University presidents’ leadership competencies under competitive environments in East Asia: focusing on leadership development and appointment types
基于对日本、韩国和台湾456位大学校长的调查，研究了领导力发展和任命方式如何影响其沟通、内部管理和外部参与能力，发现持续的领导力发展显著提升能力，而任命方式影响不显著。
This study investigates university presidents’ leadership competencies in East Asia, focusing on how their development efforts and appointment types influence their leadership competency. Drawing on survey responses from 456 university presidents across Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, the study explores three dimensions of leadership: communication, internal role management, and external role engagement. The findings reveal that continuous leadership development—through professional learning and peer exchange—significantly enhances their leadership competencies. At the same time, the formal appointment method (election or board selection) shows no significant impact. This suggests that structural governance reforms alone are insufficient to build effective leadership. The study further suggests that engagement in leadership development may be influenced by context-specific expectations and professional demands faced by university presidents. Based on these insights, the study recommends rethinking the presidency as a professional leadership role rather than a purely academic post. Presidential appointments should emphasize leadership competencies over political or collegial considerations, and governments should invest in longer-term, substantive leadership development programs. By fostering leadership as an ongoing developmental process, rather than relying on formal governance structures alone, higher education systems can better respond to increasing demands for institutional innovation and public accountability.