As the role of students and lecturers in higher education changes, several questions emerge about the role of each of them on students’ academic performance. This includes questions regarding the impact of the relationships between students, lecturer’s characteristics and the social environment on students’ performance. To address these questions, this article reports a study of the impact of lecturer authentic leadership, psychological safety and network density on academic performance. It explores the relationship between network density, psychological safety and lecturer authentic leadership. A questionnaire was distributed to undergraduate students. A positive impact of lecturer authentic leadership and psychological safety on academic performance was found. Students from high-density groups tended to show better academic performance, higher psychological safety and tended to see their lecturers as being more authentic. A reflection on the role of the lecturer in higher education settings is presented. It also presents some recommendations on how student academic performance can be improved by the adoption of specific behaviours by their lecturer.

This study aims to analyze the mediating role of psychological capital (PsyCap) in the relationship between network centrality and internal learning in teams. A questionnaire was administered to 480 undergraduate students to test this relationship. The results confirmed the positive relationship between network centrality and internal learning in teams, and a mediating role of PsyCap in the relationship between student network centrality and internal learning in teams. This study suggests that it is important to promote centrality in advice networks among undergraduate students. In addition, this study might raise awareness among students, teachers, and public policymakers about the need to promote a socially responsible environment in higher education institutions.

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Purpose: We attempted to explain how the interactions between members influence the psychological safety of a team using social network analysis by proposing a model based on social contagion in which the psychological safety of the central member has a key role in the psychological safety of the whole team. Design/methodology: We present a theoretical paper which crosses theory about social network analysis, psychological safety and social contagion. Findings: We suggest that there are two groups of variables that mediate this relationship. The first group concerns the characteristics of the node and is composed by the proximity to the node's personal characteristics and the value of the central member as a source of information. Second, we advance that there are two dimensions at the level of tie properties that mediate the influence of a central member on team psychological safety-tie strength and friendship level. Finally, the interacting opportunities-a variable at context level-is considered to affect the strength of the ties. We also advance some variables that mediate the influence of the psychological safety of a central member on the psychological safety of the team.