Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Charismatic Leadership And Vulnerability: A Comprehensive Study Of Cult Dynamics, Danielle Santana Denrich

Psychology Presentations

The term "cult" has various definitions in academic discourse, including religious or quasi-religious groups and small, ideologically aligned communities. This paper explores the complexity of the term, its alternative labels, and the influence of media portrayal on public perception. It examines cult leaders' attributes, focusing on the "dark triad" personality traits—narcissism, machiavellianism, and psychopathy—and their manifestation in charismatic leaders. The functionality of cults is scrutinized, highlighting their appeal as a familial structure and promises of intellectual, spiritual, and political power. However, the darker side of cult functionality involves manipulative recruitment tactics and thought-stopping techniques. Additionally, the paper examines susceptibility to …

Fostering Belonging In The Workplace: What Does Commitment Look Like At Interpersonal, Team, And Organizational Levels?, Jody Condit Fagan

Libraries

Researchers describe belonging as “an essential human need” that supports people’s abilities to share, create meaning, participate, and learn with others at work (Filstad et al., 2019, p117). Sense of belonging varies by culture (Cortina et al., 2017) and belonging-related stressors have been shown to be more intense for those who identify with outgroups (Walton & Brady, 2017). Given this context and the impossibility of directly creating belonging, how can people at all levels support an inclusive commitment to fostering belonging as an organizational value? This presentation will define belonging, outline relevant actions and behaviors, and illuminate potential pitfalls.

Portraits Of Hispanic And/Or Latino Leadership Development In The Military, Michael Lugo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The study presented denotes a continuous transition among the Hispanic and/or Latino demographics in the military and the cadet accounts of military inequality incidents while in the military (Cabrera et al., 2017; Eckel & King, 2004). To assist Hispanic and/or Latino needs based on demographics and environment (National Center for Education Statistics, 2019). Military leaders contribute to growing a diverse, inclusive, and equitable military force for all ethnic groups. The Department of Defense (DoD) is the most racially and ethnically diverse workplace in the United States (Daniel et al., 2022). Nevertheless, racial/ethnic harassment and discrimination in the military continue …

Leadership And Environmental Sustainability: An Integrative Conceptual Model Of Multilevel Antecedents And Consequences Of Leader Green Behavior, Hannes Zacher, Clara Kühner, Ian M. Katz, Cort W. Rudolph

Psychology Faculty Publications

Environmental sustainability is a strategic and ethical imperative for organizations, and numerous studies have investigated associations between leadership and employee pro-environmental or “green” behavior. However, these studies have typically focused on leadership styles that conflate leader behavior with its assumed antecedents or consequences. Moreover, the literature on relations between leadership and environmental sustainability constructs is fragmented and in need of systematic integration to effectively guide future research and practice. Accordingly, we pursue three goals in this conceptual paper. First, after a brief review of key insights from extant theoretical and empirical research, we define leadership in the context of environmental …

Developing And Validating A Measure Of Transformational Followership, Noelle Baird

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Leadership and followership are inherently interdependent, yet research has primarily focused on the unilateral influence of leaders. To advance a more balanced perspective and highlight how followers can positively contribute to the leadership process, I conceptualized and validated a measure of transformational followership. Transformational followership represents leaders’ perceptions of effective followership tendencies that enable productive, generative, and motivating engagements with and for their leader. After conducting a comprehensive literature review of both followership and leadership research, I created an initial item pool which was then subjected to rigorous testing across three distinct phases. Phase 1 leveraged feedback from organizational …

The Paradoxical Effect Of National Diversity And Inclusion Management On Organizational Commitment, Clara Iyabo Stephens

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The United States demographic and workforce are increasingly becoming more diverse. However, the question remains of how the leaders within diverse organizations can consistently manage workforce interaction to attain employee commitment. This quantitative study examines the relational effect of diversity and inclusion management on organizational commitment. Data for this study was collected using the SurveyMonkey online identity anonymity survey weblink. Voluntary participants entered the online survey through an invitation link to the consent page, explained the study's purpose focus on Nigerian American Immigrants and relevant inclusion and exclusion criteria. Initial one hundred thirty-five responses, whereas one hundred and twenty met …

Development And Validation Of The Employee-Supervisor Attachment Scale, Johnny Doherty

