AI Adoption and the Evolution of Lecturer Leadership in UK Business Schools.

Abstract:

This paper explores the ways in which the implementation of artificial intelligence is transforming the leadership roles of lecturers in business schools in the UK in terms of adapted leadership practices, role diffusion in academia, and decision-making. It aims to gain insight into the leadership role of lecturers in AI-infused learning environments. This study has a qualitative research design that is fundamentally interpretive in nature. Data for this research were gathered using a series of semi-structured interviews that were carried out with lecturers who were involved with AI technology in UK business schools. This research used a reflexive type of thematic analysis that allowed for a detailed examination of issues related to the leadership practices of AI technology in higher education. These results have shown that AI implementation is transforming the leadership of lecturers from being more individual-role-based to more practice-based forms of leadership. The leadership practices of lecturers are becoming more practice-based, including leadership through expertise exchange, support, and sensemaking, as opposed to role-based leadership. This transformation of leadership is also accompanied by various challenges of emotional labour, role ambiguity, and ethical complexities related to issues of academic integrity. It was revealed that support structures of institutions played important roles in determining the degree to which leadership practices enabled by AI were empowering or disempowering. This research makes a contribution to both the literature on leadership practices and literature on higher education by reframing the adoption of AI as a trigger for the development of lecturer leadership, as opposed to it being a technological issue. This research also pushes the development of literature on both distributed leadership practices as well as leadership practices by highlighting the importance of ethics being at the heart of AI-enhanced academic leadership practices.