Individual Leaders

Leadership is deeply embedded in the everyday lives of academics. In the early 21st century, this term can be found in both job advertisements for academic positions and performance-based evaluations. In other words, leadership has become a key feature of academic work in contemporary universities regardless of the held position. Despite this embeddedness, the definition of leadership itself appears to be ambiguous and there is some debate as to whether academics and their institutions have the same understandings of this term. Individual academics might be recognized (and categorized), in combination or alone, as leaders because of their position, performance, practice, and profession. This entry provides an overview of how individual academics are recognized as leaders, discusses the micro-politics of individual leadership, and explores research trends ...