european journal of social sciences issn: 1450-2267 - EuroJournals

European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 5, Number 3 (2007)
if innovations that are perceived by individuals have greater relative advantage, compatibility,
trialability, observability, and less complexity, they will be adopted more rapidly than other
innovations. Hence, computer characteristics are very important to the adoption/implementation of
computers.
On the other hand, the construct of social norms can be important in transferring technology
from developed to developing countries (Thomas, 1987). Then, acceptance of a new technology in a
society depends on how well the proposed innovation fits the existing culture. In addition, the diffusion
of technologies may be inhibited by the micro culture of a certain institution or organization. Hence,
there must be a match between organizational culture and new technology into an organization (Hodas,
1993). Within the school organization, if the technology is not well received by principals, there will
be a mismatch of values between the culture of schools and the technology.
In addition, the success of educational innovations depends largely on skill and knowledge of
teachers and principals. Knezek and Christensen (2002) found that competence in computer technology
influence on effective use of computer. Hence, knowledge of computer hardware and software is
important for principals. According to Creighton (2001), the identification of the principals’ task that
they want to accomplish will determine the type of software needed. Therefore, principals must decide
what administrative and instructional functions they want to perform with computers before making
purchases. On the other hand, access to computer resources has often been one of the most important
barriers for the integration of technology in both developed and developing countries (Albrini, 2006).
Hence, sufficient technology infrastructure must be available in order to use technology successfully
(Becker et al., 1999).
Rogers (1995) stated that individuals’ characteristics and the nature of the social system
influence the adoption of an innovation. Several studies reported a relationship between principals’
profiles and level of computer use. For example, Schiller (2003) studied about age, gender and years of
experience in his selected characteristics of principals and found that principals below the age of 50 use
computers more than principals over the age of 50. Also, he reported that there were statistically
significant differences between male and female principals in the use of computer at home and school.
The factor that empowers the people and ultimately determines which organizations succeed or
fail is the leadership of those organizations (Bennis, 1990). However, it is important to mention that
leadership is only one aspect of a very complex process of technological innovation (Stone, 1994). On
this matter, according to Jung et al. (2003), a wide range of factors has been found to affect
organizational innovation. Of these, managers’ leadership style has been identified as being one of the
most important variables. Yet, few studies have empirically examined the link between this factor and
utilization of technology at the school level. In this paper, a short literature overview is given on the
concept of transformational leadership style and the role that it plays in implementing ICT at school.
4. Transformational Leadership
The pace of change confronting organizations today has resulted in calls for more adaptive, flexible
leadership. Adaptive leaders work more effectively in rapidly changing environments by helping to
make sense of the challenges confronted by both leaders and followers and then appropriately
responding to those challenges (Bass et al.,2003). In other words, such leaders are influential in
approving or disapproving new ideas. They play an important role in the diffusion and adoption of
innovations (Malioukis et al., 2007). According to Rogers (1995), it is impossible to ignore opinion
leaders in studying the spread of ideas. If opinion leaders are to be widely recognized as experts on
innovations, it is likely that they adopt new ideas before their followers. Therefore, leaders must be
more innovative than their followers. Also, they must be able to communicate with their followers and
have high rapport with them.
Adaptive leaders work with their followers to generate creative solutions to complex problems,
while also developing them to handle a broader range of leadership responsibilities (Bennis, 2001).
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