Impact of Islamic Values on the Leadership Style of Muslim Women Academics in Malaysia

Abstract

The Problem

The religious background of Muslim women academic leaders in Malaysia guides them in performing demanding roles in managing multiple responsibilities. To date, little is known about the impact of Islamic values on Muslim women leaders in institutions of higher learning, even though Islam is the official religion in Malaysia. In addition, the field of human resource development has done little to explore the leadership style of Muslim women.

The Solution

This paper presents findings and recommendations of a research conducted for the purpose of exploring, understanding, and presenting the impact of Islamic values on the leadership style of Muslim women academics in Malaysia. This inquiry is significant because it’s open the new sight for HRD scholar and practitioners to explore HRD in a leadership, women leadership, religious, and the role of Muslim faith in women academic leaders. It is hoped that the findings of this research will encourage HRD scholars and practitioners to consider integrated dimension to their scholarly thought and practice related to leadership style.

The Stakeholders

The outcomes of this research will be of interest to those women who are currently in leadership roles in academia, as well as those women interested in moving into these roles. It should also be of interest to higher education administrators and, particularly, those within higher education charged with developing leaders. Human resource development scholars and practitioners will also benefit from the contributions of this article to our general understanding of women in leadership roles.

Keywords

Islam Muslim women Islamic values leaders leadership style

Among the main challenges of higher education institutions in Malaysia is the development of academic programs that produce graduates who fulfill the demands of market-driven social and economic sectors in the development of the country. To achieve this goal, strong leadership in higher education is required. To date, several institutions of higher education in Malaysia have been named among the global top 200 in at least one of the 30 disciplines listed in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University rankings (“Eight Malaysian Universities Make the Top 200 in New QS Rankings,” 2014). For Malaysian universities to perform even better in the future, foresight and leadership in the administration of these institutions are requisite.

Malaysia aspires to be a significant international hub for higher education by the year 2020 (Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, 2014). This declaration by the Ministry of Higher Education has been incorporated into the goals of higher education institutions to deliver world class services in education. Therefore, continuous support by the policy maker and commitment by the implementers, higher education institutions, are needed to achieve the targets. Hence, it is important that the administration of these institutions is of high caliber. According to Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (2014), leadership is one of the main institutional pillars of governance, teaching and learning, research, innovation, and commercialization. The need for strong leadership is espoused in the National Higher Education Strategic Plan (PSPTN), formulated to enrich the quality of human capital through enhancement of national higher education. The broad concept of leadership was expanded to incorporate the various aspects of succession planning and its related competencies such as identification and selection of key staff, setting of criteria, and determination of standards, measurement, evaluation, and management (Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, 2014).

With a multi-ethnic population of about 29 million, Malaysia had 20 public universities, 53 private universities, six foreign university branch campuses, 403 active private colleges, 30 polytechnics, and 73 public community colleges in 2011 (Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, 2011). Five of the 20 public universities have been accorded research university status with additional funding for R&D and the commercialization of research: Universiti Malaya, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Putra Malaysia, and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Research universities have been given autonomy in administration, human resources, financial and academic management, and student intake. The remaining 15 public universities are categorized as either comprehensive or focus universities.

Previous studies have shown that effective leadership in higher education is influenced by several factors related to human resource development (HRD) and human resource management (HRM; Ehrenstorfer, Sterrer, Preymann, & Aichinger, 2014; Patrick & Sebastian, 2012). Extensive re-engineering of the functions of university management staff would be required to fulfill the government target of making the country a global education center. Effective academic leaders can influence the activities of the university in its push for successful institutional positioning, such as competing for competent staff and other resources. Nevertheless, it should be noted that academic heads appointed to their jobs typically have received little or no formal leadership training. As such, it is often difficult to determine what constitutes effective academic leadership in higher education, as there are variations in leadership styles arising from background, years of experience, number of subordinates, education, and natural style (Kolb & Kolb, 2005). Uncertainty is further compounded when the religion and gender of the leader are added to this list of variables.

In Malaysia, only 27% of women are involved in politics (Community Business, 2011). In the 12th Malaysian Parliament, women Members of Parliament comprised 10.4% of the Dewan Rakyat (Lower House) and 16.9% of Dewan Negara (Upper House; Lim, 2013). A major factor that encouraged the involvement of women in politics in Malaysia was the launching of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPFA) in 1995 that highlighted the need to empower women so they could work beside men to play an equal role in the social, economic, and political arenas (United Nations, 1995).

