academic leadership

ABSTRACT. The relationship between instructional leadership behaviours and lecturers’ job performance is important in higher education. Understanding this relationship can help academic leaders support lecturers and improve teaching, research, and academic development. Therefore, this study determines how instructional leadership behaviour of heads of departments (HoDs) influences lecturers’ job performance at the major public universities in Kumasi, Ghana. A cross-sectional survey design was employed to collect data from lecturers in public universities at a single point in time. The sample includes public university lecturers. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select 155 lecturers to provide quantitative data. Data were collected using a questionnaire and analyzed with both descriptive and inferential statistics, including frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations, along with the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient. The findings indicate that HoDs demonstrate active involvement in setting institutional direction, monitoring instruction, and supporting staff development. However, the findings reveal insufficient mentorship to support lecturers’ professional learning and performance. This lack of mentorship could limit opportunities for developing leadership potential among teachers and supporting their career growth. Lecturers displayed effectiveness in their teaching practices. The statistical results confirmed a significant effect of instructional leadership behaviours on lecture delivery (F(4,98) = 20.382, p < 0.01). It was recommended that HoDs should communicate departmental goals clearly and ensure that lecturers understand their teaching, assessment, research, and administrative responsibilities. Additionally, the strong positive correlation between the communication of institutional objectives and lecturer effectiveness highlights the need for university goals, teaching expectations, and performance standards to be communicated clearly across departments.

Women comprise the majority of students and early-career scholars in psychology, yet they are less likely to remain active in research over time. This pattern raises a central question: At what stages of academic careers do women disproportionately leave academia, and what factors drive their attrition? Using large-scale bibliometric data tracking 78,216 psychologists who began publishing between 2000 and 2014, we examine gender differences in research career attrition operationalized through publishing activity across the full trajectory from entry onward. Although women accounted for more than 60\% of new entrants, they experienced higher attrition rates than men, with the gender gap peaking approximately five years after first publication. Early-career performance, particularly first-authored publications, was the strongest predictor of subsequent retention, whereas last-authored publications were most closely associated with continued activity at later career stages. Collaboration patterns and institutional context also shaped career persistence, though less strongly than publication indicators. Notably, gender differences in research attrition persisted even after accounting for these career determinants, especially during early career stages. These findings suggest that gender inequality in psychology is driven less by recruitment than by differential retention over time. Addressing early-career vulnerability may therefore be essential to achieving equitable representation in senior academic leadership within the discipline.

زنان اکثریت دانشجویان و پژوهشگران اوایل دوران حرفه‌ای در روان‌شناسی را تشکیل می‌دهند، با این حال احتمال ماندگاری آن‌ها در فعالیت‌های پژوهشی در طول زمان کمتر است. این الگو پرسشی اساسی را مطرح می‌کند: در کدام مراحل از مسیر شغلی دانشگاهی، زنان به طور نامتناسبی دانشگاه را ترک می‌کنند و چه عواملی موجب ترک تحصیل آن‌ها می‌شود؟ با استفاده از داده‌های کتاب‌سنجی در مقیاس وسیع که ۷۸٬۲۱۶ روان‌شناس را که بین سال‌های ۲۰۰۰ تا ۲۰۱۴ شروع به انتشار کردند، ردیابی می‌کند، تفاوت‌های جنسیتی در ترک مسیر پژوهشی را که از طریق فعالیت انتشاراتی در سراسر مسیر حرفه‌ای از ورود به بعد عملیاتی شده است، بررسی می‌کنیم. اگرچه زنان بیش از ۶۰٪ از تازه‌واردان را تشکیل می‌دادند، اما نرخ ترک تحصیل بالاتری نسبت به مردان تجربه کردند و شکاف جنسیتی تقریباً پنج سال پس از نخستین انتشار به اوج خود رسید. عملکرد اوایل دوران حرفه‌ای، به ویژه انتشارات با نویسنده اول، قوی‌ترین پیش‌بینی‌کننده ماندگاری بعدی بود، در حالی که انتشارات با نویسنده آخر بیشترین ارتباط را با تداوم فعالیت در مراحل بعدی حرفه‌ای داشت. الگوهای همکاری و زمینه نهادی نیز بر پایداری حرفه‌ای تأثیرگذار بودند، اگرچه این تأثیر کمتر از شاخص‌های انتشاراتی بود. شایان توجه است که تفاوت‌های جنسیتی در ترک پژوهش حتی پس از در نظر گرفتن این تعیین‌کننده‌های حرفه‌ای، به ویژه در مراحل اولیه حرفه‌ای، همچنان باقی ماند. این یافته‌ها نشان می‌دهد که نابرابری جنسیتی در روان‌شناسی بیشتر ناشی از جذب نیست، بلکه ناشی از ماندگاری متفاوت در طول زمان است. بنابراین پرداختن به آسیب‌پذیری اوایل دوران حرفه‌ای ممکن است برای دستیابی به نمایندگی عادلانه در رهبری دانشگاهی ارشد در این رشته ضروری باشد.