The article highlights one of the most significant and ambiguous problems of modern higher school management - the development of a participation culture of the lecturers’ social community in the administration of the University. Its purpose is to characterize the different aspects of participation in the context of the existing culture of credibility in higher education. In the course of consideration of the problem, emphasis is placed on gender characteristics and practices of lecturers’ participation in administration. Methodologically, the article is based on the concepts of institutional credibility, public participation and gender asymmetry. Its empirical basis is the data of the regional sociological research of lecturers of the Ural Federal district (polling method, quota sample, sample size-810 people; expert survey of representatives of educational management-30 people). The readiness of lecturers to participate in University administration was considered in three aspects: 1) in the system of educational values that underlie the need for participation in administration; 2) inclusion in networks of formal and informal communications (interpersonal, intra - and inter-group), in which lecturers participate; 3) self-assessments of readiness to join formal administration structures for the implementation of common goals. Conclusions are drawn about the contradictions between a sufficiently high level of readiness of lecturers to participate in administration and a low level of institutional credibility in higher education, and lack of confidence in the possibility of implementing democratic values that are important to them in the current administration system. In the course of consideration of the problem, emphasis is placed on gender characteristics and practices of lecturers’ participation in administration. It shows the presence of gender disparities in the culture of credibility in higher education.