In principle, education is often considered as a prerequisite to ensure women’s greater political participation. It is argued that not only education and training, but also customs and religion are also important factors that influence the participation of women in politics, especially Muslim women in Asia (Abidi, 2013). Early post-Independence political leaders in many parts of the region were missionary-educated and some were even religious leaders. Their political and customary perspectives on governance were very much influenced by religious values.

In Malaysia, Vision 2020, a blueprint for developed nation status in 2020, was launched in 1991 (M. Mohamad, 1991). The nation aimed to meet the following challenges outlined in the development plan: (a) establishing a united Malaysian nation made up of one Bangsa Malaysia (Malaysian Race), meaning that all are Malaysians, whether Malay, Indian, Chinese, Iban, or Kadazan, united through the use of Bahasa Malaysian language and the Malaysian Constitution (Swee-Hock & Kesavapany, 2006); (b) creating a psychologically liberated, secure, and developed Malaysian society; (c) fostering and developing a mature democratic society; (d) establishing a fully moral and ethical society; (e) establishing a mature, liberal, and tolerant society; (f) establishing a scientific and progressive society; (g) establishing a fully caring society; (h) ensuring an economically just society, in which there is fair and equitable distribution of the wealth of the nation; and (i) establishing a prosperous society with an economy that is fully competitive, dynamic, robust, and resilient. Against such a backdrop, it is expected that the nation’s leadership at all levels will strive toward meeting the challenges successfully. As a catalyst, education should emphasize spiritual strength as a prerequisite to achieving success and a sustainable future as stipulated in Vision 2020 (Ghazali, 1996). With regard to women leadership and education, it is necessary to ensure that the process of transformation would fully encourage the indiscriminative participation of women.

In the Malaysian context, research on higher education leadership is scarce, especially with regard to academic leadership among women in relation to culture and religion. There are agencies in Malaysia that are directly associated with the effort to develop more women as leaders in higher education institutions. Such institutions include the Non-Aligned Movement’s (NAM) Institute for the Empowerment of Women (NIEW) and the Higher Education Leadership Academy (HELA/AKEPT). The former aims to leverage available expertise to take the lead in formulating academic programs. At the same time, the latter provides the linkage to assist higher education institutions in aligning leadership succession plans with national aspirations and transformation programs in accordance with the Malaysian National Higher Education Plan to transform the country into a center of excellence for higher education. Women academics are already holding leadership positions, such as heads of committees, heads of programs, heads of research clusters, heads of departments or schools, deans of faculties, and directors of research centers, and moving into the next tier as deputy vice chancellors (DVCs) and vice chancellors. One Malaysian university has reached the target of 30% of women in academic leadership. In 2006, two Muslim women reached the pinnacle of academic leadership by their designations as vice chancellors in two prestigious institutions of higher learning in Malaysia. Rafiah Salim was picked to head Universiti Malaya, Malaysia’s oldest university, while Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin took office 3 months later as vice chancellor of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, one of the country’s largest research universities. Against such a backdrop, this article touches specifically on the impact of Islamic principles and values in the leadership style of Muslim women academic leaders in Malaysia. The focus is on how religious or spiritual values position women academic leaders in performing their roles.

Literature Review

Factors related to the thrust of this article are reviewed through the literature in this section of the article. We looked for previous studies and relevant information, including libraries, indexes, and the Internet. We started with the library with topics about Islamic values and what Islam represents. We also explored Muslim women leaders through recently published journals with online publications. Other information sources were government reports to explain main ideas related to academic leadership. Newspapers were used as reports of current topical issues about the ranking of the universities.

The literature review surfaced 19 relevant articles published between 1994 and 2013 that identified several factors relevant to the impact of Islamic leadership style: Islamic leadership, leadership development, leadership processes, leadership in an academic’s career, women, Muslim women, human behavior, social behavior, spiritual values, and integrity.

