Identity construction among university department heads

In an increasingly managerial higher education environment, the position of university department heads (DHs) has become continuously more complex. To uncover the tense dynamics between individual DHs and their social milieus, this paper draws on an ethnographic analysis of DHs’ research management activities at an English university. Constructing their identities as managers, DHs are prompted to draw on a multiplicity of often contradictory discourses stemming from their personal biographies, various organizational units, and national directives. The findings uncover the numerous struggles pertaining to DHs’ identity construction processes as they respond to ongoing change while accounting to multiple, heterogeneous audiences.