Leading cross-institutional diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in higher education: a case study of leadership attributions in the Erasmus+ DEI4SME Project
Kovalonoks, Kristaps (2025)
2025
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025112128919
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025112128919
Tiivistelmä
The purpose of this thesis was to explore how leadership was attributed and enacted in the Erasmus+ project DEI4SME and what this revealed about leading cross-institutional diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in higher education. The research examined leadership in a multicultural and multi-organisational setting to better understand how inclusive and collaborative practices can be developed across institutional boundaries.
The research was carried out as a qualitative single case study with an interpretivist orientation. The empirical data consisted of one focus group, nine semi-structured interviews, and publicly available project materials collected between February and October 2025. The data were analysed by applying Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis with the support of MAXQDA software.
The analysis identified four themes describing how leadership was attributed within DEI4SME: (1) leadership that enabled inclusion and execution through empathy, accessibility, and clear direction; (2) transparent communication and trust across institutions, built on openness, respect, and reliable information flow; (3) collaborative leadership across organisational and cultural boundaries, characterised by role flexibility, alignment, and learning through collaboration; and (4) sustaining motivation, visibility and long-term impact through recognition, intrinsic motivation, and retention of project knowledge.
The results indicated that leadership in DEI4SME was perceived as a shared, relational, and learning-oriented process rather than a function of formal authority. Effective leadership balanced empathy with structure and integrated elements of transformational, servant, and distributed leadership. From the perspective of educational leadership, the findings suggest that predictable coordination, transparent communication, and shared ownership strengthen engagement, collective learning, and long-term impact in international higher education collaborations. More broadly, the research highlights that inclusive leadership in cross-institutional DEI initiatives depends on relational practices grounded in trust and recognition together with structures that ensure clarity, continuity, and balanced distribution of responsibilities across diverse institutions and cultures.
The research was carried out as a qualitative single case study with an interpretivist orientation. The empirical data consisted of one focus group, nine semi-structured interviews, and publicly available project materials collected between February and October 2025. The data were analysed by applying Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis with the support of MAXQDA software.
The analysis identified four themes describing how leadership was attributed within DEI4SME: (1) leadership that enabled inclusion and execution through empathy, accessibility, and clear direction; (2) transparent communication and trust across institutions, built on openness, respect, and reliable information flow; (3) collaborative leadership across organisational and cultural boundaries, characterised by role flexibility, alignment, and learning through collaboration; and (4) sustaining motivation, visibility and long-term impact through recognition, intrinsic motivation, and retention of project knowledge.
The results indicated that leadership in DEI4SME was perceived as a shared, relational, and learning-oriented process rather than a function of formal authority. Effective leadership balanced empathy with structure and integrated elements of transformational, servant, and distributed leadership. From the perspective of educational leadership, the findings suggest that predictable coordination, transparent communication, and shared ownership strengthen engagement, collective learning, and long-term impact in international higher education collaborations. More broadly, the research highlights that inclusive leadership in cross-institutional DEI initiatives depends on relational practices grounded in trust and recognition together with structures that ensure clarity, continuity, and balanced distribution of responsibilities across diverse institutions and cultures.