# The impact of department chair leadership identity on faculty thriving in comprehensive university reform: the cross-level moderating role of work arrangement flexibility

## TL;DR

This study explores how department chairs' leadership identity affects faculty wellbeing during university reforms, especially when work arrangements are flexible.

## Contribution

The study introduces leadership identity as a key driver of faculty thriving and links it to social information processing theory.

## Key findings

- Transformational leadership enhances leadership identity, which boosts faculty thriving.
- Psychological empowerment partially explains the positive effects of leadership identity.
- Work arrangement flexibility strengthens the relationship between leadership identity and psychological empowerment.

## Abstract

As universities undergo intensifying reform pressures, department chairs face the challenge of balancing administrative duties with academic mentorship; how they internalize their leadership role—their leadership identity—may critically shape faculty outcomes, yet this internal driver remains underexplored.

Using a multi-source, two-stage design, paired data were collected from 60 department chairs and 250 faculty members across 10–14 universities undergoing “Double First-Class” reform.

Hierarchical linear modeling results reveal that transformational leadership significantly shapes leadership identity, which in turn exerts a positive cross-level effect on faculty thriving. Psychological empowerment partially mediates this relationship. Furthermore, work arrangement flexibility significantly moderates the leadership identity–psychological empowerment relationship, with stronger positive effects under high-flexibility conditions.

This study makes three contributions: (1) shifting leadership research focus from overt behavior to leaders’ self-concept as a driver of effectiveness; (2) enriching social information processing theory by demonstrating how internal identity becomes a perceivable cross-level social cue; and (3) providing practical implications for universities to cultivate department chairs’ leadership identity and implement flexible work policies that enhance faculty wellbeing during organizational transformation.