The Role of Higher Education Stakeholder Networks …
127
Often in the literature, network leadership models have been highlighted through
the use of centrality measures of networks (Hristov et al. 2018). Centrality refers to
the number of links between one stakeholder or node in the network and others. The
higher number of links equals higher centrality of the stakeholder. The findings from
Vargas et al. (2019a) about the vulnerability that a network might have due to the
high centrality of one main organisation, may suggest that involving more members
of the network in its leadership might be more appropriate for emerging agendas
such as sustainable development in higher education.
Traditionally, theories of leadership have had a focus on individuals (Hristov et al.
2018). However, the focus on ‘orthodox and heroic’ leadership has changed into a
focus on ‘collective forms of leadership’ (Hristov et al. 2018: 127). This change of
paradigm has led to the recognition of leadership enacted by groups of individuals
between and within institutions. This is sometimes referred to as distributed leadership and it highlights the presence of collaboration in processes requiring leadership
(Hristov et al. 2018). There is an opportunity to pursue more studies focused on the
practice of distributed models of leadership and the reasons for these models to be
used (Hristov et al. 2018).
In addition, distributed leadership can be beneficial for the implementation of the
Sustainable Development Goals (Wilson 2018; Kuenkel 2019). Therefore, distributed
leadership is crucial to explore stakeholder networks for the implementation of
sustainable development in higher education.
One potential avenue to develop the literature on sustainable development in
higher education would be to identify and study practices of distributed leadership in inter and intra-organisational stakeholder networks. In order to develop
this, perhaps studies could focus on finding out who are the stakeholders with high
centrality in higher education networks and what their roles are in terms of supporting
organisational change towards the implementation of sustainable development.
To conclude, although the literature on higher education stakeholder networks for
sustainable development is underdeveloped (Godemann et al. 2014), the brief literature review presented above suggests that formal or informal, and internal or external
stakeholder networks have the potential to play a crucial role in the implementation
of sustainable development in higher education. Also, the characteristics of these
networks including their leadership model can help estimate some of their potential
impact. However, studying universities’ internal and external stakeholder networks
requires the understanding of different systems e.g. organisational, national and international. The next section, therefore, explores systems thinking and related methodologies for the analysis and assessment of higher education stakeholder networks for
sustainable development.
127
Often in the literature, network leadership models have been highlighted through
the use of centrality measures of networks (Hristov et al. 2018). Centrality refers to
the number of links between one stakeholder or node in the network and others. The
higher number of links equals higher centrality of the stakeholder. The findings from
Vargas et al. (2019a) about the vulnerability that a network might have due to the
high centrality of one main organisation, may suggest that involving more members
of the network in its leadership might be more appropriate for emerging agendas
such as sustainable development in higher education.
Traditionally, theories of leadership have had a focus on individuals (Hristov et al.
2018). However, the focus on ‘orthodox and heroic’ leadership has changed into a
focus on ‘collective forms of leadership’ (Hristov et al. 2018: 127). This change of
paradigm has led to the recognition of leadership enacted by groups of individuals
between and within institutions. This is sometimes referred to as distributed leadership and it highlights the presence of collaboration in processes requiring leadership
(Hristov et al. 2018). There is an opportunity to pursue more studies focused on the
practice of distributed models of leadership and the reasons for these models to be
used (Hristov et al. 2018).
In addition, distributed leadership can be beneficial for the implementation of the
Sustainable Development Goals (Wilson 2018; Kuenkel 2019). Therefore, distributed
leadership is crucial to explore stakeholder networks for the implementation of
sustainable development in higher education.
One potential avenue to develop the literature on sustainable development in
higher education would be to identify and study practices of distributed leadership in inter and intra-organisational stakeholder networks. In order to develop
this, perhaps studies could focus on finding out who are the stakeholders with high
centrality in higher education networks and what their roles are in terms of supporting
organisational change towards the implementation of sustainable development.
To conclude, although the literature on higher education stakeholder networks for
sustainable development is underdeveloped (Godemann et al. 2014), the brief literature review presented above suggests that formal or informal, and internal or external
stakeholder networks have the potential to play a crucial role in the implementation
of sustainable development in higher education. Also, the characteristics of these
networks including their leadership model can help estimate some of their potential
impact. However, studying universities’ internal and external stakeholder networks
requires the understanding of different systems e.g. organisational, national and international. The next section, therefore, explores systems thinking and related methodologies for the analysis and assessment of higher education stakeholder networks for
sustainable development.