Islam, Education, and Leadership

The Islamic philosophy of education is based on faith in God, “. . . who taught by the pen, taught man what he did not know” (Holy Quran 96:4-5 [Ali, 2004]). Discourse with God imparts knowledge to the highest level and creates the link between knowledge, skills, and attitude toward leadership. The Prophet Muhammad (saw)¹, who was a political and religious leader, taught the people the Islamic way of life (Al-Hibri, 1982). All other prophets in the Holy Quran (Ali, 2004) were also referred to as teachers. The merging of religious, social, political, and educational roles influenced the development of the concept of educational leadership in Islam, retaining some characteristic ideological features over time.

In addition, the Holy Quran (Ali, 2004) provides the legal foundation for the community to function in accordance with God’s will. Accordingly, Muslim leaders are tasked with improving the lives of men and women in the community. With regard to leadership, the Holy Quran (Ali, 2004) emphasizes that “we made from among them leaders guiding by our command when they were patient and [when] they were certain of our signs” (Holy Quran 32:24 [Ali, 2004]). Subsequently, the Holy Quran (Ali, 2004) mentioned in Chapter 22, Verse 4, “It has been decreed for every devil that whoever turns to him—he will misguide him and will lead him” (Holy Quran, 22:4 [Ali, 2004]).

Islam, as evident in the Holy Quran (Ali, 2004) and the Hadith² (Doe, 1970), places great importance on relating knowledge to principles and leadership style; as the practice of Islam goes beyond mere worship, where the spiritual values are also manifested in human behavior. The Holy Quran (Ali, 2004) does not focus on the purpose of knowledge as man’s ability to be far away from God but on morality as the core of both belief and knowledge. The Holy Quran (Ali, 2004) emphasizes in many surah (chapters) “those who believe and do good work . . .” (Holy Quran 2:25 [Ali, 2004]); this means that followers would not be true believers without exhibiting exemplary behavior. The great Muslim philosopher, Al-Farabi (1961), acknowledged the interrelation of the state of soul with human action, for he affirmed, “The states of the soul by which a man does good deeds and the fair actions are the virtues, and those by which he does wicked deeds and ugly actions, are the vices” (p. 27). In other words, the primary ethical values and mannerisms of a Muslim are guided by the virtues of the soul and the refinement of character (Omar, 1994).

What Does Islam Represent?

According to Prophet Muhammad (saw), the Muslim community has a mission to create a new social order:

You are now the best people brought forth for (the guidance and reform of) mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah. Had the people of the Book believed, it were better for them. (Holy Quran 3:110 [Ali, 2004])

This understanding has influenced the way Muslims have conducted themselves throughout the centuries, providing a rationale for leadership and political development. The life of the Prophet Muhammad (saw), who developed the first Muslim community in Medina, was seen as exemplifying this ideal. Muslim communities in many countries have since applied various spiritual and ethical values based on the Holy Quran (Ali, 2004) in government regulations, political practices, Islamic laws, and community activities.

The Islamic worldview sees humans as God’s viceregents on earth. Nevertheless, people have been given the gift of free will: “There was no compulsion in religion” (Holy Quran 2:225 [Ali, 2004]). Because Islamic laws were written some 1,400 years ago and because the rituals and practices that govern the Muslim way of life have persisted for the most part intact since the time of Prophet Muhammad (saw), it has been asked whether Islam, as a system of regulatory beliefs, is relevant in the modern world.

Grounded on the principles of justice and equality, Islam recognizes complete equality between women and men regarding their spiritual, intellectual, and physical potential. In the field of politics, women are beginning to play more active roles in many Southern countries (Abidi, 2013). Women’s participation at all levels of government is not unusual in South Asia, given the long history of women’s political activism, their participation in anti-colonial struggles, and the strong influence of women’s movements. Nevertheless, the number of women in national parliaments in South Asia is below the average 20% proportion globally, despite affirmative action being taken by respective governments. Successful women leaders in Asia include Indira Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto, Sheikh Hasina, Sushma Swaraj, Uma Bharti, and Sheila Dixit (True, Niner, Parashar, & George, 2012), most of whom, however, were in these positions because of the success of a male relative (husband or father).

Muslim Women Leaders

There have been several studies on Malaysian women leaders. According to Hassan and Silong (2008), women leadership is most evident in community development. Women leaders are especially involved in providing services to others, showing their compassion, care, and concern for the less fortunate. The emphasis has been on connecting with others in the community. Nevertheless, by being leaders, such women are able to inspire and empower other women.

