Department heads’ professional agency: investigating self-perceptions and deans’ perspectives through vignette-based analysis.

This study explored department heads’ professional agency as perceived by heads of departments (HoDs) themselves as well as their Deans following a vignette-based inquiry approach. Data were collected through interviews with one dean and two to three HoDs in six colleges of one university in Beirut, Lebanon. Data was analyzed using theme-based analysis. The findings suggest a dichotomy between the perceptions of HoDs and Deans regarding professional agency within the higher education context. However, a deep analysis of findings suggest a justification for this divide. In fact, while HoDs expressed a bleak perspective pertaining to their autonomy, describing their professional agency to be restricted by Deans’ micro-management, chaos, passiveness, barrier-creation, and decision-dancing; Deans thought they were engaging and supporting HoDs, provided that they remained compliant with university rules and regulations imposed on them. In conclusion, the capacity for HoDs to exercise agency appeared to be impeded by the policies and regulations of the university, with Deans acting as intermediaries and enforcers of these institutional limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]