The Degree of Administrators’ Involvement in Change Management at Jordanian Universities over the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the degree to which administrators of Jordanian universities are involved in change management (comprising planning, decision-making, organization, and guidance) over the COVID-19 pandemic and as a function of gender, qualification, years of experience, and specialization. To this end, the descriptive-analytical method was used, where a questionnaire consisting of 45 items distributed to 4 domains was developed. The study population included all administrators (college deans, heads of academic departments, and managers of administrative units) of the public and private Jordanian universities. The total number of participants was 1685 administrators, among whom 321 (19 percent) were selected as the sample group. The sample group worked in three public universities (Yarmouk University, University of Sciences and Technology, and Al Al-Bayt University), and three private universities (Jadara University, Irbid Private University, Jerash Private University) in the academic year 2020-2021. Results showed that there exist statistically no significant differences in the means of responses in relation to administrators’ involvement in change management at Jordanian universities as a function of gender and in all domains, and as a function of specialization in the domains of change in planning and change in decision-making. However, there do exist statistically significant differences in the domains of change in planning and change in decision-making in favor of higher education studies. There are also significant differences in terms of years of experience in the domains of change in planning, change in decision-making, and change in organization in favor of those with many and average years of experience. Also there are significant differences in terms of specialization in the domains of change in planning and change in guidance, with natural sciences showing higher degrees.