Religion plays a significant role in influencing the leadership style of women, especially Muslim women. In Islam, although all Muslims are leaders in their right, they are also followers at the same time. Therefore, leaders feel that as servants of God, their duty is to give back to their communities. The leadership quality among Muslim women must take place within the teachings of Islam and the acceptable customs and values of the community because Islam has special guidelines pertaining to the role of woman. Women are regarded as leaders in situations in which she can freely contribute her ideas and demonstrate her feelings, values, and religious beliefs without being influenced or oppressed by others (N. A. Mohamad & Mustafa, 2012). It is related to the social role theory by Eagly (1987) who stressed that men and women behave differently in performing their social roles. Stereotyped gender roles are often shaped by social norms. However, in recent decades, women leaders who play multiple roles, such as being a mother, wife, or daughter, and at the same time, are professionals holding top positions, are able to share their knowledge with others in the community and make a difference (Dulin, 2008).

There are many examples of Muslim women leaders in the Hadith. The Prophet Muhammad (saw) and the female members of his family played significantly important functions that affected women leadership. Khadija, the wife of Prophet Muhammad (saw), was a thriving business woman and was, at one time, her husband’s employer. The autonomy Khadija enjoyed was reflective of women in some Arab communities who participated in commercial activities, besides being politically active (Mernissi, 1991; Sidani, 2005). Another beloved wife of the Prophet Muhammad (saw), Aisha, was a scholar, renowned for her foresight and advice in the affairs of the Muslim community. She was credited with establishing many Islamic traditions and was a great authority on Islamic jurisprudence (Jawad, 1998).

In Malaysia, Muslim intellectuals in the 1930s who were educated and influenced by reform movements in the Middle East demanded Muslim women’s right to education. In 1983, the International Islamic University (IIUM) was set up and offered courses on Islamization knowledge and other courses based on Islamic principles. IIUM started with four core faculties (economics, law, fundamental knowledge, and languages). Enrolment was open to students from all over the world. With the establishment of such a university, Muslim women were able to receive higher education and would go on to play more prominent roles in the Malaysian society. Another effort is Women’s Development Research Centre (KANITA), which was set up by Universiti Sains Malaysia. KANITA is committed to research, transfer of knowledge, advocacy, and community engagement, utilizing and promoting a gender and social equality framework. It strives to affect the academy, the state, women, and the society at large. The main thrust of KANITA is to achieve excellence in the field of research on women and gender in the development process (Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2011). Besides KANITA at Universiti Sains Malaysia, there are several other programs, including gender studies in Universiti Malaya, gender and development research unit in Universiti Putra Malaysia, and women’s study group established in 1996 and upgraded to the Gender Research Center in 2003 (Abdul Rahman, 2010).

Academic Leadership Roles

Leadership at institutions of higher learning has seen many changes in recent years. Universities in Malaysia are the building blocks of academic leadership. University staff may hold direct discussions with the Ministry of Higher Education, while others are involved with administrative work, faculty matters, and issues related to staff and students.

According to Ramsden (1998), the main characteristics of effective academic leadership in institutions of higher education are (a) leadership in teaching, (b) leadership in research, (c) collaborative and motivational leadership, (d) strategic vision and networking, (e) efficient management, (f) development and recognition of performance, and (g) interpersonal skills. According to Prince, Felder, and Brent (2007), leadership in teaching helps in the adoption of innovation and new ideas about teaching and learning. Research leadership is reflected when younger academic staff want to emulate the researcher who has won recognition for his or her work. Collaborative and motivational leadership is demonstrated by promoting integrity, openness, and morality in the workplace. Strategic vision and networking are exhibited through staff involvement in industrial training, attachment, or internship program with the corporate or private agencies. For efficient management, academic leaders might apply management by objective, International Organization for Standardization (ISO) management system, or lean management. Developing and recognizing performance include aspects such as rewarding competent staff, sharing the achievements of successful colleagues, and giving feedback for improvement. Interpersonal skills refer to the professionalism of the academician in teaching, research, and services to the community.

