From leadership research to district action: Impact of middle leaders’ competencies on teachers’ technology acceptance in Malaysian TS25 schools

AI-assisted editorial implementation guide. Proposed district actions are separate from the original authors’ findings and recommendations. Independent peer review of this guide is not asserted.

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Evidence and transfer

Education-related source: verify which participants, institutions and outcomes were actually studied before district adoption. Source publication type: research-article. License and identity checks do not establish study quality or causality.

Original authors’ abstract, reproduced under the source license:

Abstract This study examines how middle leaders’ competencies influence teachers’ technology acceptance in Malaysian TS25 primary schools. The research combines the Middle Leaders’ Competency Model for Education 4.0 (MLCMEdu4.0) and the Teachers’ Technology Acceptance Model (TTAM). Using a cross-sectional survey, data were gathered from 302 teachers in TS25 schools in Kuala Lumpur and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Results show a significant positive relationship (β = 0.599, p < .001), with middle leaders’ competency accounting for 36% of the variance (R² = .36) in teachers’ technology acceptance. Critical thinking was identified as the most vital middle leadership competency in Education 4.0, followed by entrepreneurial skills and collaboration. Among factors influencing teachers’ technology acceptance, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and facilitation conditions were most impactful. This study highlights the critical role of middle leaders in supporting technology acceptance, especially in Malaysia’s educational reform context. It highlights the need for targeted professional development programs and clear role definitions for middle leaders to enhance their influence on technology acceptance. Future studies should explore these dynamics across varied educational contexts and adopt longitudinal designs to assess the long-term effects of middle leadership on technology acceptance.

Study methods

This study adopted a quantitative research design using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to examine the impact of Middle Leaders’ Competency in Education 4.0 (MLCMEdu4.0) on Teachers’ Technology Acceptance (TTA). The SEM framework incorporated both measurement and structural models, allowing simultaneous assessment of construct validity and the hypothesized relationships between variables.

Limitations

This study has several limitations that should be acknowledged. First, its focus on urban primary schools in Kuala Lumpur restricts generalizability to the wider Malaysian educational context, particularly rural or secondary schools that may face different challenges. Second, the cross-sectional design offers only a snapshot of the relationship between middle leaders’ competency and teachers’ technology acceptance, without capturing how these dynamics may evolve over time. Third, although the sample of 302 teachers satisfied several established guidelines for SEM, it remains modest for a model of this complexity. While the sample enabled stable estimation, larger samples would strengthen statistical power, reduce the likelihood of Type II errors, and enhance generalizability. Moreover, several post-hoc model modifications, including correlated error terms, were introduced to achieve good fit. While such adjustments are accepted practice, they may risk overfitting the model to this specific sample, potentially limiting external validity. Fourth, the explanatory power of the model is moderate (R² = .36). While this demonstrates a meaningful association, it also suggests that important determinants remain outside the scope of the study. Factors such as principal leadership, school ICT policy, infrastructure availability, training intensity, and broader systemic or cultural influences likely account for additional variance in technology acceptance. Finally, reliance on teachers’ perceptions of middle leaders’ competencies introduces subjectivity and may not fully reflect actual leadership practices. Self-report measures also raise the possibility of common-method bias and reciprocal effects. For example, teachers already more accepting of technology might view their leaders more favorably. Taken together, these limitations indicate that the present findings should be interpreted as preliminary evidence of the role of middle leaders in shaping technology acceptance. Future research would benefit from larger, more diverse samples, longitudinal or multilevel designs, and the inclusion of additional school- and system-level factors to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon.

A 90-day district inquiry

Days 1–15 · Appraise. Read the source methods, recruitment, comparator, outcomes and limitations. Record how the study setting differs from your district and which claim the design can support.
Days 16–30 · Design. Choose one school improvement question with teachers. Protect a short shared planning cycle, agree an instructional change and use a common rubric for examining student work. Agree participation, privacy protections, baseline and stopping rules before starting.
Days 31–60 · Observe. Collect the pre-agreed measures, keep a log of implementation changes and invite confidential voluntary feedback. Preserve existing support for staff and learners.
Days 61–90 · Decide. Review implementation fidelity, teacher time and independently scored student work against a recorded baseline. Examine access differences and competing explanations before attributing changes to leadership. Make a dated decision to stop, revise or extend the inquiry.

Board decision brief

Present the local problem, source setting, evidence limits, intervention, responsible owner, total cost, measured changes and uncertainty. Separate staff perceptions, implementation measures and student learning outcomes.

Attribution and reuse

Jeunhan Yip; Kenny S L Cheah; Wen Fen Beh. Impact of middle leaders’ competencies on teachers’ technology acceptance in Malaysian TS25 schools. PLOS One (2025-09-19). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0332614

Prepared 2026-11-07. Source authorship and DOI are preserved. The abstract and source passages are attributed extracts; this editorial guide is offered under the same CC BY 4.0 license.