Exploring the Role of Quality of Life as Intangible Capital in Shaping the Administrative Performance of University Leaders

Purpose : The present research explores the relationship between QoL, understood as a species of intangible capital, and the AP of university administrators. The purpose is to analyse the link between various aspects of QoL and perceived effectiveness of higher education leadership. Design/methodology/ approach: The used design was quantitative, cross sectional, 460 students at public Iraqi Universities participated in the sample. Information was obtained through a structured questionnaire with subdimensions of QoL and indicators of AP. Quantitative analyses consisted of descriptive statistics, linear regression, and visual analytics -- scatterplots and heatmaps. Findings: The findings show a significant and positive association between QoL and AP. Mental and social well-being had the strongest QoL associations and the highest power for predicting leadership attributes such as communication, transparency, and responsiveness. The QoL regressed over 42% of the variance of AP, as determined by the regression model. Research limitations/implications: These results imply that leader well-being should be a strategic consideration in the performance enhancement of higher education institutions. QoL considerations should be advanced into practice in leadership training and evaluation structures to promote more productive and sustainable academic governance. Originality: Current study makes an original contribution by considering QoL as a measure of intangible capital and a strategic resource. This concept extends the traditional concept of leadership effectiveness to incorporate well-being measures and adopts visual modeling as a vehicle for understanding the complex interplay among non-tangibles and performance. JEL codes: a. I31 – General Welfare; Well-Being b. I23 – Higher Education; Research Institutions c. M12 – Personnel Management; Executive Compensation d. O34 – Intellectual Capital e. Z13 – Social Norms and Social Capital