Contradicting Conventional Wisdom: Women Presidents' Abilities to Forge Purposeful and Instrumental Relationships for Institutional Outcomes

Abstract

There is a perception in the literature that women presidents are weak in the function of instrumental relationship building. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the practices developed and utilized by women presidents of 4-year institutions to identify and build relationships with key constituents whom they recognized as having resources that could lead to institution building and to learn how the presidents secured those resources.Through an interview format, 12 presidents elaborated on the internal and external constituents on whom they were dependent to achieve their goals as president and how the stakeholders came to hold value for their institutions. Using social capital as a theoretical lens, presidents' social connections and networks were examined to determine how presidents created or enhanced resources for their institutions. The key findings captured the deliberate actions and behaviors undertaken by presidents to identify key stakeholders and the multiple dimensions associated with fostering relationships to move them closer to the acquisition of resources. Finally, presidents shared how they made the case to their constituents to release resources to their institutions. The dissertation concludes with recommendations for future research on the leadership practices of women presidents of colleges and universities.

The Road Less Traveled: Career Trajectories of Six Women Presidents in Higher Education

“…The data for this study were derived from a larger qualitative research project exploring women presidents' (N = 12) approaches to instrumental relationship building (Woollen, 2015). The original study examined how participants identified and fostered relationships with stakeholders whom they recognized as possessing resources that worked towards institutional outcomes.…”