eprintid: 1686
rev_number: 8
eprint_status: archive
userid: 4
dir: disk0/00/00/16/86
datestamp: 2026-06-25 02:35:30
lastmod: 2026-06-25 02:35:30
status_changed: 2026-06-25 02:35:30
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Lakhno, Maryna
creators_name: Rageth, Ladina
creators_name: He, Danya
creators_name: Perich, Robert
creators_id: ladina.rageth@mtec.ethz.ch
title: Institutional and structural barriers to sustainable leadership careers in higher education.
ispublished: pub
subjects: L1
divisions: JPS
full_text_status: public
keywords: Sustainable careers; highereducation management;institutional barriers;structural barriers; SystemsTheory Framework of CareerDevelopment; highereducation leaders
abstract: As higher education institutions face intensifying pressures, effective leadership has become a cornerstone of institutional resilience. Yet leadership careers in higher education remain ad hoc and fragmented. This article explores how senior leaders perceive institutional and structural barriers that hinder sustainable leadership careers. Combining the Systems Theory Framework with the Sustainable Careers Model, we refer to sustainable careers as the alignment between individual needs and institutional conditions, leading to viable trajectories. Drawing on a mixed-methods study on senior higher education leaders in Switzerland (survey N = 312; 24 inter-views), we show that perceived key barriers include weak succession planning, insufficient preparation, limited peer exchange, expanding competency demands, and excessive managerialisation, reinforced by systemic knowledge expectations and cultural hierarchies privileging academic prestige. Addressing these challenges requires institutional reforms that strengthen professionalisation, succession planning, role clarity, and peer networks, alongside structural measures such as simplifying accountability, expanding mobility, and building system-wide leadership programs.
date: 2025-12
publication: JOURNAL OF HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY AND MANAGEMENT2026
volume: 48
number: 2-3
pagerange: 325-345
id_number: https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2025.2606660© 2026 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.This is an Open Access article distribut
refereed: TRUE
citation:   Lakhno, Maryna and Rageth, Ladina and He, Danya and Perich, Robert  (2025) Institutional and structural barriers to sustainable leadership careers in higher education.  JOURNAL OF HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY AND MANAGEMENT2026, 48 (2-3).  pp. 325-345.      
document_url: http://eprints.iab.edu.my/v2/1686/1/Institutional%20and%20structural%20barriers%20to%20sustainable%20leadership%20careers%20in%20higher%20education.pdf