Introduction:
In Iranian higher education, despite the pivotal role of universities in national development, evidence indicates a weakness or even absence of transformational leadership, leading to organizational stagnation. Baghdarnia et al. (2020) revealed that transformational leadership in Iran’s public universities was rated below average [19]. In the absence of effective change leadership, universities have become preoccupied with routine administrative and bureaucratic tasks, diverting managerial energy from strategic, forward-looking planning [20, 21] toward maintaining traditional structures and inefficient processes. This leadership gap has produced numerous consequences, including the dominance of traditional management, leadership inertia, slow adoption of technological transformations, limited international achievements, and inadequate responsiveness to societal needs [22]. It has also resulted in a lack of clear vision, weak collective purpose, reduced performance, disregard for quality standards, uncoordinated program expansion, poor alignment with industrial needs, and waste of financial and human resources. Furthermore, universities demonstrate limited foresight regarding future developments [20, 21] and a superficial understanding of internationalization and globalization, symptoms of the absence of change leadership competencies among higher education managers [25].
Success in dynamic and complex environments requires leaders equipped with essential competencies such as understanding academic culture, scholarly credibility, financial and reputational management, and strategic vision, competencies that transcend administrative management and reflect change-oriented leadership. As the achievement of higher education goals largely depends on leaders’ capabilities, managerial selection should emphasize leadership competencies [22]. Nevertheless, prior studies have mainly addressed leadership competencies in school education or non-academic contexts, leaving a gap in higher education. A comprehensive understanding of change leadership competencies is therefore vital for researchers, policymakers, and university administrators, providing a foundation for enhancing leader selection, evaluation, and development to meet 21st-century challenges. Accordingly, this study pioneers an indigenous, competency-based model of change leadership tailored to Iran’s higher education context.
Methodology:
This research is applied in its objective and qualitative in its approach, employing a phenomenological method. The target population comprised higher education managers, 18 of whom were interviewed through purposive criterion sampling (holding managerial positions in various sectors of higher education and possessing relevant expertise on the subject). Data were collected using semi-structured interviews conducted in person, online, or by phone, each lasting between 30 to 60 minutes, depending on participant convenience. The interview data were transcribed and analyzed through a six-step thematic analysis method. To validate the findings, participant review and peer debriefing were employed.
Results and Discussion:
Out of a total of 384 codes extracted from the interviews, 117 codes related to individual–interpersonal competencies (including personal traits, abilities, and interpersonal skills), 191 codes to intra-university competencies (planning and implementation, policymaking, organization, and supervision), and 76 codes to extra-university competencies (national and international levels). Based on these findings, a tripartite model of key competencies, individual–interpersonal, intra-university, and extra-university, was developed for change leadership among higher education managers in Iran. The findings showed that individual–interpersonal competencies form the foundation of effective change leadership in Iranian universities. These competencies enable leaders to build trust, reduce resistance, and foster constructive communication within the bureaucratic and politicized higher education environment. As Khalili et al. (2020) observed, higher education leaders require emotional insight and a future-oriented mindset to navigate environmental changes [26]. However, within Iran’s institutional and cultural context, achieving these qualities faces major challenges, particularly the tension between top-down control and the need for creativity and initiative to drive change [26]. This conflict often leads university leaders to act as adaptive rather than transformative figures, perceiving change as a threat to stability. Politicization has fostered excessive caution, self-censorship, and managerial conservatism, reducing risk-taking and weakening transformative decision-making [29]. Therefore, developing change leadership in Iranian higher education requires redefining the leader’s role, from a reactive administrator to an agent of learning and cultural transformation who fosters change acceptance through self-awareness, transparent communication, and empathy [30].
Intra-university competencies, encompassing planning and implementation, policy-making, organization, and supervision, reflect leaders’ abilities to align the university’s mission, culture, and structure with change objectives. Findings indicated that Iranian leaders often face tension between academic missions and political pressures [24], resulting in adaptive management driven by external demands rather than internal innovation. As Baghi Maraghi et al. (2020) emphasized, Iran’s higher education structures are centralized and control-oriented, leaving little room for transformational leadership [31]. Effective change leadership thus requires balancing scientific logic, policy mandates, and stakeholder expectations through systems thinking, participatory planning, and transformation-oriented supervision [37]. Change leadership should move beyond hierarchical control toward network-based dialogue and collective learning, achievable only by strengthening intra-university competencies and rebuilding trust within academic culture [33].
Extra-university competencies concern leaders’ abilities to engage with external stakeholders, including industry, government, society, and international organizations. These include scientific diplomacy, networking, reputation management, and global awareness. In Iran, this area has been largely neglected, with university–society ties remaining formal and episodic [25]. Effective change leadership requires boundary-spanning leaders capable of repositioning universities within national and global ecosystems through strategic networking and global trend analysis (Nazarzadeh Zare & Ghoraishi Khorasgani, 2022; Shirzad et al. 2022). Yet policy constraints and weak institutional autonomy limit such engagement, restricting international opportunities and hindering universities from addressing societal challenges [24].
Conclusion:
The integration of the three competency levels indicates that change leadership in Iranian higher education is a multilayered, context-dependent phenomenon whose success relies simultaneously on individual capabilities, institutional capacity, and external interactions. The proposed model establishes a contextualized framework for participatory change leadership aligned with Iran’s cultural, administrative, and policy conditions. To overcome traditional and politicized management practices, Iran’s higher education system must reform its criteria for leader selection, evaluation, and promotion. The identified competencies can guide the design of competency-based leadership assessment systems, succession planning, and transparent decision-making. Sustainable transformation in Iranian universities will occur only when these three dimensions of leadership competency development are institutionalized, not merely at the individual level but also across the structural and policy layers of the higher education system.