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Attachment theory and its connection to the workplace, as well as leader-member exchange (LMX) research, is reviewed before discussing strategies used for developing and validating the Employee-Supervisor Attachment (E-SA) scale. Analyses focused on an internal and external validation strategy. Study 1 consisted of item revisions from the Experiences in Close Relationships-Short scale (ECR-S) and SME ratings to develop the E-SA scale as well as a preliminary Exploratory Factorial Analysis to verify factor structure. Likewise, Study 2 tested the retained items to confirm factor structure, within a new sample, before assessing regressions between E-SA and relevant outcome variables. Furthermore, this project …

Sports, Family, And Leadership In Youth: Impacts Of Family Environments And Sport Participation On Youth Leadership Development, Michael Stout

Theses and Graduate Projects

This study investigated the effects of family relationships/environment and sport participation on youth leadership development using the 2016 Minnesota Student Survey (MSS) questionnaire. Responses from 9^th and 11^th graders were used, resulting in 81,885 total participants between the ages of 13 and 19 for this archival, cross-sectional study. This study had two aims: One, to investigate the relationship between family relationships/environment and sport participation, and their impact on youth leadership skills and development; and two, to investigate whether participation in youth sports provides enough scaffolding to foster the development of youth leadership skills despite poor family relationships/environments. Scales …

Latinas In Leadership Positions In The United States: Theories, Characteristics, And Recommendations, Fernanda Ibanez

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, Latinas are one of the fastest growing populations in the workforce today. Despite increased presence in the labor market, it has not resulted in significant increases in the representation of Latinas in top and middle level leadership positions. This thesis details the current state of Latinas as leaders, as well as the theoretical background pertaining to leadership styles and challenges that Latinas face. Finally, the thesis aims to serve as a resource for Latinas currently occupying a leadership role, or looking to occupy one in the future, by offering recommendations of characteristics and behaviors that relate …

The Impact Of Leadership Turnover On Child Welfare Workforce Initiatives, Courtney Harrison, Megan Paul

QIC-Takes

Turnover among public child welfare leaders is prevalent. Across the eight QIC-WD intervention sites, leadership turnover was one of the most common implementation challenges observed by the QIC-WD team. Leadership changes can disrupt the implementation of a workforce initiative by shifting agency-level priorities, the organizational climate, or key staff.

Child welfare leaders may be appointed or hired in many different ways in different jurisdictions. In some states, the Governor appoints a cabinet-level child welfare director who oversees a stand-alone agency. This means that child welfare leadership changes follow the political election cycle with new governors appointing new agency leaders every …

Employee Perceptions Of Stressors At Work: An Attachment Perspective, Emma Josephine Naudet

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The current study applied an attachment perspective to elucidate how individuals appraise stressors at work. Attachment theory proposes that individuals’ interactions with a caregiver shape their expectations and beliefs about the world, themselves, and others and predict how individuals behave. Attachment at work is a budding research topic because it informs the social aspect of work relationships, such as the leader-subordinate dyad. However, few studies have explored the potential of attachment security as a job resource. Our findings demonstrated strong support for our predictions about the relationship between transformational leadership, employee perceptions of demands and resources, and the potential explanatory …

Human Psychology Factors Influencing Agile Team Autonomy In Post-Pandemic Remote Software Organizations, Ravikiran Kalluri

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Agile project management methods are gaining in popularity in the software industry as software development teams are being asked to be adaptive to market needs and resilient to change and uncertainty. With increasing market uncertainty, global competition, and time-to-market pressure, it is becoming a challenge to develop an innovative product and deliver it on-time without the opportunity that comes from team autonomy to experiment and learn from failures in a remote workplace. To resolve this challenge, it is critical to understand the myriad human psychological factors in play that influence Agile team autonomy in a remote work environment.

The role …

A Phenomenological Study Of Introverted Leaders, Sherita Dianne Hall

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Society is comprised of individuals with different personality types who are frequently referred to as extraverted or introverted. Research has suggested individuals fall somewhere along the continuum of extraversion to introversion. Based on statistics, introverts are thought to comprise between 33% to 50% of the greater population, but introverts only comprise 4% of the management teams leading companies. The literature has vast amounts of information about leadership and extraversion but limited information about introversion and leadership. From the literature, what is not clear is how the introspective tendencies of introverted leaders may influence the strategic planning, decision making, or other …

The Dark Side Of Leadership: Mid-Level Managers And Their Experience With Hubristic Behaviors Of Executives, Leili Sadaghiani

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to identify the emotional reactions of mid-level managers to executives’ hubris behaviors in a corporate setting.

Methodology: This leadership study uses qualitative phenomenological methodology was executed to explore the lived experiences of mid-level managers with past executives who practiced hubristic behavior.