According to Boyer (1990), the work of academicians can no longer be limited to teaching, research, and service. He recommended that their roles be expanded to take into account the realities of globalization. Their functions should include integration and application of knowledge and skills besides teaching and scholarship discovery. According to Koo and Pang (2011), it is also crucial to internationalize the university. The primary agents in the internationalization of higher education are academicians. There are several ways to internationalize the university, such as through policy change and practices related to the curriculum, international recruitment of staff, and joint research networks/collaborations and publication of research work.

According to Ismail and Rasdi (2007), the involvement of academic staff in institutions of higher education varies, depending on the type of institution, management position, expertise, and seniority. Furthermore, the government increasingly wants public universities to seek funding from other resources, such as private agencies, to support them in research and activities that benefit students and the nation. This is one of the new challenges faced by academic staff. Even though all public universities continue to receive operational funds from the ministry, the development of local universities to be on a par with international universities requires more funding. As the transformation of higher education in Malaysia is very much influenced by global trends, changes in management policies are inevitable (Aziz & Abdullah, 2014). There is an increased desire for more academic autonomy, a greater say in the governance of the institution, and more positive changes in the role of academicians and academic leadership (Tierney & Sirat, 2008).

Previous studies by Ismail and Rasdi (2008) on the leadership experience of a group of women professors in public universities in Malaysia revealed that leadership roles played a significant part in an academic’s career advancement. Some academicians played leading roles in activities provided by universities and the Ministry of Higher Education for career development purposes, such as international networking through participation in consultancies, training, mobility programs, attachment, conferences, and workshops. Opatokun, Hasim, and Hassan (2013) researched authentic leadership of Muslim academics in higher learning institutions and found that four predictors (self-awareness, balanced processing of information, internalized moral perspective, and relational transparency) explained authentic leadership. Authentic leadership means to indicate the leaders who are deeply conscious of how they think and perform and are perceived by others as being aware of their own and others’ knowledge, and strengths, values/moral perspective, and aware of the context in character (Avolio & Gardner, 2005). Authentic leaders portray a high degree of integrity, are committed to their core values, and have a deep sense of purpose in life.

Public universities in Malaysia have adopted new management techniques to improve their performance, such as ISO certification, mission statements, strategic planning, total quality management, benchmarking, and right-sizing (Lee, 2012). All faculties and institutions are required to prepare strategic plans for both the short and long terms to maximize their resources, including human resources. As such, all academic members have to be in sync with the management team to develop the faculty and the university as a whole. This transformation requires total dedication from academicians to play their part (Aziz & Abdullah, 2014).

Leadership Attributes Derived From the Internalization of Islamic Spiritual Values

Based on the above discussion of Islam and leadership, several leadership attributes emerge as a consequence of the internalization of spiritual principles and values. From the personal perspective, the individual accepts that leadership is a divine trust, but it comes with responsibilities to fulfill the position without special privileges, and the leader is responsible for carrying out the responsibilities entrusted to her. Subsequently, the leader should portray exemplary moral character, have effective communication skills, be able to instill the spirit of self-sufficiency and self-reliance, have strong convictions, keep promises, be tolerant of criticism, and respect different viewpoints. Ultimately, the leader will go beyond just capitalizing on her knowledge and the system in carrying out her responsibilities; the leader also has to manage from the heart. In this respect, the leader will perform her duties wisely, making sure that her subordinates are empowered and able to develop their potential. Such a leader also reinforces staff excellence with intrinsic rewards and is able to handle conflicts within the group (Opatokun et al., 2013).

A number of previous studies have investigated Islamic leadership principles. For example, Ahmad and Ogunsola (2011) investigated the basic principles of Islamic leadership and management styles of administrators in the IIUM, Malaysia. The study used two main foci in defining leadership from the Islamic perspective—application of the teachings of the Holy Quran (Ali, 2004) and Hadith (Doe, 1970) on leadership practices and the exploration of Islamic values in leadership. The findings revealed that servant leadership was the most widely used leadership style, and leaders indicated that they considered Islamic values as the most important influence at their workplace.

