Abstract

The increasing digitalisation of education has created a complex ethical challenges landscape, especially for primary school leaders, where they face new moral dilemmas that test their ethical decision-making. In digitally mediated environments, leaders increasingly face issues such as data privacy, fairness, accountability, transparency, and cultural sensitivity, which are critical in primary schools, where young learners have limited autonomy and are more affected by administrative decisions. Despite the growing focus on ethical leadership, research on how leaders cultivate ethical judgment in the face of digital moral dilemmas remains limited. This conceptual paper addresses this gap by exploring how digital moral dilemmas influence ethical leadership in primary education through the lens of sensemaking. It is rooted in three core areas: (i) emerging ethical issues in the digital age, (ii) the development of digital ethics, and (iii) leader sensemaking theory. This paper is based on a structured narrative review of scholarly literature published between 2012 and 2025, focusing on ethical leadership, digital moral dilemmas, and sensemaking in decision-making. The proposed framework conceptualises digital moral dilemmas as contextual triggers that prompt a leader’s sensemaking, which in turn guides ethical leadership decisions. Four core strategies: emotion regulation, self-reflection, forecasting, and information integration are operationalised in this ethical sensemaking. By highlighting a process-oriented explanation of ethical leadership in digitally complex settings, this paper offers both theoretical insights and practical advice for primary school leaders and policymakers. It also provides a foundation for future empirical research and supports the development of educational policies on digital ethics in Malaysia and beyond.