How Leadership in Higher Education Is Different from Leadership in Traditional Business Organizations

Abstract

This paper aims at revealing the specifics of leadership in higher education by comparing it with leadership in traditional business organizations. As a result of the co-citation analysis (the sample included 3,827 articles retrieved from a Scopus database) the authors were able to narrow down the sample to 6 key studies exerting significant influence on the research landscape. The authors proceeded with analysis through the prism of “leader traits-leader behavior-situational context” framework to enable a comparison of leadership in higher education and traditional business organizations. The analytical view taken on the results revealed that academic environment present specific challenges distinct from traditional business contexts. Within this leadership context an integrative approach – encompassing transactional, transformational, and relational-oriented behaviors – is the most adequate style. The interaction between the leader and the followers within the university environment resembles a partnership (the leader acts as a senior partner) rather than the power relations that are specific to traditional business organizations.