Negotiating the labyrinth: Female executives in higher education leadership in Vietnam and Australia Thi Loan Lam B. (English Language Teaching), Danang University of Foreign Language Studies MSc. (Non-formal Education and Training for Development), Reading University Supervisors: Professor John Fischetti Mr. Greg Preston Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education Faculty of Education and Arts The University of Newcastle, Australia November 2018 ii Statement of Originality I hereby certify that the work embodied in the thesis is my own work, conducted under normal supervision.
The thesis contains no material which has been accepted, or is being examined, for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made. I give consent to the final version of my thesis being made available worldwide when deposited in the University’s Digital Repository, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968 and any approved embargo. Full name : Thi Loan Lam Date : 30th November, 2018 iii Dedication This thesis is dedicated to all my wonderful family members. A special devotion goes to my Mum and Dad, who made sacrifices throughout their lives, worked hard to bring me up, give me an education and encouraged me during this very challenging journey, especially my Dad, who could not wait until I commenced my PhD studies.
This is also dedicated to my wonderful parents-in-law who have supported me and taken care of my family so that I was able to concentrate on my studies in Australia. I sincerely thank my husband and my two sons for their patience and understanding. A special devotion goes to my younger sister and brother who have supported me and cared for our mother. iv Acknowledgements Sincere and heartfelt thanks are due to my supervisors, my panels, my family, colleagues and friends for their support during my wonderful PhD journey.
I would particularly like to thank my enthusiastic principal supervisor, Professor John Fischetti, who made my PhD journey such an amazing experience. Professor Fischetti has not only provided me with so many wonderful opportunities to attend workshops contributing to my research, but also shared his profound knowledge, professional experience and management skills to help me develop my professional skills and intellectual capabilities. He has worked hard to ensure the successful completion of my thesis. Expressions of gratitude go to my co-supervisor, Mr.
Greg Preston, for his great support, constructive feedback, valuable advice and helpful guidance on statistics that helped guide me through the most complex stages of my data analysis. I also wish to thank my former supervisor, Professor Ron Laura, for his insightful comments and encouragement in the early stage of my study. I also acknowledge Dr. Helen Hopcroft for her invaluable time, critical feedback and peer reviewing skills.
My sincere acknowledgement goes to my sponsor – the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training – for offering me a full scholarship, the Vietnam International Education Development Scholarship, to undertake this research. I wish to express my deepest gratitude to all of my extended family for their understanding and support that helped maintain my enthusiasm for my study. I would also like to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to all those friends and colleagues who have directly or indirectly encouraged me, supported, and finally celebrated with me during this challenging but awesome PhD journey. v Table of Contents Acknowledgements.
iv Table of Contents …………………………………………………………………………………. v List of Tables. xv List of Figures. xvii Glossary of Abbreviations.
xix Chapter One: Introduction .2 Background to the Study .3 Statement of the Problem .4 Purpose of the Study .6 Significance of the Study .7 Outline of the Study. 18 Chapter Two: Literature Review .1 Authoritarian leadership, participative leadership and delegative leadership.2 Leadership in higher education and effective leadership.4 Changes in Higher Education for Female Leaders .1 Higher education leadership initiatives.1 Higher education leadership in Vietnam.2 Higher education leadership in Australia.2 Differences in higher education leadership.3 Shifting genders in university leadership.1 Women’s leadership characteristics.2 Women’s leadership development.5 Journey to the Top: Female Leaders in Higher Education .1 Overview of female leaders’ representation.1 In the Vietnamese context.2 In the Australian context.2 Reasons for the under-representation of women.3 Challenges for women leaders.4 Facilitators of female leadership.5 Women’s achievements in higher education.6 Responding to Challenges when Negotiating the Leadership Labyrinth .1 Balancing work and family.7 Summary of Chapter Two. 94 Chapter Three: Methodology .2 Mixed-Methods Research Design.1 Participant selection for the survey phase.2 Participant selection for the interview phase.1 Online survey construction.1 Quantitative data collection: survey.2 Qualitative data collection: interview.1 Quantitative data analysis.2 Qualitative data analysis.7 Methodological Limitations of the Research .8 Summary of Chapter Three. 122 Chapter Four: Data Results of Online Surveys: Vietnamese and Australian Executive Leaders .2 Vietnamese and Australian Participants’ Demographics .3 Barriers Confronting Vietnamese and Australian Female Executives .1 Barrier sub-scales: factor analysis.2 Significant differences of barriers: independent sample t test.3 The correlation between barriers items.4 Favourable Conditions Supporting Vietnamese and Australian Respondents .1 Opportunity sub-scales: factor analysis.2 Significant differences of strategies used: independent sample t test.3 The correlation between favourable condition items.5 Strategies Used by Vietnamese and Australian Respondents .1 Strategy sub-scales: factor analysis.2 Significant differences between strategies used: independent sample t test.1 Leadership characteristics of respondents.2 Leadership competencies of respondents.3 The correlation between strategies.
