Restructuring Genuine Leadership in Higher Education: Leadership legitimacy through the evaluation of followers of ethical dimensions

The purpose of this study is to identify the ethical dimensions of genuine leadership by followers in higher education. This research has a qualitative approach and Grounded Theory method has been used as research method.

The method of data collection is to study the theoretical basics and in-depth interviews (25 interviews with 23 people) with the sample staff of Islamic Azad, Payam Noor and governmental universities in west of Iran (Hamadan, Kurdistan, Lorestan, Ilam). The sampling method continued to be purposive and theoretically saturated. The validity of this study was verified by the interviewers and then by the professors. Reliability was 73.6% using the process audit method. Continuous comparison method during three stages of open, axial and selective coding was used for data analysis.

Finally 32 concept codes and 7 main categories were extracted. Main topics include: Ethics based on Islamic teachings, moral development, ethical behavior, moral courage, ethical bias, ethical relationships and ethical implications