Findings: The findings of this research on the lived experiences of mid-level managers with hubristic behaviors of executives suggest that the lack of support lessens the mid-level manager’s confidence; with little support; the mid-level manager was either afraid to fight the executive or gave up trying; the mid-level manager faced stress even …

Are You Blue? Personality, Communication, And Leadership, Hillary Gleason

Academic Chairpersons Conference Proceedings

This workshop will identify participants' dominant personality styles utilizing the True Colors questionnaire developed by Don Lowry in 1978. To that end, there will be a discussion on each color's communication and leadership strengths, weaknesses, and stressors. This is a fun activity that requires movement and most people enjoy. Finally, participants will be paired up with rotating partners and given a departmental chair scenario wherein they need to communicate and lead by utilizing what they have learned about dealing with the personality types of the colors. This exercise will help participants develop a strategic approach to their communication in order …

The Grateful Leader: Using Gratitude Mindset To See Victory, Serve In Love And Lead In Peace, Lexus Potts

Doctor of Strategic Leadership (DSL) Capstone Abstracts

The Grateful Leader is a book manuscript. Every leader experiences a particular adversity that tests them to their limits, and it is in that place that they learn who they are and who they want to become. A leader's mindset can help or hinder them as they face adversity. We don't have a choice in what challenges or hardships come to us in life, but we do have a choice in how we respond to them. Gratitude is a tool that can increase resilience to empower leaders to overcome challenges with grace, hope, and confidence.

In The Grateful Leader, I …

Development Of A Leadership Mindset Scale, Nathan M. Kangas, V. Krishna Kumar, Betsy J. Moore, Christopher A. Flickinger, Jennifer L. Barnett

Psychology Student Work

The purpose of the study was to construct a Leadership Mindset Scale (LMS) and to assess its reliability and construct validity. Participants were 100 employees in a variety of leadership and non-leadership positions at various organizations in three states. An item and factor analysis on the 13 LMS items led to a scale with 11 items (Cronbach α = .80). A Principal Axis Factor analysis with Promax rotation suggested three factors: Leadership Mindset Teachability (LMS-T), a belief in leadership teachability; Leadership Mindset Improvability (LMS-I), a belief in leadership improvability over time; and Leadership Mindset Predictability (LMS-P), a belief that leadership …

A Phenomenological Study Of Executive Coaching For African American Leaders, Barrhonda White

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American leaders face inequalities in executive leadership development support such as executive coaching. This phenomenological qualitative study explored the lived experiences of African American leaders that worked with a leadership coach. The intention of the study was to gain insight into factors that led African American leaders to seek assistance from a leadership coach, preferences regarding leadership coach demographics, and goals from coaching. The theoretical foundation for this research was Self-Discrepancy Theory. The study utilized two research questions related to a) the lived experiences of African American leaders that work with, or have worked with, an executive coach, and …

Organizational Strategies And Best Practices For Telehealth Delivery During Covid-19, Maria D. Mejia

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Organizational Strategies and Best Practices for Telehealth Delivery during COVID-19

Leaning In, Or Lack Thereof: Uncovering The Impacts Of Intersectional Discrimination On Asian American Women, Nishka Khoobchandani

CMC Senior Theses

Women in the workplace are told to lean into their strengths and self-advocate in order to get promoted but this does not take into account the systemic barriers that prevent them from wanting to in the first place. Compared to women of other ethnicities, Asian American women have the lowest ratio of representation at the executive versus non-executive level. Yet, there is a lack of research on how two marginalized identities – as a woman and as an Asian American individual – synergistically interact and explain the intersectional discrimination only experienced by Asian American women, potentially interacting with cultural variables …

Examining How The Cultural Differences Between Countries Influence Individual’S Perceptions Of A Successful Leader, Karen Almachi

CMC Senior Theses

This literature review examines the influence of culture on an individual’s perception of a leader. Research on cultural influences and perceptions is taken to establish an interconnection between the two. The research is analyzed through the lens of two theoretical frameworks: the implicit leadership theory and the cultural dimensions theory. The frameworks are used to operationalize cultural differences and perceptions. The research establishes six dimensions that describe cultural differences between countries. To put into perspective, two culturally different countries are examined for their perception of leadership: the United States and Ecuador. The United States has a low power distance, individualistic, …

A Phenomenological Study Of Executive Coaching For African American Leaders, Barrhonda White

