Dahlan Dina Abdullah
College of Business Administration, University of Business and Technology, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Front Sociol. 2024 Oct 23;9:1442543. doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2024.1442543. eCollection 2024.
Leadership development and succession planning is a valuable strategy for closing the gender gap and providing an equal chance for males and females to be trained and involved in leadership roles. This strategy is an incredibly effective tool in higher education, where there is a significant disparity between male and female academic leaders. Despite its effectiveness, succession planning remained an overlooked component of the higher education system. Further research studies enhance our understanding of the current state of succession planning and the factors that affect the recruitment and selection of future academic leaders. Hence, this study aims to identify the current women's leadership development and succession planning practices in public and private universities in Saudi Arabia. A qualitative study was conducted in a Saudi Arabian higher education setting. The interest in Saudi Arabia stems from the fact that succession planning is less likely to be practiced since gender discrimination is apparent when assigning leadership positions. Results indicate that top powers typically select leaders since succession planning is absent in Saudi Arabia's higher education institutions. In this circumstance, networking and relationships play a significant role, as these institutions have no formalized succession planning process. In a highly gender-segregated society like Saudi Arabia, women are deprived of expanding their networks and showcasing capabilities to male decision-makers. The results of this study further identified the underlying components of the women's leadership and succession planning process in the Saudi Arabian setting. This study contributes to leadership and succession planning knowledge and its implications, which may extend opportunities for practitioners, consultants, and policymakers to include women in higher education succession planning.
领导力发展与继任计划是一项弥合性别差距、为男性和女性提供平等的培训机会并使其担任领导角色的重要策略。在高等教育领域，这一策略是极为有效的工具，因为在该领域男女学术领导者之间存在显著差距。尽管其效果显著，但继任计划在高等教育体系中仍是一个被忽视的组成部分。进一步的研究有助于我们了解继任计划的现状以及影响未来学术领导者招聘和选拔的因素。因此，本研究旨在确定沙特阿拉伯公立和私立大学当前女性领导力发展与继任计划的实践情况。在沙特阿拉伯的高等教育环境中开展了一项定性研究。对沙特阿拉伯进行研究的兴趣源于这样一个事实，即由于在分配领导职位时存在明显的性别歧视，继任计划不太可能得到实施。结果表明，由于沙特阿拉伯的高等教育机构缺乏继任计划，高层通常自行挑选领导者。在这种情况下，人际关系网络和人脉关系起着重要作用，因为这些机构没有正式的继任计划流程。在像沙特阿拉伯这样性别高度隔离的社会中，女性被剥夺了拓展人脉以及向男性决策者展示自身能力的机会。本研究的结果进一步确定了沙特阿拉伯背景下女性领导力与继任计划过程的潜在组成部分。本研究为领导力和继任计划知识及其影响做出了贡献，这可能为从业者、顾问和政策制定者提供更多机会，将女性纳入高等教育继任计划之中。
