Social capital in institutions of higher education: an examination of the interaction between social capital and department leadership

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Thesis Type: Postgraduate

Institution Of The Thesis: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Faculty of Education, Department of Educational Sciences, Turkey

Approval Date: 2018

Student: KHAULA AHMAD YAWSON

Supervisor: DUYGUN GÖKTÜRK AĞIN

Abstract:

The primary purpose of this study is to understand and describe how department chairs functioned in their role as leaders, and analyze how social capital is manifested in their leadership. A single embedded case study approach was used and semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine department chairs from a single public university in Turkey, to ascertain their views about social capital in their practices. The results of the analysis suggest that, department chairs employed a collegial administration culture, which was marked by high consultation and participative leadership and priority was given to faculty autonomy. As a result of this, department chairs identified mutual trust and respect and shared perspectives as significant social capital within the department in addition to social capital in the form of informal social networks in higher administration that helped them to accomplish their work.