Sustainable educational leadership thrives in an environment in which succession planning, talent identification and development, professional capacity building, retention strategies and organizational support are an integrated system. This article re-examines these five interconnected drivers when applied to educational administration within the Ghanaian context and summarizes empirical research, policy reports and literature on similar low and middle-income environments. Using a structured literature-synthesis (n ≈ 29 strong sources), the paper identifies common obstacles including informal succession, weak talent pipelines, episodic training, rural attrition, and fragmented HR systems and identifies pragmatic policy levers, which can be aligned with national priorities. The findings indicate that an integrated, sequenced approaches (codified career pathways, mentored acting appointments, school-based sustained CPD, targeted rural retention packages and strengthened HR analytics) are more likely to yield durable leadership improvement than isolated interventions. The discussion connects theories (transformational, instructional and distributed leadership) to practice and end up with prioritized policies and future research recommendations. Read more

Women now make up around half of university enrolments worldwide in most regions, yet they remain a small minority in senior academic posts and leadership. This review asks what governments and universities did about that between 2010 and 2025, and what the evidence shows worked. It uses a systematised review design with narrative and integrative synthesis, and analyses 21 documents: one systematic review that itself screened 37 primary studies, 12 primary empirical studies, and 8 institutional, national, or supranational policy documents drawn from Scopus, Web of Science, ERIC, and targeted institutional and grey-literature sources. The evidence covers Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, and North America. It is grouped by four policy instruments: statutory and quasi-statutory gender quotas, charter schemes such as Athena SWAN, incentive-linked funding, and mentorship and sponsorship programmes. Quotas and funding incentives shift the numbers most. In European systems operating quotas, women's representation on academic boards runs substantially above that in systems without them. The effect is strongest where research-funding eligibility is at stake. European systems with quotas show women's representation on academic boards running some 23 percentage points above systems without them. The Representation gains do not, however, automatically translate into structural or cultural change. Charter schemes prompt useful internal reflection and gradual improvement in the leadership pipeline, yet they struggle with entrenched pay and power gaps unless wider society shifts too. Sub-Saharan Africa presents a different problem: formal gender policies are multiplying while enforcement stays thin, so progress in access rarely reaches the leadership tier. No single instrument is sufficient. Reform works when binding rules, real financial stakes, and sustained cultural effort are layered together and matched to local implementation capacity. The review closes with a research and policy agenda for the period beyond 2025. Read more

This study examined gender equity and succession in family business leadership in selected family-owned businesses in Agbani, Enugu. The specific objectives were to evaluate the influence of gender-inclusive succession policy on the female leadership succession, assess the effect of access to leadership development and mentorship on the smoothness of succession transition, and examine the influence of cultural and family gender norms on post-succession business sustainability. The study used a survey research approach using a standardized five-point Likert scale questionnaire. The population comprised 120 key individuals drawn from selected family businesses in Agbani, including founders, successors, and senior family members involved in succession decisions. Using Taro Yamane’s (1967) formula at a 5% margin of error, a sample size of 92 respondents was determined. Data were analyzed using Simple Linear Regression analysis. Findings revealed that gender-inclusive succession policy does not have a significant effect on female leadership succession. However, access to leadership development and mentorship has a beneficial and significant effect on succession smoothness, while cultural and family gender norms significantly influence post-succession business sustainability. The study concludes that although female succession remains restricted, mentorship and progressive norms enhance sustainable leadership transition. The study recommends that family businesses should develop and implement formal gender-inclusive succession policies that emphasize competence rather than gender preference. Read more

This study examined the relationship between transactional leadership approach (TLA) and employee commitment (EC) using secondary school teachers as a case study. The study considered contingency punishment and contingency reward disintegrated into recognition/appreciation as well as promotion and salary increase as dimensions of TLA. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design and used a 20-item closed-ended, validated and structured questionnaire as an instrument for data collection from a sample of 189 employees of private secondary schools in Ukwuani and Ethiope East Local Government Areas of Delta State. Out of the 189 questionnaires administered, only 171 were retrieved, valid, and used for the analysis to make inferences and final generalizations. Descriptive and inferential statistical tools were employed with the aid of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The descriptive statistical tools of percentage and mean rating were used to analyze the demographic data and data relating to research questions, respectively. While the inferential statistics of Pearson Correlation and multiple regression were used to test the hypotheses at the 0.05 alpha level. The study based on the analysis revealed that the influence of TLA on the commitment of employees is positive and significant(R = 0.717, P=0.000). Specifically, it showed with β = 0.229, P=0.009 < 0.05, that appreciation/recognition of employees for doing their jobs well influence EC positively and significantly. With β = 0.510, P = 0.000 < 0.05, that promotion and salary increase positively and significantly influence EC and with β = 0.185, P= 0.017 < 0.05 that contingency punishment for not performing well have a positive and slightly significant influence on EC. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that school management should supplement disciplinary or correctional systems with motivational as well as supportive strategies so as to realize sustained EC Read more

Girls’ participation in school life is shaped not only by academic opportunity but also by whether schools respond adequately to menstrual hygiene needs, dignity, and safe participation in physical activity. This narrative literature review examined how school leadership can support menstrual hygiene and girls’ participation in physical activity and identified gender-sensitive strategies for improving school health in Ghanaian basic schools. Relevant peer reviewed studies published mainly between 2021 and 2026 were identified through database searching, screened for relevance, and synthesised thematically. The review found that effective support depends on leadership practices such as privacy-sensitive school routines, access to menstrual materials and WASH facilities, teacher support, stigma reduction, and flexible participation structures for girls during menstruation. The literature also shows that menstruation can reduce girls’ confidence, attendance, and willingness to engage in physical activity when schools are poorly prepared or when social norms remain unsupportive. In Ghana, evidence points to inadequate school preparedness for menstrual hygiene management and continuing barriers to girls’ full participation in school life. The review contributes to school health scholarship by integrating menstrual hygiene, physical activity participation, and gender-sensitive school leadership within one framework and argues that strategic leadership is essential for dignified and inclusive school health. Read more