Method

A qualitative research methodology was adopted to describe what Merriam (1998) regarded as a phenomenon from the perspective of those who have internalized spiritual values and practiced them. To unveil the impact of religious or spiritual values on Muslim women academic leaders, the research process involved in-depth interviews with six participants in their work setting, performing an inductive data analysis, and relating their responses as Muslim women academic leaders. The realities and the impact of the principles and the spiritual values were examined from a personal perspective; that is, they were based on Muslim women’s experiences of how they adopted these values in performing their duties.

Participants

The sample population have been identified and selected with the assistance from the list of female academic leaders from the five research universities. Six volunteers were selected from the rank of DVC and director of center for excellence. A methodological decision was made to seek research subjects from the rank of leadership position and above due to their exposure to leadership experiences. The work experiences and roles performed by the subjects represented a good cross-section of roles performed within the position in academics leadership.

All participants had held academic leadership positions at different levels and ultimately as DVCs and directors of Centers of Excellence (DCEs) for more than 10 years. They were married Muslim Malay women. The participants who were from three of the five research universities in Malaysia included three DVCs and three DCEs (see Table 1).

Table 1.

Profile of Malay Participants.

Participant	Position	Leadership experience
In. 1	DVC	12 years
In. 2	DVC	25 years
In. 3	DVC	13 years
In. 4	DCE	11 years
In. 5	DCE	20 years
In. 6	DCE	27 years

Note. In = informant; DVC = deputy vice chancellor; DCE = director of center for excellence.

The participants were selected based on two criteria: the women were Muslim academic leaders who had been in leadership for more than 10 years, and, second, they were willing to participate and granted permission to be audiotaped, with their data from the interview published. Participants were given individual consent forms, but no formal approval was obtained from the university as this is not normal in social science research in Malaysia.

Data Collection

Questions involving academic leadership role were as follows: (a) What is your role and what are your experiences as an academic leader in the university? (b) How did you perform your duties as an academic leader? (c) How do you integrate religious/spiritual values and principles in performing your role? and (d) How do you see the impact of integrating religious/spiritual values and principles in performing the leadership role? The in-depth interviews were recorded on digital recorders. The data were transcribed verbatim and were reviewed by the researchers, before being emailed to each interviewee with an invitation to review it within 3 weeks and send any corrections to serve as an accuracy check.

Data Analysis

The researcher analyzed the data immediately on completion of each interview session. This is in accordance with the constant comparative data analysis strategy where the analysis of the previous interview will inform what to further probe in the next interview, and the findings of the previous interview will be compared with that of the next interview in the process of refining the emerging themes. The data were analyzed for clues and categorized according to identified themes (Merriam, 1998). In writing field notes, the researcher acts as a kind of theme filter, choosing what data are important to record and what data are not. In this sense, producing field notes is a process of identifying themes. The researcher also used the repetition techniques to identify themes. The more the same concept occurs in a text, the more likely it is a theme. This also involves searching for similarities and differences by making systematic comparisons across unit of data. This keeps the researcher focused on the data rather than on theoretical as in accordance with the inductive data analysis process.

The coding process was carried out with themes identified for the leadership role and also the spiritual values with the subthemes. To ensure trustworthiness, the themes were shared with the participants and confirmed.

Findings and Discussion

The data analysis of this qualitative inquiry found two themes: academic leadership role and spiritual values. Three subthemes emerged as part of the academic leadership role: (a) great leader, (b) important decisions, and (c) leadership potential. There were also three subthemes for spiritual values: (a) transcending knowledge and skills, (b) spiritual values essential, and (c) understanding the responsibility.

Academic Leadership Role

Participant 1 related her role in the university from the perspective of religion as having a meaningful and purposeful existence on this earth. Her response when inquired about academic leadership role, “What is your role . . . I think in religion . . . to have meaningful existence to realize what is the purpose of you being in this so called earth.”. It is crucial that what one does on earth should be meaningful and beneficial to the individual herself, the organization, the community, and mankind as a whole. A person imbued with this belief cherishes whole heartedly the spiritual objective of her existence and reaches toward it in earnest.

There are several applications for professional practice that occur from this narrative. Having a better understanding of the academic leadership role in some aspect which are mentioned by Ramsden (1998) leadership in teaching, research and motivational and the requirements prior to assuming the role will help those entering the leadership position. In addition, the responsibility of academic university staff toward the organization was to achieve the main goal to serve the community as a whole.

