Interplay Between Entitlement and Resiliency: Voices of Academic Leadership

• In Event: Excessive Entitlement: A Fresh Perspective in Research Toward Just Educational Renewal

Abstract

Purpose
Disasters, traumas and unexpected events affect the lives of academic leaders such that they are expected to be more resilient in creating protective structures for their faculty, where they are expected not only to take reactive actions but also proactive decisions to move ahead academically, professionally, and personally (Author et al., 2023). Our earlier studies on faculty entitlement focused on challenges created by the excessive entitlement demonstrated through leaders’ actions showed the negative consequences seen in the lives of faculty (Doyran & Author, 2021). However, rationale and motivation why academic leaders embody entitlement remains scarce in higher education leadership literature. Earlier studies (Authors, 2010a, 2020b, Author et al., 2023) focusing on women academic leaders informed the design of this follow up study, where I had the opportunity to have an in-depth analysis of the experiences of academic leaders from the lenses of entitlement and resilience.
This paper seeks to understand the ways in which academic leaders navigate between entitlement and resiliency in their challenging journeys.

Theoretical Background
This narrative study seeks to interpret academic leaders’ stories of resilience when “bouncing back” (Sammons et al., 2007) in difficult situations. I used Beltman et al.’s (2011) risk and protective factors framework when examining excessive entitlement (Naumann et al., 2002) in the lived experiences of leaders.

Method
This research employed a narrative research design, and academic leaders’ voices are heard throughout. I used Narrative Inquiry (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000), to frame the experiences of academic leaders through in-depth interviews, focusing on narrative sketches of 4 academic leaders (vice rectors and deans), who served in Turkish universities.

Results
All the leaders expressed their passion to lead and make a difference in the lives of their faculty. However, their career stories showed that there are times they regret missing critical moments in their personal lives. This dilemma is audible in the voices of all leaders, where they seem to make sense of the sacrifices, they make but feel the commitment to serve and lead as drivers of change in risky contexts. In some cases, leaders become critical of their own entitled behavior and shared extreme examples of their workload, which isolates them from their social settings. All the leaders seemed to be entitled to continue their leadership roles for 8-10 years in spite of all the struggles. After ten years of leadership, most of them decided to transition to another phase in their careers focusing solely on mentoring and supporting faculty rather than taking intense leadership roles. Entitlement and resilience seemed to serve as counterparts feeding one another in all the stories.
Scholarly significance of the study
This paper illuminates the interplay between entitlement and resilience in the stories of academic leaders in their journey of leadership in challenging times.

Author

• Ozge Hacifazlioglu, University of California - Berkeley