Guiding values-based leadership in higher education : Four values-behavior clusters and reflexive questions

In keeping with a theme of the two volumes comprising “Worldviews and Values in Higher Education,” we recognize that the developing university of the 21st century requires effective leadership. This chapter contributes to these volumes by seeking to clarify the relationship between values and leadership in higher education and to suggest ways in which the two may be more consciously linked to improve leadership. In doing so, we note that such leadership is informed by a multiplicity of factors which include the interplay between the values of institutions and the values of all those people who work within them. Such recognition places all higher education professionals in the role of “leader,” not only those more traditionally conceptualized as leaders. Thus, while this chapter refers to “leaders” and “leadership,” we conceptualize this inclusively as relevant to everyone who helps shape and deliver what higher education is, regardless of role, country, or context – notably therefore, this includes teaching faculty academics and instructors, as well as those in management, administrative, and professional positions. This chapter also includes a realization that the interplay between the multiplicity of factors informing the formation of values, their interpretation, and application is complex and dynamic. This chapter therefore helps to elucidate a broader understanding of the nature of leadership, the nature of values, and to provide a way to effectively link the two in all higher education contexts.

Copyright © 2025 Duncan D. Nulty, Alison Owens and Susan Brooman-Jones.