Participant 2 manifested her spiritual values through exemplary behavior when performing her duties as an academic leader.

You cannot become a great leader if you are not humble, you don’t respect people and you (are not) honest with them. By demonstrating these qualities such as integrity, truthful and so on, you will not only grow but also excel.

In Islam, Prophet Muhammad (saw) is a model to emulate for good moral behavior. There were no reports from friend or foe of wrongdoing when performing his duties or in the course of pursuing his goals. It is of the utmost importance that an academic leader should work harmoniously with all stakeholders to achieve the university’s targeted objectives.

This findings support the argument by Boyer (1990) that academic staff functions should include integration and application of knowledge and skills besides teaching. The integrity is a prerequisite to personal success and for developing leadership skills. The leaders that have integrity build trust in their relations with others; they become valued as friends, colleagues, mentors, and supervisors. They are respected and counted on to do what is right. They are able to balance respect and responsibility, and they are able to share their values with others.

Participant 4 revealed her application of spiritual values from the lenses of an academic leader, as servant-leader, and guardian-leader. According to this interviewee, “A leader means you show the way to other people and you also think well about them and you want them to excel.” Here, she was looking from the perspective of erstwhile followers who have leadership potential that are yet to be unleashed. It is part of a leader’s responsibilities to empower and to guide followers. Islam sees all humans as God’s potential vicegerents on earth. Participant 1 also supported this contention by emphasizing the need to imbibe spiritual values not only to benefit the leaders and those under their charge, but also other stakeholders in the equation. These result arguments refer to the “A leader means you show the way to other people and you also think well about them and you want them to excel.” As argued by Eagly (1987) in social role theory, gender roles are shaped by social norms, and they are able to share their knowledge in the community.

From the Islamic perspective, important decisions are not always entrusted to a single person. The process should involve getting feedback from team members through respectful and cordial interaction. Participant 3 who commonly applied spiritual values to arrive at acceptable decisions said that “. . . we are working in a large team and have to make important decisions . . . so it is important to respect opinion, respect values, appreciate viewpoints and be truthful to each other” (In. 3). Evidence suggests that women are regarded as leader in a situation without being influenced or oppressed by others (Mohamad & Mustafa, 2012).

Spiritual Values

Participant 3 was adamant about spiritual values being essential for ensuring success as academic leaders. She said, “I believe that spiritual values are essential for us to excel and grow.” Spiritual values transcend knowledge and skills. From the Islamic perspective, one who has internalized spiritual values will be more confident. Spiritual values posit that the person is neither alone nor without guidance, but that every step taken would be unfailingly guided by the Almighty. The goal of spirituality is typically to reach a highly evolved personal state or attainment of one’s highest potential, which in turn can lead to greater employee creativity, motivation, and organizational commitment. These findings were similar to the findings by Neck and Milliman (1994) who found that spirituality involves an individual’s search to fulfill their potential for greater meaning and life purpose in their work, alongside a strong sense of community and need to contribute to the betterment of society.

However, academic leaders who are guided by spiritual values are confident of their performance, and this state of mind might provide added strength to handle multi-tasking that comes with higher expectations. For example, the Participant 5 declared that “you have your own screening mechanism, using your spiritual values. You know whether what you are doing is ethical or unethical. . . . This is where spiritual values help because they govern you” (In. 5). In addition, Participant 6 also spoke of similar experiences. She said, “. . . with spiritual values, we will be able to handle difficult situations because the values are there. You just have to pick the values and impart (them) into the everyday situations” (In. 6). This finding showed the same argument with Ahmad and Ogunsola (2011) in which leaders indicated that they considered Islamic values as the most important influence at their workplace.

It is relevant to mention that all the women academic leaders interviewed were also involved in delivering lectures. Even as academicians, the way they carried out their duties showed that they embodied the spiritual values they held dear. It is emphasized by Participant 3 as to how spiritual values helped her at that level:

. . . with your spiritual values, you understand that your responsibility is to educate your students . . . so it is not about just delivering a lecture. . ., it is about educating them so that you can bring about changes in their knowledge, attitude and skills. (In. 3)

The findings of this study statistically support the idea by Avolio and Gardner (2005) that promote the authentic leaders who are deeply conscious of how they think and perform and are perceived by others.

