Thesis

Strategic leadership in UK business schools in higher education

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Awarding institution
  • University of Strathclyde
Date of award
  • 2013
Thesis identifier
  • T13867
Qualification Level
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Department, School or Faculty
Abstract
  • Navigating the emerging crisis in UK higher education, with funding cuts, decreasing numbers of academics and mimetic pressures caused by academic norms, is a challenge for UK business schools. This study aimed to identify UK business school leaders' perspectives on factors contributing to competitiveness and financial sustainability in this context. For this exploratory, qualitative study 21 leaders from 12 UK business schools in the Financial Times Global MBA Rankings (2010) were interviewed by email, by telephone or face-to-face. Interview transcripts were analysed using NVivo8 and thematic analysis, adopting a hybrid approach of deductive coding based on a theoretical framework and inductive coding for emerging themes. A Model of Leadership for Financial Sustainability and Competitiveness was created to illustrate links between components of strategic leadership identified by participants in this study. It shows a potential virtuous circle of competitiveness and financial sustainability that UK business schools could achieve. These leaders perceived that competitiveness and financial sustainability could be achieved by using leadership and income sources to improve human capital, which could also be enhanced by itself and by organisational capital. Human and organisational capital could then develop intellectual capital, which could strengthen the schools' social capital. Intellectual capital, combined with social capital, could enhance schools' competitiveness, which could improve their strategies and tactics. Social capital could increase the success of fundraising activities. Fundraising, strategies and tactics could develop sources of income, leading to financial sustainability. Distributed leadership was preferred amongst participants, suggesting that human capital could be the most important capital in business schools. While previous research represented strategic leadership as building and executing strategic agendas, this thesis argues that UK business schools could benefit from these inter-linked components in developing leadership for financial sustainability and competitiveness, particularly in times of economic crisis.
Resource Type
DOI
Date Created
  • 2013
Former identifier
  • 1041296

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