Exploring the manifestation of distributed leadership in Chinese Higher Education

Distributed leadership has become one of the most popular and important leadership models in the West, particularly in the field of education. However, both theoretical and empirical research into distributed leadership in the Chinese Higher Education context is rare. This dearth of literature on the subject has motivated the authors to carry out a research project focusing, from a Chinese perspective, on distributed leadership at the departmental level in one Chinese university. This article aims to determine the extent to which leadership is distributed at the departmental level, and the mechanism of leadership distribution in the Chinese context through the perceptions of Chinese Heads and other members of their departments. By conducting mixed methods research, which comprises questionnaires followed by semi-structured interviews, the findings of this study suggest that although the organizational structure is primarily hierarchical, leadership has been distributed to some extent within the departments. Leadership responsibilities are distributed mainly through formal distribution, and also through other top-down approaches, such as pragmatic and incremental distribution, implying the beginning of the practice of distributed leadership. The findings also suggest that leadership in this Chinese context is distributed through allocative practice, which is seen as more appropriate for centralized contexts.