Factors impacting job performance and role attractiveness in Academic Directors and their implications for policy and practice in higher education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify factors that impacted on the performance and attractiveness of the Academic Director’s role. Academic Directors are responsible for leading and managing an academic qualification. Academic Directors ( n=101 ) participating in a leadership development programme were invited to respond to an online 360° feedback survey. They invited ( n=808 ) Significant Others to provide feedback using the same 360° survey. In the main, there was agreement between the two groups on impact factors. The factors impacting strongly on performance were focused on workload points, complexity of the role, knowledge and skills, people skills and others’ expectations. The factors impacting strongly on role attractiveness were around working conditions, autonomy and authority, clarity of work goals and expectations of others. Middle level academic management positions in higher education are poorly researched and the implications of this research with respect to job design, leadership development and recruitment and retention are significant. This is the first study of its kind to investigate factors impacting on the performance of the Academic Director role.