Exploring followership in higher education: a comparative case study of two Irish higher education institutions

Abstract

There is an extensive body of research relating to leadership and many different theories or perspectives exist to try to understand the nature and practice of leadership. For many years, leadership research studied the traits, skills or approaches of the people who lead. The literature is characterised by a leader-centred approach or viewpoint in which the nature and outcomes of leadership are attributed, almost exclusively, to the leaders’ characteristics and behaviours. Latterly, studies have begun to focus on the role of followers and how their beliefs, characteristics and behaviours contribute to the process of leadership and leadership outcomes. Despite the shift in focus to examine the role of followers, most studies continue to be leader-centric in that they examine leaders’ perceptions of followers or the impact of the followers on leader behaviour. To fully examine the process of leadership and its outcomes, it is necessary to ‘reverse the lens’ and view the leadership process from follower-centric and followership-centric perspectives which recognise the significance of the role of followers in the leadership process.

It has been argued that higher education institutions represent a unique, complex and possibly hostile organisational context in which to practise leadership. This comes about due to a combination of the particular organisational culture of higher education institutions, the manner in which influence flows in such institutions, and unique aspects of the academic profession such as tenure and individual autonomy. Consequently, it is claimed that those in leadership roles in higher education institutions, and other similar organisations, experience significant difficulties and struggle to lead effectively. It is proposed that different approaches to leadership should be employed in this context or even that leadership should be eschewed entirely in favour of shared, distributed and collaborative approaches. Follower-centric approaches define leadership as a co-created process in which followers have an equal role and impact to that of leaders in contributing to leadership outcomes. From this perspective, the problems identified with leadership in higher education are as much caused by ineffective followership as by ineffective leadership and therefore the solutions may lie, at least in part, with how followership is viewed and practised in higher education institutions.

This research study sought to look at the process of leadership in higher education via follower-centric and followership-centric viewpoints. The goal was to determine what those working in higher education believe about followership, how these beliefs impact upon their behaviour, and the resultant implications for the leadership process and leadership outcomes. The study consisted of a comparative case study of two Irish higher education institutions.

The study of followership is in its infancy, in general, and there have been very few studies, to date, which explore followership in higher education. The focus and nature of this study will contribute significantly to the knowledge in the nascent research fields of followership and followership in higher education. In addition, the study will identify novel implications for the practice of both leadership and followership in the context of higher education institutions.

Date of Award	16 Sept 2020
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bath
Supervisor	Hong Bui (Supervisor) & John Davies (Supervisor)