Reconceptualizing doctoral supervision for socially just mentorship: power negotiation in transnational higher education

Purpose This illustrated study examined how micro-level power negotiations occurred between expatriate doctoral supervisors and their local supervisees and, significantly, how such experiences impacted those students’ academic development and emerging scholarly identities. The purpose of this study is to seek insights into moving traditional doctoral supervision toward more socially just mentorship in transnational higher education (TNHE) contexts. Design/methodology/approach Grounded in the Foucauldian view that power is relational and productive, this illustrative case study used a narrative inquiry method to conduct independent semi-structured interviews with participants from five pairs of expatriate supervisors and their Chinese supervisees. Afterward, it evaluated data through narrative analysis, theory-informed coding and thematic analysis. Findings Our findings indicated that supervisory relationships became more positively impactful on supervisees’ academic development and scholarly identities when supervisors reflected on their authority and collaboratively granted supervisees bounded autonomy in response to their agentic exercises. In contrast, when subtle forms of resistance were misinterpreted through supervisors’ paternalistic assumptions, supervisory intentions inadvertently constrained supervisees’ academic progress. Research limitations/implications Our study reveals that doctoral supervision is a negotiated and relational process in which power dynamics shape supervisees’ autonomy, critical thinking and scholarly identities. The study highlights practices (e.g. reflective supervisory practices, dialogic engagement) that enable socially just supervision in TNHE contexts. Originality/value The study contributes to the literature on cross-cultural doctoral supervision in transnational contexts. By foregrounding power negotiation as a central mechanism shaping supervision, it offers process-oriented insights into how socially just supervisory relationships evolve.