Islam is not limited to rituals and prayers. As a way of living, spiritual values are internalized and manifested in the daily life of the Muslim. The Muslim women leaders in this study clearly showed that Islamic principles and values were an integral part of their lives as they went about their professional duties. As shown in the findings of this study, the impact of religion on the performance of the Muslim women academic leaders in Malaysia extends to having an exemplary moral character, strong convictions, tolerance to criticism, multi-tasking abilities, and a management style that helps others to excel. Islamic values go beyond merely capitalizing on knowledge and the system. Its impact follows through in the empowerment of its practitioners in the effective discharge of their duties.

Implications for Practice

The Muslim women academic leader is largely responsible to the operations of the administration aspects and the academic program as a whole. The investigation provides insight into Islamic values, especially spiritually, for those occupying the role and those responsible for developing future academics leaders. Policies for the inculcation of Islamic principles and values in the administration of higher learning institutions need to be better organized to engender links between knowledge and its application.

To nurture more Muslim women leaders, the government may want to actively promote women’s participation at all levels of decision making, starting from the family to the society and organizations, both at the national and international levels. Concrete religious principles and values, coupled with leadership qualities, empower Muslim women to contribute effectively to position Malaysia as an educational hub. In terms of maximizing the experience and expertise of Muslim women academic leaders in higher institutions of learning, the Ministry and universities might consider adopting specific policies to facilitate the implementation of Islamic culture in the workplace. In addition with religious principles and values anchored in the Holy Quran (Ali, 2004), including in Chapter 3: “Verily! Allâh commands that you should render back the trusts to those, to whom they are due . . .” (Holy Quran 4:58 [Ali, 2004]). Even though, Islam is the religion of the Federation of Malaysia, there is freedom to other communities to practice their own faiths in peace and harmony, and the adoption of Islam as the religion of the federation does not convert Malaysia into an Islamic state (Faruqi, 2011).

Recommendations for Future Research

With the present challenges from within and across borders, the immediate emphasis should rest on religious principles and values related to trust, sincerity, dedication, and leadership that empower staff regardless of gender. Leadership itself should be focused on the positioning of oneself as the viceregent of the Almighty on earth. Further research should be carried out to understand the uniqueness and the interrelatedness of Islamic leadership principles and values with issues and challenges with respect to gender in higher institutions of learning in Malaysia. This study had been able to show the impact of Islamic values on the leadership style of Muslim women academics in Malaysia. Nevertheless, a limitation of this study is the sample size. A larger sample can be used in future studies to women leaders, in addition to combining administration staff. Another area of future study is to identify the difference between Muslim and other religious women academics focusing on the leadership style.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes

Author Biographies

Siti Raba’ah Hamzah is senior lecturer of Department of Professional Development and Continuing Education, Faculty of Educational Studies, University Putra Malaysia. She has a PhD in extension education from Universiti Putra Malaysia. Her research interests are in youth resource development. She conducts research on youth and volunteerism, youth and leadership, and youth and organization. She was the secretariat for the Commonwealth Diploma in Youth in Development Work for the Commonwealth Youth Programme London, in Malaysia.

Azimi Hamzah is professor of Department of Professional Development and Continuing Education, Faculty of Educational Studies, University Putra Malaysia. He has a PhD in Youth Development from the North Carolina State University, USA. Presently, he is the head of Youth Development Studies Unit and research associate of the Youth Studies Laboratory, Institute for Social Studies. He was resource fellow and consultant to the International Youth Centre, Ministry of Youth and Sports.

Jamilah Othman is associate professor of the Department of Professional Development and Continuing Education, Faculty of Educational Studies, University Putra Malaysia. She has a PhD in HRD from the University of Minnesota, USA. She conducts research in HRD, leadership, conflict management, and program planning. Her research projects include conflict resolution of sexual harassment, community policing, women leadership in the police force, and women leadership in academics and the private sector.

Sharmila Devi is a graduate PhD student from University Putra Malaysia. Specialized in HRD field, she has done her research in the area of women academic leadership within higher educational institution. Being within an academic field for 7 years, she is continuing her teaching profession after taking a short break for completing her PhD and also developing various modules for part-time students in the area of human resource management.

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