Voice from the Field: Phenomenological Study of Chairing Academic Department Digitally

Abstract

The position of department chair is a vital one and comes with complex responsibilities. As the immersion of digital world is inevitable, digital leadership has not been an add-on practice, but is a necessity. Practicing this role digitally increases the burden on department chairs unless they are equipped with sufficient understanding and skill for leading digitally. Investigating the lived experience of digitally leading an academic department provides in-depth understanding of the nature of digital leadership for chairs. The current study explores how department chairs experience digital departmental leadership. A phenomenological approach was used to carry out the study. A semi-structured interview was also carried out, and it involved 11 department chairs with experience in digitally leading the academic department. The investigation revealed four categories: the overall experience of digital leadership, the paradox of time, the paradox of connection, and hardship. The categories involved many themes. The overall experience is valuable with many challenges; the paradox of connection involves broader connection and narrow connections; the paradox of time involves lack of time and extra time, while hardship involves digital literacy gap, isolation, and vagueness. The findings of this study inspire better action and interaction when digitally chairing the academic department.