Saudi women’s leadership self-efficacy, their self-beliefs, organizational responsiveness and leadership styles in academia
Creators: name: Alhalafi, Salwa
Publisher: name: Lancaster University
Year: 2024

description: 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.