Towards the development of a unified competency template for radiography-led service management and leadership: A comparative framework analysis of UK job advertisements.

INTRODUCTION: National leadership and professional frameworks shape expectations for healthcare management roles, yet alignment with recruitment practice for radiography-led management remains unclear. This study compares how management competencies and leadership attributes are articulated across United Kingdom (UK) radiography management job advertisements and formal frameworks. Findings obtained informed the development of a draft radiography-specific competency and leadership framework. METHODS: A qualitative document analysis was conducted in two stages. First, a PRISMA-informed search identified national leadership and professional frameworks relevant to radiography-led management practice in the UK. Second, a pre-existing dataset of 224 radiography management job adverts was compared with the NHS Leadership Framework (NHSLF) and the Education and Career Framework for the Radiography Workforce (ECFRW). Data were analysed using a structured coding approach in NVivo™ (v.14) and compared using a three-level coding framework to classify the presence, partial presence, or absence of competencies and leadership attributes. RESULTS: The analysis identified variation in how competencies and leadership attributes are articulated across job adverts and national frameworks. The NHSLF primarily emphasised behavioural leadership attributes, while the ECFRW demonstrated stronger coverage of clinical and professional competencies. Job adverts reflected a broader and more integrated set of expectations, combining clinical expertise, operational responsibilities, and leadership attributes. Partial alignment was observed across sources, with several competencies and leadership attributes inconsistently represented or absent within national frameworks. CONCLUSION: The study highlights a lack of alignment, and the findings informed the development of a radiography-specific draft competency and leadership framework structured across five domains. This framework provides evidence-informed structure to support the articulation of expectations in radiography-led management. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The framework can support clearer role design, recruitment, and leadership development for radiography-led management.