Academic leadership and leadership styles in strategic plans: a study of five top-ranked public universities in South Africa
Peer reviewed, Journal article
Published version
Permanent lenke
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3097949Utgivelsesdato
2023Metadata
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Originalversjon
10.1080/23311886.2023.2220533Sammendrag
Public universities play a pivotal role in society as they offer access to
higher education to a broader range of the population. This has greater impetus for
institutions in societies that have histories of political oppression or large economic
disparities, such as South Africa. How these organizations define “leadership” and
the organizations’ roles as “leaders”, and how that is portrayed to the public is
therefore of great importance. This study conducts a textual analysis approach,
using qualitative content analysis, of a purposeful (non-random) sample of the five
top-ranked universities in South Africa to determine the leadership styles, defini-
tions and narratives employed in their strategic plans to better understand how
these universities position themselves in this regard. The research shows that while
the strategic plans share similar core values such as a desire to be inclusive and
foster transformation in society, the use of the two key research concepts differs as
to how they are defined and to whom they refer. Better discussion and explanation
of the responsibilities that university leaders have in achieving strategic goals, and
the leadership role these organizations could and wish to play, could facilitate
greater understanding and impact in the public sphere.