Survey Results from Open-ended Questions .1 Results from Vietnamese female respondents.3 Strategies used to confront challenges.2 Results from Australian respondents. The Similarities and Differences between Vietnamese and Australian Survey Respondents .1 Favourable conditions facilitating female executives.3 Workplace policies/practice.2 Barriers confronted by female executives.2 Lack of opportunities.3 Biased leadership selection processes.5 Limited professional training.3 Strategies used by Vietnamese and Australian female executives.5 Making an effort and seeking opportunities.8 Summary of Chapter Four. 196 Chapter Five: Qualitative Analysis and Results .3 Barriers Confronting Interview Respondents .1 Absence of workplace encouragement for promotion and career development.2 Limited institutional integration.3 Limited workplace incentives.4 Favourable Working Contexts that Facilitates Female Executives’ Career Development .3 Encouragement from workplace and family.5 Strategies Used by Female Executive Respondents .8 Taking risks, prior experiences and supporting teams.6 Summary of Chapter Five. 241 Chapter Six: Discussion .2 Leadership Styles and Competencies Enabling Female Executives to Obtain Executive Roles .1 Leadership practice with regards to leadership styles.2 Leadership practice with regards to competencies.4 Leadership self-efficacy.5 Cultural and cross-cultural competencies.
Impacts of Barriers on Achieving Executive Positions.1 Leadership selection processes.3 Socio-cultural challenges for women.4 Career Facilitators Enabling Female Executives.3 Flexibility and adaptability.5 Dispositions and work ethic.5 Leadership Strategies Enabling Female Executives to Develop and Maintain their Current Career .1 Empowering career development.1 Empowerment via networking.2 Empowerment via mentoring/sponsorship.3 Professional and personal development. Summary of Chapter Six. 289 Chapter Seven: Recommendations and Conclusion .1 Leadership styles and competencies.2 Barriers and opportunities.3 Leadership Strategy Framework .4 Implications and Recommendations of the Study .1 Implications for knowledge.2 Implications for institutions and policy makers.3 Implications for university leaders.4 Implications for current and future female leaders.5 Recommendations for future research. 354 xv List of Tables Table 3.1 Survey and interview research phases and data collection .2 Description of population and sampling.3 Sections within the survey questionnaire .4 Scales and Cronbach’s alpha scores in the questionnaire .5 Specific questions in survey questionnaire and interview protocol answering the research questions .1 Comparative levels of position, which have different names ….2 The age group distribution of Vietnamese and Australian respondents … .3 The distribution of barriers confronting Vietnamese and Australian executive leaders ………………………………………………………………………….4 The barrier sub-scales and items significant ………………….5 The correlation between barrier items ………………………………….6 Opportunities supporting Vietnamese and Australian leaders ….7 The favourable condition sub-scales and significant items …….8 Correlation of favourable conditions items …………………….9 Strategies used to maintain and develop Vietnamese and Australian respondents’ career trajectories ………………………………………………………150 Table 4.10 The strategies sub-scales and significant items ………………………….11 The most successful characteristics for advancing an executive career.12 The most effective aspects of leadership competencies in advancing an executive career ……………………………………………….13 The correlation between strategy items ………………….1 Demographic information of both Vietnamese and Australian interview respondents …………………………………………………………….2 Frequency of responses: Strategies used by executives ………………….3 The frequency with which management skills were reported by female executives ……………………………………………………………………….1 The alignment of my leadership framework to the theory of Structural Power in Organisations of Kanter (1993) …………………………………….277 xvii List of Figures Figure 2.1 Different gender percentages of senior managerial roles at 25 public universities in Vietnam.2 Cultural dimensions in Vietnam and Australia …………….1 Complementary model of Mixed-Methods (Two phases Mixed-Methods).2 Procedures of data collection …………………………………………….3 Australian Universities from which universities in New South Wales were selected…………………………………………………………………………….1 The distribution of number of children across age groups of Vietnamese and Australian participants ………………………………………………………….1 Executive leadership development.