This study examines the impact of ethical leadership in AI-driven digital marketing on brand trust among UK consumers. As AI transforms digital marketing through personalisation and predictive tools, concerns about transparency, data privacy, and consumer autonomy have become vital for sustaining trust. Data was collected through 25 semi-structured interviews with marketing leaders and industry experts and three focus groups with UK consumers. The findings underscore the importance of ethical leadership, transparent AI use, and balancing personalisation with privacy in building consumer trust. Case studies of UK brands illustrate the successful alignment of AI with consumer expectations and regulations. This research contributes to digital marketing and AI ethics by offering insights into the relationship between ethical leadership, AI-driven personalisation, and brand trust, highlighting the need for responsible AI frameworks within the UK marketing sector. Read more

Transformational leadership has long been recognized as a key driver of employee commitment, capable of shaping employee attitudes and strengthening commitment. Yet, it remains unclear how transformational leadership influences employee commitment in Abuja hospitality industry, both directly and indirectly through organizational culture. The study population consists of 1,510 employees drawn from ten (10) selected hotels within the Federal Capital Territory. Using Taro Yamane (1967) formular, a sample of 316 employees was determined, data were collected through structured questionnaire with transformational leadership measured using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), and analyzed using Partial Least Squares (PLS) approach was employed via SmartPLS software for Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to test the hypothesized relationships among the variables, the findings reveal that transformational leadership has a positive and statistically significant relationship with employee commitment, with a standardized path coefficient of β = 0.41. The mediation analysis reveals that transformational leadership has a significant indirect effect on employee commitment through organizational culture, with a standardized coefficient of β = 0.482. The study therefore concluded that transformational leadership is a critical driver of employee commitment and organizational culture plays a central role in translating leadership behaviour into sustained employee commitment. Read more

Purpose – This study examines how empowering leadership enhances employee creativity through psychological empowerment and job engagement in Ghana’s hospitality industry. Design/methodology/approach – Survey data from 423 hospitality employees were analyzed using PLS-SEM, testing direct, parallel, and sequential mediation effects with 5,000 bootstrap resamples. Findings – Empowering leadership significantly predicted creativity, psychological empowerment, and job engagement. Psychological empowerment and job engagement both independently and sequentially mediated the leadership–creativity relationship. The model explained 67.8% of the variance in employee creativity, with most effects operating indirectly through empowerment and engagement. Practical implications – Hospitality organisations should strengthen empowering leadership, foster psychologically empowering work environments, and design engaging jobs to stimulate employee creativity. Originality/value – The study advances leadership and creativity research by uncovering sequential mediation mechanisms in an under-researched African hospitality context. Read more

This paper explores the ways in which the implementation of artificial intelligence is transforming the leadership roles of lecturers in business schools in the UK in terms of adapted leadership practices, role diffusion in academia, and decision-making. It aims to gain insight into the leadership role of lecturers in AI-infused learning environments. This study has a qualitative research design that is fundamentally interpretive in nature. Data for this research were gathered using a series of semi-structured interviews that were carried out with lecturers who were involved with AI technology in UK business schools. This research used a reflexive type of thematic analysis that allowed for a detailed examination of issues related to the leadership practices of AI technology in higher education. These results have shown that AI implementation is transforming the leadership of lecturers from being more individual-role-based to more practice-based forms of leadership. The leadership practices of lecturers are becoming more practice-based, including leadership through expertise exchange, support, and sensemaking, as opposed to role-based leadership. This transformation of leadership is also accompanied by various challenges of emotional labour, role ambiguity, and ethical complexities related to issues of academic integrity. It was revealed that support structures of institutions played important roles in determining the degree to which leadership practices enabled by AI were empowering or disempowering. This research makes a contribution to both the literature on leadership practices and literature on higher education by reframing the adoption of AI as a trigger for the development of lecturer leadership, as opposed to it being a technological issue. This research also pushes the development of literature on both distributed leadership practices as well as leadership practices by highlighting the importance of ethics being at the heart of AI-enhanced academic leadership practices. Read more

This paper explores the role of the imposter syndrome in defining the leadership identity, the decisions taken, and the perception of effectiveness of senior leaders of UK business schools. Although the syndrome of the imposter has had considerable literature coverage in terms of research as an issue faced by young academics, little research seems to exist that explores this syndrome at the senior levels of leadership. It is evident that the study employs a qualitative research methodology that is rooted in the principles of the interpretivist paradigm. This study involved conducting in-depth interviews with senior academic leaders, such as Programme Directors, Departmental Heads, or Associate or Deputy Deans, in various business schools in the UK. Reflexive thematic analysis was employed for the analysis of data to understand the interpretation of IMPS among the senior academic leaders. Findings suggest that the presence of imposter syndrome is widespread among senior university leaders, sustained by performance-managed systems of governance, metric-based accountability, and uncertain leadership power. Perceptions of imposter syndrome shape leadership behaviours in complicated ways, including positively influencing self-monitoring, emotional labour, risk-aversion behaviours, and reflexive behaviours that also cultivate self-reflection, self-consciousness, or self-humility. Psychological safe work environments with collegiate support were shown to soften the experience of leadership self-doubt among university leaders with imposter syndrome. This research moves the literature on leadership forward by shifting the understanding of the imposter syndrome from a personal psychological issue to a structurally created phenomenon. This research offers new empirical evidence on senior academic leadership in the context of UK business schools, emphasizing the importance of dealing with the institutional factors that enable the issue of self-doubt in leadership. Read more