Academically inbred presidents and university performance
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4097617 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alice Civera (0000-0002-1611-7073, University of Bergamo), Helena Horta (0000-0001-6814-1393, Social Contexts and Policies of Education (SCAPE), Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, corresponding author), Michele Meoli (0000-0002-9438-0782, University of Bergamo), Stefano Paleari (0000-0001-6099-560X, University of Bergamo) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 51 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 1-16 |
| Publication date | 2025-04-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Studies in Higher Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0307-5079 • E-ISSN: 1470-174X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03075079.2025.2483885 |
| OpenAlex | W4409166511 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 72 |
The presidents of universities are increasingly perceived as key contributors to university performance, but their contribution has been analysed mainly from the perspective of research performance. Our study assesses the impact of university presidents on university performance considering a wider range of university performance indicators that include research performance, student growth and spin-off creation. In particular, the study assesses the effect of having an inbred president on university performance. We analyse a sample of 1744 president–year observations, comprising 310 presidents of 90 Italian universities elected from 2001 to 2022. We find that universities led by inbred presidents tend to have a lower performance in terms of research output and productivity compared to those led by non-inbred presidents but outperform the latter in terms of student growth and particularly local student enrolment. No statistically significant findings are found concerning the creation of spin-offs. The results highlight the negative impact of academic inbreeding on scholarly activities related to research, in alignment with expectations from the literature, and suggest that the more research-oriented universities should not elect or appoint inbred presidents. In today's knowledge society, where knowledge creation is central, universities may consider employing inbred academics as part of their senior management teams in roles related to student growth and affairs, but not as presidents
Economic growth · Economics · Higher education · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Sociology · Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences · Higher Education Governance and Development · Management and Organizational Studies · Psychology
Navel Gazing
Deepening our understanding of academic inbreeding effects on research information exchange and scientific output
Building global-class universities
The iron cage revisited institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields
Deepening the Effects of the Academic Inbreeding
How do university systems' features affect academic inbreeding? Career rules and language requirements in France, Germany, Italy and Spain
The closed academy? Guild power and academic social class
Academic familism and disciplinary cohesion in higher education
Academic inbreeding and choice of strategic research approaches
Inbreeding and research collaborations in Portuguese higher education
University presidents’ international education experience and the internationalization of higher education institutions
Academic (dis)qualifications of Turkish rectors
Academic leadership and university performance
When massified higher education meets shrinking birth rates
Do colleges and universities increase their region's human capital
Higher Education Reform in Italy
The Role of Academic Inbreeding in Building Institutional and Research Habitus
The Role of Managerial Fit in Determining Organizational Performance
Academic Power in Italy
Patterns of Mobility of New Ph.D.'s Among American Academic Institutions
The Culture of Mediocrity
Academic Inbreeding
The Politics of Higher Education
The Iron Cage Revisited
The social impact of universities
Extending the university mission and business model
Are university leaders always the same? A longitudinal analysis of Vice-chancellors' profile in English universities over the last twenty years
Leadership strategies for a higher education sector in flux
Who leads China's leading universities
Does Vice-Chancellor power determine UK University efficiency performance
Political power of Italian rectors
The Function of Institutional Inbreeding
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |