Teachers’ Perceptions of Leadership Practices, Teacher Leadership, and Artificial Intelligence Acceptance: An Explanatory Sequential Mixed-Methods Study in the Schools Division of Kidapawan City

This study examined the relationships between teachers’ perceptions of schoolwide Leadership Practices, peer-level Teacher Leadership, and artificial intelligence (AI) acceptance in the Schools Division of Kidapawan City, Philippines. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design involved 200 public-school teachers surveyed using selected digital leadership subscales and a 15-item AI Acceptance Scale, followed by interviews with 18 purposively selected teachers. Data were examined through descriptive statistics, correlation, exploratory hierarchical regression, thematic analysis, and mixed-methods integration. Results revealed high Leadership Practices (M = 5.12), very high Teacher Leadership (M = 5.37), and very high perceived usefulness, ease of use, behavioral intention, and self-efficacy (M = 4.21–4.53), alongside high AI-related anxiety (M = 3.73). Both leadership dimensions demonstrated significant positive relationships with all five AI-acceptance dimensions, with moderate-to-strong associations for favorable outcomes but weak positive associations with anxiety. Teacher Leadership showed a particularly clear association with behavioral intention. Qualitative findings identified institutional guidance, peer collaboration, technological access, workload, trust, and professional autonomy as relevant influences. The study concluded that digital leadership enables but does not determine AI acceptance. Differentiated professional development, ethical guidelines, peer mentoring, and equitable technological access are recommended. The cross-sectional design, elementary-heavy sample, and unavailable school identifiers limited causal interpretation and broader generalizability. The findings provide context-specific evidence distinguishing schoolwide and peer-level leadership contributions, informing human-centered AI implementation and educational leadership decisions in public schools.