Purpose

Universities claim to provide many benefits to their context. What remains less clear is what is meant by context. Whatever it is, context is fundamental to decision-making. Understanding what context means is crucial to understanding leadership in higher education.

Design/methodology/approach

Theoretically informed by Eacott's relational approach, this study is based on interview data from a purposive sample of ten English vice-chancellors and nine Canadian university presidents. Transcripts were analysed for the assumptions participants held regarding the work of universities and how that played out in practice.

Findings

Context is not an external variable engaged with or acted upon. It is not separate to leadership and the work of universities but is constitutive of and emergent from activities. There is no single definition of context, and this has major implications for university activities.

Research limitations/implications

Context(s) is based on assumptions. Making explicit the assumptions of participants, without pre-defining them, is a key task of research on leadership in higher education.

Practical implications

Leaders need to explicitly articulate their assumptions regarding the work of universities. Assessment should be based on the coherence between the espoused position and activities undertaken.

Originality/value

Through the emerging resources of relational scholarship, this paper demonstrates how context is constitutive of and emergent from the activities of universities. More than novel vocabulary, the paper makes a fundamental point about the generative nature of context. De-centring entities (e.g. university, leader, context) and focusing on relations our approach provide a path forward by encouraging the articulation of intended purpose(s) and perspective on the work of universities.

中文翻译：

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高等教育领导力和背景：大学副校长和校长的研究

目的

大学声称为其环境提供了许多好处。尚不清楚的是上下文的含义。不管是什么，背景是决策的基础。了解上下文的含义对于了解高等教育中的领导力至关重要。

设计/方法/方法

从理论上讲，根据 Eacott 的关系方法，本研究基于来自 10 位英国副校长和 9 位加拿大大学校长的有目的样本的访谈数据。针对参与者对大学工作及其在实践中如何发挥的假设，对成绩单进行了分析。

发现

上下文不是参与或作用的外部变量。它不是独立于领导和大学工作的，而是活动的组成部分和衍生活动。背景没有单一的定义，这对大学活动有重大影响。

研究限制/影响

上下文基于假设。明确参与者的假设，而不是预先定义它们，是高等教育领导力研究的一项关键任务。

实际影响

领导者需要明确阐明他们对大学工作的假设。评估应基于所支持的立场和所开展的活动之间的一致性。

原创性/价值

通过关系学术的新兴资源，本文展示了背景如何构成大学活动并从大学活动中涌现。这篇论文不仅仅是新的词汇，还提出了关于语境的生成性质的基本观点。去中心化实体（例如大学、领导者、背景）并关注关系，我们的方法通过鼓励阐明大学工作的预期目的和观点，提供了前进的道路。