The impact of gender, psychology, and cultural dimensions on leadership development in distance education

Distance learning as a communicative educational tool

Globally, distance education has entered many spheres of life influenced by open universities and the latest computer technologies. In modern Europe, many educational institutions offer distance learning programmes, including well-known universities such as Dublin City University, EU Business School, and the University of Turin⁹. Similar universities are present in North and South America, along with Asia. An interest in technology education programmes, including satellite communications services and networking, has increased significantly over the past decades.

Previously unpopular, distance learning has been introduced to many industries and has become a major initiative for both for-profit and non-profit colleges and universities. Different factors increased the demand for distance education, including the need to occupy a niche in the market, competition between higher education institutions, increasing popularity, the development of new trends in digital technologies, and changing priorities in higher education¹⁰. All these factors supported the introduction and implementation of distance education programmes in higher education.

Distance learning is a promising new technology designed to involve students in independent learning¹¹. The system is based on electronic communication technology that supports interaction between students and teachers from different locations (geographic places), time zones, or both factors¹².

At the beginning of the last century, a group of American scholars researched the influence of command forces on human behaviour patterns and paid special attention to the concept of leadership. The research claims that the group can control the leader’s behaviour, managing the dominant style using time constraints¹³.

In distance education, the leader is a mentor who manages students’ behaviour at the administrative level¹⁴. In some cases, a team of leaders is formed to find the best ways and methods of training (including distance learning). Leadership is a decision-making process. Thus, management is a process of making optimal decisions, even if these decisions may not satisfy the interests of the majority of participants involved in the learning process¹⁵. A good leader encourages his colleagues to take on challenges at work being limited by different factors, helps employees progress unlocks their inner strength, and makes them feel comfortable about getting the job done. The students’ interest in selflessness, a sense of responsibility and pride in their team is crucial for effective team management.

Concepts of management and leadership in education

Management and leadership operate at different levels. Management helps scholars identify qualitative decisions and solve problems. Leadership stipulates what should be done for this. Leadership psychology views this process from the perspective of individual experience, focusing on factors such as gender, ability, potential, and social aspects¹⁶.

The Asian scholars analysed in detail the relations and co-dependence of gender and leadership qualities. Many scholars suppose that no direct relationships exist between the two concepts¹⁷. They pay special attention to the psychological theories of leadership. Researchers usually define leadership according to the goals of their research. Thus, many definitions of leadership exist and serve the needs of different research subjects. Leadership is a process in which an individual interacts with others to achieve goals¹⁸.

This research investigates the best environment for distance learning from the leadership theory perspective. Psychologists identified different styles of leadership. The theory of charismatic leadership defines a leader as an individual with unique personality traits. The leaders develop absolute trust in the group based on charisma and encourage others to follow¹⁹. Situational leadership suggests that leadership styles change in different circumstances. This theory successfully functions in the context of social and cultural factors that influenced the development of the team of students from different countries (when communication is based on different styles). The situational leader may demonstrate leadership qualities in one situation but omit them in another¹⁸. Situational leadership is flexible and allows a leader to use leadership qualities in turbulent times (i.e., educational, commercial, political, cultural, and gender spheres).

Relational leadership suggests that an individual focuses on unity and develops connections between group members²⁰. This theory encompasses the configuration of the leader’s personality traits, duration of team engagement, and social-cultural dimensions. At the same time, leadership implies joint performance when each group member brings something new to the collective decision. Goals and objectives, rather than gender and cultural factors, are the key drivers of leadership. National researchers support this leadership theory.

Distance learning eliminates the need for teachers’ physical presence in the classroom. The development of a lesson, learning period, task completion, and assessment are separated in time. The scholars consider that the student is more focused and motivated as he learns the lesson in a convenient place and time¹⁹. The new approaches to learning allow teachers to track the progress through electronic systems that can be accessed from any electronic device²¹. Learning online, the student does not miss lessons but uses the free time more rationally to learn the main programme and concentrate on scientific areas of interest. The need to visit an educational institution each day limits the independence of students and prevents individuals from choosing free time (for example, the need to do homework). The student has limited opportunities to select a social environment and a way to interact with the outside world¹⁷. The physical distance between teachers and students reduces internal tension and communication barriers. Communication skills can be improved by both educators and students, including fewer stereotypes, social clichés and compliance.

The communication models described above allow students to recognise the stimuli and the new behaviour patterns but, at the same time, generate stereotypes. The experiment should focus on the attribution and distribution of social roles to overcome the contradictions between expectations based on stereotypes and the behaviour of individuals in a team²⁰.

In distance learning, teamwork has acquired new features. For its successful functioning, a group needs a leader who can unite different types of individuals but overcome subjective factors of influence such as space, time and cultural differences. The experiment evaluated the role of the leader in this process and destroyed the social stereotypes that existed in society. The research purpose is to investigate the effectiveness of leadership in distance learning influenced by psychological theories of leadership, gender characteristics and cross-cultural factors. The following key tasks should be implemented within the framework of the experiment to achieve the research goal:

• evaluate the influence of leadership qualities on teamwork;

• evaluate the impact of leadership on distance learning;

• determine the differences in the perception of leadership by males and females;

• identify how cross-cultural factors influence leadership in distance learning.