AI-Human Collaboration and Digital Leadership in HRM: The Mediating Role of Employee Agility

The rapid integration of cognitive technologies within the higher education sector has fundamentally shifted Human Resource Management (HRM) from conventional administration toward intelligent automation. This study empirically evaluates the structural impact of Digital Leadership and AI-Human Collaboration on Strategic HRM Performance, specifically examining the theoretical mediating role of Employee Digital Agility. Utilizing a quantitative cross-sectional design, empirical data were collected from 215 faculty members and administrative staff across universities undergoing digital transformation in West Java, Indonesia. The data were rigorously analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The structural evaluation reveals that AI-Human Collaboration significantly and directly enhances both employee digital agility (beta = 0.631) and strategic HRM outcomes (beta = 0.440). Furthermore, Digital Leadership directly drives institutional HRM performance (beta = 0.314). However, counter to prevalent human-centric management theories, Employee Digital Agility fails to significantly influence macro-strategic performance or mediate the structural pathways. These counter-intuitive findings mathematically demonstrate that in highly regulated academic bureaucracies, systemic technological integration and top-down executive mandates supersede individual-level adaptability. This study contributes a novel quantitative perspective to the cognitive technology literature, urging university policymakers to prioritize systemic HR infrastructure redesign over isolated individual upskilling. Keywords—AI-Human Collaboration, Digital Leadership, Employee Agility, Strategic HRM, Higher Education