The engagement of academic staff has become a focal point in higher education scholarship due to its profound influence on institutional performance, teaching quality, research output and staff retention. Engaged academics demonstrate heightened intrinsic motivation, creativity and commitment, which promptly improve student experiences and institutional competitiveness (Alzyoud & Bani-Hani, 2021). Private higher education institutions (PHEIs) are very important in Malaysia for increasing enrolment, offering more programs and helping the economy grow. Despite this, PHEIs still face problems like more work, staff turnover, less funding for research and the need to improve the quality of teaching. These dynamics highlight the imperative to examine organisational factors that can augment engagement. Leadership has consistently been acknowledged as a critical determinant affecting employee attitudes and behaviours in higher education. Transformational leadership promotes empowerment, motivation and substantial staff-leader relationships; transactional leadership emphasises clear objectives and rewards; conversely, laissez-faire leadership indicates a deficiency of direction, feedback, or engagement. Different leadership styles can have different effects on involvement, especially in situations where academic staff are increasingly required to use digital tools, meeting higher expectations for performance and navigating different generational workforce. In Malaysia, empirical studies on leadership and engagement are limited, particularly in PHEIs, where management frameworks significantly diverge from those in public institutions (Ismail et al., 2022). The rapid integration of digital technologies into educational and administrative functions, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has established the use of ICT as an essential component of academic pursuits. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a valuable resource that promotes engagement when supported by effective leadership, in accordance with the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) Model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017). However, its mediating role between leadership and engagement in PHEIs is still insufficiently investigated. This study aims to examine the influence of transformational, transactional and laissez-faire leadership styles on the engagement of academic staff in Malaysia's PHEIs, with the utilisation of ICT analysed as a mediating factor. The research offers theoretical and practical insights by integrating leadership theory, digital resource utilisation and engagement components within the context of Public Higher Education Institutions (PHEIs). It also fits with the national goals for higher education, which include digital transformation and developing talent.