Identification of effective factors and components of cognitive readiness of university presidents from the perspective of cognitive science and higher education experts

Cognitive readiness is one of the emerging issues in the field of cognitive science that has been raised in response to the complex condition, changing, and unpredictable at the United States Department of Defense for more than a decade. The present study aimed to investigate the cognitive readiness of university presidents due to the complexity of the university environment and the unpredictability of its events and developments.

To do the research, the meta-synthesis qualitative research method based on seven stages of Sandelowski and Barroso (2007) was used to design a tentative model to measure the cognitive readiness of university presidents through the interview with cognitive science and higher education management experts for pattern validation.

The results of the research consisted of effective factors (including environmental and organizational factors) on cognitive readiness of university presidents, and the components of their cognitive readiness including individual cognitive readiness (meta-cognition, critical-analytical thinking, creative thinking, systematic thinking, situation awareness, sensemaking, adaptability), team cognitive readiness (cognitive ability and work-team interactions), learning readiness (learning mental agility), and socio-emotional readiness (social-emotional intelligence, stress management), which presented and validated as a conceptual model, and the relialibility of the model measured.

Cognitive readiness is a complex and multidimensional structure acquired as the result of interaction between environmental, organizational factors and its components, which would have major impacts on the success of university presidents, accordingly.