FACTORS INFLUENCING THE ROLE IDENTITY OF OFFICE DIRECTORS IN SECONDARY COLLEGES OF CHINESE UNIVERSITIES
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Abstract
The role identity of grassroots administrative staff in colleges and universities is a core driving force behind their development and is closely linked to their professional growth. This paper focuses on the office directors of secondary colleges—micro-level actors within the internal governance system of Chinese universities. Using a qualitative research approach, 23 office directors were selected as interviewees. The collected interview data were coded and analyzed using NVivo 12 software to comprehensively reveal their experiences and career development characteristics. The findings indicate that the role of the director constitutes a pluralistic “role cluster,” with their role identity shaped by particularity, complexity, duality, and conflict. The director’s role identity is not formed by a single factor but is the result of the combined influence of multiple factors, including the organizational environment, institutional frameworks, interpersonal communication, and individual roles. Therefore, adjusting the role identity of college office directors should not be approached as a static, single-role issue. Instead, it should address challenges arising in different domains, varying contexts, and dynamic social structures within colleges and universities. Directors must rationally position themselves, resolve role conflicts, strengthen role identity, and explore mechanisms and pathways through which multiple roles can reinforce each other—ultimately achieving a transformation from general administrative agents to professionalized role agents.
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