New trends in academic leadership: a synopsis of the state-of-the-art approaches

Abstract

This study aims to examine current leadership trends in higher education institutions that educate people to meet the demands of today and the expectations of the future. As expectations from leaders increase and their role in shaping the future of nations becomes vital, leadership becomes even more important. While all stakeholders have a role to play in ensuring that universities meet the requirements of the modern era, the greatest role undoubtedly belongs to leaders who are responsible for the overall functioning of the institution and who must have the distinctive characteristics and understanding to shape the university with all its stakeholders and constituents. Just as the roles expected of universities are changing, academic leadership styles can also change over time and place. In this study, which focuses on identifying which leadership styles are reflected in the behaviors of contemporary academic leaders, content analysis method was used. For this purpose, Google Scholar and WOS (Web of Science) databases were searched and articles with the keywords "academic leadership" and "academic leader" in their titles were selected. Since the research deals with the most current trends on the subject, the time period was determined as January 1, 2022 and July 31, 2023. By analyzing a total of 81 Google Scholar and 42 WOS articles, it was concluded that the leadership style mostly practiced by today's academic leaders is transformational leadership style, although it varies depending on the specific conditions of the university and the requirements of the time.