Culturally Adaptive Strategic Leadership in educational crises: A mixed-methods study of the COVID-19 experience in Nigerian secondary schools

Abstract

This study develops and validates a model of Culturally Adaptive Strategic Leadership (CASL) to examine Nigerian educational leaders’ management of the COVID-19 pandemic. A sequential exploratory mixed-methods design was employed, beginning with a qualitative multi-sited ethnography phase to culturally situated leadership themes. These results informed a quantitative phase where a survey of 889 school administrators was validated through structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings indicate that the effectiveness of leadership is strongly mediated by cultural context. Affective Quality Leadership, characterized by emotional intelligence and moral legitimacy, was the strongest direct predictor of Educational Strategic Leadership (i.e., β = 0.37). The effect of the other two main constructs, Monitoring and Mentoring and Flexible Adaptive Leadership, on strategic outcomes was strongly mediated by stakeholder involvement, emphasizing the collective nature of leadership legitimacy. Additionally, the relationship between stakeholder collaboration and strategic success was positively moderated by Emergency Leadership Forms (i.e., β = 0.16, P < .05), showing that formal crisis procedures strengthen collective engagement. The article concludes that effective educational leadership during crises is not universal but culturally embedded. The CASL model integrates adaptive flexibility, cultural responsiveness, and strategic foresight, providing a robust framework for school leadership in multicultural, crisis-prone environments.