Socio-emotional skills and artificial intelligence competencies among university teachers in the digital transformation of higher education: The mediating role of educational leadership

Abstract

The rapid digital transformation of higher education and the growing incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) are reshaping university teaching and creating new professional demands for academic staff. This study examined the relationships among social-emotional skills, educational leadership, and AI competencies among university teachers, considering these dimensions as interrelated components of professional adaptation to increasingly digital academic environments. A quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional, correlational design was employed. Data were collected from 403 university teachers through a structured questionnaire and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results showed that social-emotional skills were positively associated with educational leadership (β = 0.684, p < .001) and AI competencies (β = 0.311, p < .001), while educational leadership was positively associated with AI competencies (β = 0.471, p < .001). Educational leadership also partially mediated the relationship between social-emotional skills and AI competencies (β = 0.322, p < .001). The structural model explained 46.8% of the variance in educational leadership and 52.1% of the variance in AI competencies. Educational leadership also showed a statistically significant indirect role in the association between socio-emotional skills and AI competencies, while the direct association remained significant, a pattern consistent with partial statistical mediation.