Creating an optimal environment for distance learning in higher education: discovering leadership issues

The paper examines how distance education can foster leadership development in higher education. It situates distance learning within global trends of technology-enabled, open and networked education and discusses leadership as a core aspect of educational management and decision-making. The research question focuses on whether leadership can be developed during distance education and what leadership skills are influenced. The purpose is to identify leadership models and characteristics relevant to distance learning and to evaluate potential contradictions or synergies. The study argues for the importance of distance learning as a means to cultivate leadership competencies and counters societal skepticism associating distance formats with isolation or degraded communication.

The theoretical framework reviews major leadership theories: (1) Trait (charismatic) theory posits innate leader traits such as charisma that engender follower confidence; (2) Situational leadership theory suggests leadership effectiveness depends on context and that individuals may display leadership in some situations but not others, emphasizing flexibility under turbulence; (3) Behavioral approaches focus on adaptable leader behaviors that vary with situational demands; (4) Relational leadership theory views leadership as a product of joint activity and social ties, with schemas (personal, situational, role-based) shaping expectations and stereotypes about leaders. The literature highlights how stereotypes and attributions influence leadership perceptions and underscores the need to consider group context, role expectations, and cultural templates when assessing leadership in educational settings.

Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of Kazan Federal University; all participants provided informed consent. The study aimed to determine whether leadership can be developed during distance education, aligning with prior hypotheses about leadership in education. Methods included survey, testing, quantitative and qualitative analyses, and statistical processing. Instruments comprised an adapted Twenty Statements Test (TST) focused on the prompt "What am I, if I am a leader?" and a Leadership Stereotypes Questionnaire (Rean's modification), enabling identification of leadership acquisition models. The sample included 800 students (both sexes), aged 18–20, from two universities in Kazan; 18 responses were excluded for procedural nonconformity. Data were treated as t-distributed; correlation and cluster analyses (STATISTICA) were employed to ensure reliability. The Leadership Stereotypes Questionnaire had two blocks: (1) leadership stereotypes, leader roles in groups, gender, and formal/informal leadership; (2) dependence on others’ opinions and factors influencing interpersonal perception of leadership. The study combined subjective self-reports with objective cluster computations; induction and synthesis methods were used to assess distance learning implementation and institutional positioning within the education system.

• Perception factors for identifying a leader among peers: behavior (80%), open-mindedness/intelligence (50%), and appearance (15%).
• Frequencies of leadership qualities reported by respondents: responsibility (85%), intelligence (81%), willpower/strong character (75%), kindness (75%), honesty (62.5%), persistence (58%), sense of humor (54%), emotional strength (53%), energy (51%), benevolence (49%), even temper (45%).
• TST results indicated high response uniformity (standard sampling error 2.2%). A majority (80.5%) prioritized personal traits over communication behavior, appearance, and role characteristics when defining a leader.
• Cluster analysis identified three leader types: Absolute leaders (both formal and informal authority), Instrumental leaders (task-oriented), and Expressive leaders (emotion-oriented).
• Distance learning environments promote inclusion: disabilities, serious illness, or unremarkable appearance do not prevent leadership development. The format reduces societal pressure on personality formation, supports leadership skill acquisition and application, and strengthens persistence and motivation. Distance learners are described as more resistant to learning difficulties and less likely to drop out compared to intramural students.
• Overall, distance learning positively influences leadership skill development and helps blur rigid leadership stereotypes.

The findings suggest that distance learning stimulates leadership development across students, teachers, and institutional stakeholders. Benefits include reduced training costs and travel/preparation time; flexible planning of time, place, and duration of study; scalability to large cohorts; enhanced quality through modern tools and extensive digital libraries; and creation of unified educational environments (valuable for corporate training). Distance learning’s individualized and hybrid formats provide competitive advantages, adapting to diverse learner needs and fostering leadership understanding across genders. Literature on gender indicates differing leadership expressions, with tendencies for women to display democratic, relational, and expressive styles; however, effectiveness hinges on managing formal and informal communications and ensuring access to reliable information. Distance education effectively cultivates such communication competencies, reinforcing its relevance in educational systems. The results counter the stereotype that distance learners are isolated, instead showing active socialization via online classes and collaboration, which supports leadership practice and development.

Students can become leaders within groups when their strong personal traits match the leader prototype held by peers; foundational leadership behaviors often precede team integration, and distance education can be an effective formative tool. Most students, regardless of gender, view leadership as attainable by both sexes. Perceived leadership depends on group structure (formal/informal) and relational dimensions (emotional/instrumental). The study indicates blurring boundaries of leadership stereotyping and suggests these insights can inform the design of university online courses tailored to varying training needs and leadership predispositions. Distance education emerges as an effective avenue for developing leadership with reduced influence from social stereotypes and barriers.

The study notes potential cultural bias: the questionnaire design may not have gone beyond a cultural template, contributing to homogeneous responses. The sample consisted of 18–20-year-old students from two universities in Kazan, which may limit generalizability across ages, regions, and institutional types. While response uniformity was high (standard sampling error 2.2%), this homogeneity may reflect sample and instrument constraints rather than broader populations.