Saudi women’s leadership self-efficacy, their self-beliefs, organizational responsiveness and leadership styles in academia

Alhalafi, Salwa and Budd, Richard (2024) Saudi women’s leadership self-efficacy, their self-beliefs, organizational responsiveness and leadership styles in academia. PhD thesis, Lancaster Arts.

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Abstract

This thesis focuses on women in higher education in Saudi Arabia, where they are currently experiencing a new historical period through Vision 2030. Vision 2030 is an economic transformation plan that aims to develop Saudi Arabia by diversifying sources of income, thereby empowering Saudi women for new leadership positions and giving them more authority. This led this doctoral thesis to search for academic women's self-efficacy in leadership, specifically in the position of dean and head of department. Self-efficacy is described as the individual's ability to perform specific skills. This study aims to bridge the knowledge gap in Saudi studies, which concentrate on the constraints women encounter prior to Vision 2030 and the prospects they encounter post-Vision 2030. However, this study aims to provide light on the behaviours of women who are presently experiencing a change between the phases of constraints and opportunities. It is crucial for women to comprehend their identities and the factors that shape them in their roles as leaders. Thus, self-efficacy is a cognitive-behavioral theory that can provide us with a deep understanding of the sample's experiences, skills, and management style. This theory has been employed to understand women's leadership from several aspects, such as internal aspects such as beliefs and external aspects such as organisation, which contributes to a deeper understanding of what affects the self-efficacy of leadership. I used a qualitative approach, conducting semi-structured interviews with 18 participants from four different governmental universities in Riyadh. The findings were analyzed by applying self-efficacy theory as a framework and following a theory-driven approach, which allows for acquiring in-depth knowledge. The study's findings revealed that Saudi women's leadership self-efficacy is influenced by five sources: experience, training, role models, verbal influence, and emotional effects. All these sources play a significant role in shaping the effectiveness and performance of women in their roles. However, some of these sources, such as training, have less impact than others due to their poor quality or lack of availability. Additionally, the study delved into how women's inner beliefs about their role and work influence their leadership behaviors, revealing that these beliefs can have either a positive or negative impact. Nevertheless, some participants were able to overcome the obstacles in their beliefs and solve the problem they faced. Finally, the findings revealed that organizational culture, one of the self-efficacy theory factors, influences the leadership style of women. There are three types of organizations: responsive, semi-responsive, and unresponsive. The level of responsiveness varies depending on the advantages and challenges present in the environment. The responsive leadership style influences leaders to adopt more positive leadership styles, such as transformational and strategic, with the aim of motivating their workplace and employees. Whereas the semi-responsive impact leaders follow leadership style to manage both the negative and positive sides, such as conflict management approaches. While the unresponsive one limited the majority of leaders to following different leadership styles, most of them followed only one style, which is the democratic one. Moreover, the amplification of this study contributes to empowering women smoothly in leadership roles. Understanding how each source of leadership self-efficacy can either limit or enhance their leadership abilities is crucial. Further, some sources can be more effective in one culture while they may not be in another one. Therefore, applying this theory in different contexts can help policymakers develop their organizations and leaders’ performances.