Leading through uncertainty: a four-frame analysis of leadership in academic museums

Purpose The purpose of this quantitative, non-experimental research study was to measure the prevailing approaches to organizational leadership most frequently used among academic museum directors according to Bolman and Deal’s (2021) four-frame model. Academic museum leaders face several substantial challenges today, and this study sought to establish a baseline understanding of what effective leadership looks like among academic museum directors during these increasingly turbulent times. Ultimately, this study measured preferred organizational leadership tendencies, which informed recommendations for professional development, hiring and recruitment and crisis management. Design/methodology/approach This non-experimental research study evaluated the leadership orientation preferences of academic museum directors using Bolman and Deal’s (2021) four-frame model. The application of this validated instrument to the academic museum population via the Association of Academic Museums & Galleries (AAMG) listserv accompanied four research questions. The study utilized descriptive statistics alongside nonparametric statistical tests – including Spearman’s rank correlation test, the Mann–Whitney U test and the Kruskal–Wallis test – to investigate preferred leadership frame usage among academic museum directors. Findings Self-assessment by academic museum directors revealed a proficiency in the human resources frame and near proficiency with the structural frame. In contrast, academic museum employees did not rate their leaders proficient in any of Bolman and Deal’s (2021) four frames. A statistically significant disparity exists between self and others ratings; in other words, directors rated themselves more proficiently in the four frames than their employees rated them. The study also found that directors at the smallest academic museums self-reported a statistically greater proficiency in the human resources frame compared to their director peers at the largest academic museums. Originality/value This study utilized Bolman and Deal’s (2021) four-frame model, an instrument that has informed numerous research studies within the adjacent field of academic library leadership but is relatively untested within academic museums. Ultimately, this study helped lay the foundation for empirically-grounded recommendations in team management, crisis leadership and professional development for existing and future academic museum leaders – timely research that can help mitigate some of the significant challenges facing the academic museum community today.