Exploring the influence of artificial intelligence on strategic decision-making: empirical insights from educational leadership practices

Abstract

The entry of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in an organization decision-making has attained international popularity but the strategic use of Artificial Intelligence in educational leadership is less researched. Although literature emphasizes the ability of AI to automate administrative tasks, there is little empirical evidence of its impact on strategic judgments involving educational leadership and decisions associated with high stakes and associated risks, especially in developing countries. The current study fills this knowledge blank by analyzing the impact of AI in decision-making processes in higher education leadership. Under a mixed-methods design, the data was drawn using a validated survey instrument and quantitative data collected on 214 senior leaders of various universities. The relationship between adoption of AI, quality of decision and speed of decision were measured using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Complementary qualitative information was received with the use of 20 semi-structured interviews with institutional leaders as well as using thematic analysis with the help of NVivo software to allow identifying the subtleties of the context. The results indicate that AI enjoys a positive relationship with the quality and the efficiency of strategic decisions, upon the digital literacy of leaders and the institutional preparedness. Nonetheless, the ethical concerns, the question of reliability of the data and the risks of overestimating AI became the important moderating factors. The research is helpful to the disciplines of socio-technical decision-making and rational decision-making as well since it is shown that AI continuously becomes a strategic resource but not an operational one. In practice, the study provides practical suggestions on leadership training, policymaking and ethical implementation of AI in educational establishments.