
Nkata’s (2021) proposal of collegiality being a
crucial governance pillar for (TI), influencing
independent thought, impartial leadership Al-Mamary, Y. H. (2021). The impact of
decisions, mutual respect and peer support. transformational leadership on
However, the findings were not aligned with organizational citizenship behaviour:
Manaf et al.’s (2021), who found that the Evidence from Malaysian higher
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influence, inspirational motivation, individualized says Liew. New Straits Times.

consideration, etc., (which are also characteristics https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/202

of DL) are positively correlated with employees’ 2/03/777712/gender-bias-still-prevalent-

OC levels, was confirmed in this study. The non- says-liew

significant findings concerning the correlation of

(DL) with GE could have various explanations.
For instance, gender inequalities stemming from
intersecting socioeconomic, political and cultural
barriers that are strongly embedded within
Malaysian (TI). Such cultural and hierarchical
settings are rather prevalent within (TI) in
Malaysia, which could exacerbate women’s
hesitance to speak out and demand for equal rights
for fears of unwanted repercussions.
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