Leadership Self-Efficacy (Lse) in Doctoral Programs: Examining the Supervisors’ Lived Experiences in Canadian Universities

In this article, we describe leadership self-efficacy (lse) in doctoral programs by examining the lived experiences and perspectives of doctoral supervisors. a phenomenological research design was used to interview 16 supervisors from canadian universities across all disciplines, social sciences and humanities, the natural sciences and engineering, and health sciences. the findings revealed the interplay of five types of efficacy in this context: research-self-efficacy (rse) that is related to supervisors; research-self-efficacy (rse) that is related to students; leadership self-efficacy (lse) that is related to supervisors’ roles; student self-efficacy (sse) that is related to students’ role; and, collective efficacy (ce). the main type of efficacy that made the difference in the doctoral studies context and allowed supervisors to help their students achieve their milestones, while maintaining their mental health, was the supervisors’ leadership self-efficacy (lse). effective supervisors found techniques to enhance the level of their lse, and to support their students and enhance their students’ sense of efficacy. however, the findings also suggest that supervisors experienced challenges in their roles and were not sufficiently supported, which may adversely influence their lse and, in turn, affect doctoral students’ performance and wellbeing. implications include addressing the lse in the doctoral supervision context at the individual level, group level, and departmental/institutional level.