Year of Award

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Degree Name

International Educational Leadership

Department or School/College

Phyllis J. Washington College of Education

Committee Chair

John Matt

Commitee Members

Erica Allen, Liqin “Shirley” Tang, Shawn Clouse, Paulo Zagalo-Melo

Keywords

Decision-Making, International Education, Leadership, Stakeholder Theory

Abstract

This quantitative study was conducted using a stakeholder theory analysis method to determine what patterns of decision-making exist in international educational leadership. The existing demands on international education leaders and recent geopolitical events have placed existing funding and ideological pressure on these individuals. This research was significant by reducing feelings of leadership isolation and providing data-driven analysis on how practitioners are responding to these pressures.

Participants were recruited from the membership of the Association of International Education Administrators, with the delimitation criteria that they have working experience in a managerial role in international education programming in the United States. In addition to demographic questions related to cultural background and amount of experience in such a role, participants were asked to rank their priorities of stakeholder interests on 11 items that addressed governance issues in internationalization. Statistical analyses were conducted using the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank t-test and the Kruskal-Wallis H test.

There were several key findings from this research. First, the donors stakeholder group was consistently ranked as low-priority in a manner that does not represent the dynamic movement of stakeholder priorities found in the literature. Participants from a non-American cultural background prioritized institutional leadership higher than Americans when dealing with issues associated with securing visas. The amount of experience participants had resulted in different decision-making priorities when making budget cuts, internationalizing the curriculum, developing new international programs, and making strategic changes to existing programs.

Based on the findings in this research, recommendations were made for future research and practitioners. Strategies were recommended for international education leaders to better work with their donors in situations where financial constraints exist. This study concluded by calling for further research to better understand how international education leaders are changing their decision-making priorities based on pressures from external stakeholder groups.

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© Copyright 2026 Daniel C. Evans