Abstract
Using a conceptual framework based on Critical Realism (CR), this study sought to establish the culture of mid-level academic leadership at a South African comprehensive university. The study was motivated by the dearth of studies on the culture of mid-level academic leadership both in South Africa and globally.
Constituting the sample of participants were seven mid-level academic leaders who were either Heads of Departments (HoDs) or Deputy Heads of Departments (D/HoDs). An interpretive research design using the qualitative approach was used. Data were gathered using semi-structured interviews which were carried out on MS Teams.
The results of the study showed that the culture of mid-level academic leadership at the comprehensive university is a multi-dimensional function of a variety of factors. These include the structural arrangements at the comprehensive university and the exercise of both individual and collective agency by the agents within the institutional structures. For example, the culture is characterised by the mid-level academic leaders’ positive responses to the university’s strategic thrusts such as global excellence and stature. The results, however, also revealed that there is an extent to which the culture of mid-level academic leadership at the comprehensive university is characterised by negative responses to what some of the HoDs and D/HoDs deemed to be leadership weaknesses at school or faculty level. In addition to the formal structures such as senior management, institutional rules, and regulations, it also emerged that the culture of mid-level academic leadership at the comprehensive university is influenced by factors such as biographies and individual agency. In terms of biographies, for example, the mid-level academic leaders’ qualifications and the journey which they travelled before assuming leadership roles had a bearing on the culture which they cultivated in their departments. On the basis of their individual agency, the choices which the mid-level academic leaders make, as exemplified by the degree to which they consult with their colleagues before taking major decisions or respond to acts of misconduct by their colleagues also characterise their culture of leadership.