303 xviii List of Appendices Appendix A. Interview Question Protocol. 379 xix Glossary of Abbreviations ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics AUS Australia AUSP Australian survey respondent for open-ended questions AUSP (1, 2, 3 …) Australian interviewee (respondents’ codes: 1, 2, 3 ….) AVCC Australian Vice-Chancellor’s Committee CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women HELP Higher Education Loan program MDGs Millennium Development Goals. MOE Ministry of Education MOET Ministry of Education and Training MOLISA Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.
MPI Ministry of Planning and Investment NBS National Bureau of Statistics NCFAW National Committee for the Advancement of Women NGO Non government organisations NTEU National Tertiary Education Union OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development PISA Programme for International Student Assessment SAGE Science in Australia Gender Equity SDG Sustainable Development Goals SDG SWAN Scientific Women’s Academic Network STEMM Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine UAEW Universities Australia Executive Women Group xx UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNEP United Nations Environment Programme UNESCO United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization USAID United States Agency for International Development VET Vocational Education Training VN Vietnam VNP Vietnamese survey respondent for open-ended questions VNP (1, 2, 3…) Vietnamese interviewee (respondents’ codes: 1, 2, 3…) WIEL Women in Educational Leadership xxi Abstract Women are under-represented in leadership roles in higher education, especially at senior levels, although they represent the majority of those who study and complete higher education degrees across the world (Berman & West, 2008; Black, 2015; Eagly & Carly, 2007; UNESCO, 2014, p. Despite the fact that the number of females in executive leadership positions has increased over the last decade, there are still fewer women than men in these roles. In contrast to their male counterparts, women who have been successful in securing senior leadership roles in tertiary education continue to face a number of barriers to maintaining their employment status (D. Given these discrepancies, I investigated the strategies used by women who have successfully negotiated the “labyrinth”, a metaphor which implies the complicated set of obstacles that women face.
What confronts women seeking career equity is not just a single “glass ceiling” that they need to break through once, but a maze-like journey through a series of different barriers which are often more obscure than obvious. In light of the inequities confronting women, and the labyrinthine nature of their career journeys, my aim was to determine the extent to which women’s acquisition of leadership skills is an essential factor in overcoming the confronting challenges and covert barriers which impede their success. This research focused on the extent to which participants’ leadership styles and competencies have empowered them, allowing them to acquire executive leadership positions in tertiary education which would otherwise have been reserved for men. This research also explored the extent to which leadership strategies need to be continuously developed by successful women to maintain their current career trajectories, in spite of the many barriers they face.
xxii I used complementary Mixed-Methods, online and paper survey questionnaires and semi-structured face-to-face interviews, which I conducted in the higher education sector in Vietnam and Australia.