Research Spotlight No. (5): The Relationship Between Leadership, Freedom, and Digital Responsibility Among University Students

Research Spotlight No. (5): The Relationship Between Leadership, Freedom, and Digital Responsibility Among University Students

As part of the ongoing series of research spotlights on the scientific output of Beni-Suef University, today we highlight a distinguished study from the field of educational and social sciences. Professor Mohamed Mokhemer (Department of Curriculum and Instruction – Beni-Suef University) and Professor Walid Mohamed Abdel Haleem (Foundations of Education, and Vice President of the National Youth Council of Egypt) successfully published a pioneering study titled:
“The digital age students: Exploring leadership, freedom, and ethical online behavior: A quantitative study”

In this study, the researchers addressed an important question: How do leadership skills and students’ sense of personal and public freedom interact with their level of digital responsibility and ethical behavior online?

The study employed a quantitative survey design that included 1,226 Egyptian university students from various disciplines and academic years. The researchers used three validated questionnaires measuring:

• Dimensions of digital responsibility: digital participation, digital functions, data privacy, transparency, values and standards, and accountability
• Strategic vision and leadership skills: communication and relationships, team leadership, decision-making, motivation, and development
• Personal freedom across its various dimensions, especially freedom in the public sphere

The results revealed a strong correlation between leadership skills and digital responsibility. Higher levels of strategic vision, effective communication, team leadership, and motivation were associated with more responsible student behavior on digital platforms, particularly in data protection, respecting societal values, and considering the consequences of what they post.

The findings showed that public freedom—students’ sense of being able to express themselves and participate in the digital public sphere—is the strongest predictor of digital responsibility. Students who feel greater public freedom tend to exercise that freedom more responsibly and ethically.

The advanced statistical models demonstrated that leadership skills do not mediate the relationship between personal freedom and digital responsibility. In other words, the effect of public freedom on digital responsibility remains direct and strong, regardless of differences in students’ leadership levels.

The study provides a practical framework for educational policymakers and universities to develop programs aimed at fostering "ethical digital citizenship" by combining:
• Developing students’ leadership skills
• Enhancing responsible freedom in the public sphere
• Instilling ethical online behavior, especially amid the spread of AI tools, misinformation, and hate speech

**Journal Significance and Classification**
The study was published in the 2025 issue of *Social Sciences & Humanities Open*, an international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal by Elsevier. The journal is ranked in the first quartile (Q1) in *Social Sciences (miscellaneous)* and ranks in the top 84% of journals in the social sciences. It is also indexed in Clarivate’s Emerging Sources Citation Index.

**Article link:**
[https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2025.101325]

**English Brief**
Researchers from Beni-Suef University have published a large-scale quantitative study on how leadership skills, personal/public freedom, and digital responsibility interact among 1,226 Egyptian university students. The findings show that stronger leadership skills are closely associated with more responsible online behavior, while public freedom (students’ sense of being able to speak and act in the public digital sphere) is the strongest single predictor of ethical digital conduct. Interestingly, leadership skills do not mediate the link between freedom and responsibility, suggesting that empowering students with responsible public freedom directly fosters ethical digital citizenship.

Link to the article: [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2025.101325]

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