The exceeding importance of academic optimism and the promising potential of middle leadership demand research attention in contribution to student success and school improvement. This paper presents a critical analysis of the roles and contributions of middle leaders through the lens of the academic optimism model. This study used mixed methods…

This article reports a mixed-methods study examining 29 academic middle leaders' viewpoints on supporting educational change in higher educational institutions in Poland. Following a three-dimensional conceptual framework emphasizing support at the individual, collegial, and environmental levels, Q methodology was adopted to collect and analyze…

Higher education institutions over the last half-century have invested in hiring student affairs personnel to administer student recruitment and retention efforts (Schwartz & Stewart, 2017). Mid-level student affairs and services managers play a critical role as leaders in administering programs, supervising staff, and reporting to…

This article explores the complex academic-administrative role of the associate dean in US higher education administration. Previous research in Australia, UK and USA indicates that these academic middle managers experience significant conflict and ambiguity due to their roles and responsibilities as faculty members and administrators. Victor…

Middle leadership development in a Higher Education context can be understood as a complex endeavor, influenced by interactions and interrelations within multiple systems. We explored the perspectives of thirty-five male and female middle leaders on the conditions influencing their leadership development at one university in Qatar. Q methodology…

Middle leaders play a central role in the Christian leadership of their school. This research explores how nine middle leaders in three distinct Anglican Schools in Australia enact their roles, and the conditions that influence faith expression within their schools. Findings demonstrate that middle leaders shape and are shaped by school culture…

Today, more than ever, there is a need to uncover the patterns of thinking that shape the rationality of the leader cohort to aid them in their role-making of the challenging niche truly. This Husserlian phenomenological inquiry purported to explore the individual and collective lived experiences of nine (9) purposively selected Filipino academic…

The study examines the impact of middle leaders' cognitive complexity (CC) on team performance and conflict management, focusing on their positive perception of diversity. This study is quantitative; the Person's R test was used. The proposed model was examined using (ML-SEM) equation modeling in the M-Plus program. To determine whether the model…

This study examines how middle managers support their employees' strengths use via three sequential analyses. In Study 1, an open-ended questionnaire survey of high-performing middle managers at a global manufacturer in Japan (n = 144) was conducted to collect comments on strengths use support (SUS). The grounded theory approach was used to…

Latinx/a/os have significantly increased in number in the US population. The advancement of mid-level Latinx/a/o professionals in higher education is not occurring at the same rate as the increase of the Latinx/a/o population in the country. This study aimed to examine the perceptions of mid-level Latinx/a/os administrators in their workplace…

The purpose of this study was to describe the lived experiences of middle managers in the banking industry practicing self-directed, lifelong learning. The theory guiding this study is Deci and Ryan's self-determination theory and its relationship with lifelong learning. This study aimed to answer the following question: What are the lived…

Middle leadership is an area of increasing interest in higher education with little research to date exploring middle leading from the perspective of function or discipline leadership roles within Departments. This article uses a case study of twelve middle leaders within a university faculty in Australia to examine the broader contexts of middle…

Turnover in middle management can be very expensive for a school, not just financially, but also in terms of providing continuity of leadership, sustainability of management practices, and quality student experiences. Therefore, a rigorous understanding of why middle managers in schools are thinking of leaving post can provide senior leaders an…

The purpose of this study is to lend itself to the limited body of research on Women of Color in mid-level staff administrative roles serving on historically White campuses in the United States (Bazner, 2022). While there are articles that mention these women, they are typically grouped together with Women of Color in faculty roles (Rosser, 2004).…

Mentorship has been identified as a vital process to career advancement. This phenomenological study consisted of in-depth interviews with women who are at the time of this study mid-level administrators in higher education who are engaged or have been engaged as a mentee and are currently or have been mentored. Using Supervisory Career Mentoring…