When successful school leaders go entrepreneurial: empirical insights from Cyprus

Abstract

The exercise of entrepreneurially motivated leadership can provide a successful aspect of schools’ social reality. Yet, this innovative understanding of leadership, as an object of study, not only brings the general question of successful school leadership closer to intra- and extra-school goal-setting and decision-making processes but also highlights the lack of research in this area. To better understand how successful school leaders navigate the complexity of the local environment, this paper, using an exploratory approach, examines the entrepreneurially motivated and inspired leadership facets of successful school leaders in Cyprus using case studies from a ten-year research study, and further situates them in a context-sensitive manner. Drawing upon the research data, this paper provides prospective pathways for successful external school leadership, by taking into consideration the contextual perspective within which school leaders function. Based on the findings of this study, successful school leaders develop strong external networks to foster innovation and support their school organizations. Some of the implications of this research study include the integration of entrepreneurial and marketing strategies into leadership training to address evolving school demands, while future research should explore broader contexts, including rural schools and the perspectives of external stakeholders.