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Leadership through the lens of research productivity

Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2011.

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Other Authors: Nkomo, Mokubung O.
Format: Thesis
Published: University of Pretoria 2013
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Nkomo, Mokubung O.
author_browse Nkomo, Mokubung O.
author_facet Nkomo, Mokubung O.
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2011 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2011.
format Thesis
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institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:39:40.578Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2013
publishDateRange 2013
publishDateSort 2013
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
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source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/24325 Leadership through the lens of research productivity Nkomo, Mokubung O. beverley@saasta.acza Damonse, Beverley Ann Leadership attributes and behaviours Mentoring and supervision Scholarship Research leadership Research culture in higher education Research performance Leadership development Research career development Research capacity development UCTD Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2011. Academic leadership in higher education in the 21st century is very different and more multifaceted than it was just a decade ago. Thus, given the multilayered, dynamic nature of higher education leadership at individual, group and organisational levels, a more nuanced understanding of its role in driving excellent research performance remains paramount. Hence, this study explores the professional and personal nature of research leadership that enables and stimulates high quality research performance. The research explores the research career pathways of ten researchers from various disciplinary fields who had been rated by the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa and who were recommended by their education institutions as research leaders. The ten leaders were each interviewed about their research careers. Postgraduate students (47 in total) whom they had supervised were invited to answer an email questionnaire about their personal experiences of the leaders’ mentorship and leadership. In addition, information about the leaders and mentees was obtained from various documents such as curriculums vitae, research training records, institutional annual reports and web sites. The data collected and analysed in the study showed that the research career pathways of the research leaders were highly diverse and were affected in various ways by the historicalpolitical and social context of South Africa. However, across the career pathways, the research leaders had the following features in common: 1) the presence of strong research-centeredness throughout all career phases; 2) they lead by example of personal scholarship and intellectual leadership; 3) their research is locally relevant and globally competitive; and 4) their personal dynamics influence a confident and dynamic people-centred leadership approach. The most notable differences in research leadership across the sample could be traced to disciplinary contexts which ranged from distributed leadership across large teams and entrepreneurial networks to the more prevalent one-on-one mentor-mentee relationships. Leaders who were most influential in driving research performance were highly regarded scholars with extensive academic experience, had served a variety of leadership roles, confidently embraced the complexity of academic leadership and created stimulating research environments. The research also reveals a number of challenges that still remain for research leadership in addressing the human resource transformation requirements of the South African higher education research context. These include issues of 1) individualism and competition; 2) equity and excellence; 3) race and gender; and 4) research career exit and entry paths. The South African higher education system is characterised by pockets of scientific excellence in some disciplinary fields, as illustrated by the career trajectories of leaders in this study, but much work remains to be done in order to build a fully representative research-performing professoriate for South Africa. Education Management and Policy Studies unrestricted 2013-09-06T17:11:31Z 2012-05-08 2013-09-06T17:11:31Z 2012-04-16 2011 2012-05-04 Thesis Damonse, BA 2011, Leadership through the lens of research productivity, PhD thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://hdl.handle.net/2263/24325 > D12/4/268/ag http://hdl.handle.net/2263/24325 http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-05042012-191747/ © 2011 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle Leadership attributes and behaviours
Mentoring and supervision
Scholarship
Research leadership
Research culture in higher education
Research performance
Leadership development
Research career development
Research capacity development
UCTD
Leadership through the lens of research productivity
title Leadership through the lens of research productivity
title_full Leadership through the lens of research productivity
title_fullStr Leadership through the lens of research productivity
title_full_unstemmed Leadership through the lens of research productivity
title_short Leadership through the lens of research productivity
title_sort leadership through the lens of research productivity
topic Leadership attributes and behaviours
Mentoring and supervision
Scholarship
Research leadership
Research culture in higher education
Research performance
Leadership development
Research career development
Research capacity development
UCTD
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/24325
http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-05042012-191747/