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American leaders face inequalities in executive leadership development support such as executive coaching. This phenomenological qualitative study explored the lived experiences of African American leaders that worked with a leadership coach. The intention of the study was to gain insight into factors that led African American leaders to seek assistance from a leadership coach, preferences regarding leadership coach demographics, and goals from coaching. The theoretical foundation for this research was Self-Discrepancy Theory. The study utilized two research questions related to a) the lived experiences of African American leaders that work with, or have worked with, an executive coach, and …

Trauma-Informed Behavioral Health Leadership And Employee Engagement At A Child Advocacy Center, Andrew Krantz

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Employee engagement is essential for an organization to meet its mission and vision. When employees are not engaged, there are higher levels of turnover, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout. Furthermore, when employees are not engaged, there is a decrease in the quality of patient care. Behavioral health leaders can positively impact employee engagement by engaging in trauma-informed behavioral health leadership. This qualitative case study reviews the impact of trauma-informed behavioral health leadership on employee engagement at a large Child Advocacy Center in the northeastern United States who was struggling with low levels of employee engagement and high levels of turnover …

The Impact Of Covid-19 On Community Based-Organizations: A Case Study Of Jewish Organizations, Orit Zigmanlador

Theses and Dissertations

When COVID-19 started to spread in March 2020, no one could anticipate the impact it would have on the world. Social behavior is one key aspect that has changed dramatically as a result of the pandemic. Through restrictions that imposed social distancing, masks, and quarantines, feelings of loneliness, depression, and isolation increased. At the same time, there was also evidence of prosocial behavior, with the emergence of people helping those in need. As the pandemic turns endemic with restrictions lifting, the longstanding impact of the pandemic on people’s behavior is still unclear. One way to explore this phenomenon is through …

Community-Based Organization Leaders’ Communication Effectiveness And Effects On Performance Outcomes, Troy N. Nicholas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this study was to determine if effective leader communication builds employee relationships that improves organizational performance. Organizational communication is a prominent factor that impacts the outcome of an organization’s goals and assists in executing its mission. There remain some gaps in the current literature considering the work environment and the attitudes of employees as they relate to organizational communication. To address the gap, the constructive grounded theory model was used to construct and analyze a theory of organizational communication. The sample for the study included 12 participants who were leaders or employees in a community-based organizations in …

Adaptive And Maladaptive Coping As Mediators Of The Relationship Between Impostor Phenomenon And Help Seeking Intention, Victor Mosconi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The modern workplace and public media have reported on the influence of the impostor phenomenon (IP) on leadership mental health and workplace effectiveness. The choice of coping strategy may influence leaders’ intentions to seek psychological help. Guided by the impostor cycle model, the purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the extent to which adaptive and maladaptive coping mediates the relationship between IP and help-seeking intention in a convenience sample of 162 participants in leadership positions. The Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale assessed strength of IP, the Brief COPE measure assessed adaptive and maladaptive coping, and the Beliefs About Psychological …

Mind Wandering In Daily Life: A National Experience Sampling Study Of Intentional And Unintentional Mind Wandering Episodes Reported By Working Adults Ages 25 – 50, Paula C. Lowe

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Numerous researchers have investigated thinking that drifts away from what the individual was doing, thinking that is known as mind wandering. Their inquiries were often conducted in university lab settings with student participants. To learn about mind wandering in the daily life of working adults, this experience sampling study investigated intentional and unintentional mind wandering episodes as reported by working adults, ages 25–50, living across the United States. In this age frame, work and family responsibilities have increased in complexity and overlap. Using a smartphone app, participants were randomly notified to answer experience sampling surveys six times a day for …

Once More, With Feeling: Partnering With Learners To Re-See The College Experience Through Metaphor And Sensory Language, Taran Cardone

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

This study focuses on better understanding students and their internal worlds through conceptual metaphor theory and sensory language. Using a phenomenological and arts-based approach, I examined students’ metaphorical constructions of their college experiences and the sensory language and information informing those constructions. By engaging participants in a multimodal process to re-see their experience through connoisseurship and criticism, I explored the following research questions: How do students metaphorically structure their college experience? What sensory language do college students use to describe the metaphorical dimensions of their college experience? How does sensory information shape the metaphorical structuring of their college experience? Through …

Towards An Ecosystem Of Youth Leadership Development, Trisha Swed

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

This study is aimed at understanding how youth leadership development programs can be more inclusive and promote a broader range of leadership values, qualities, and behaviors by focusing on young people who have been disaffected by leadership development programs. The study design was intended to provide a creative space for youth to engage in meaningful conversations about their evolving concepts and expectations of leadership. Using critical youth participatory action research to engage a group of youth, cohort members co-created a new youth leadership development program while addressing their identified challenges and needs. Findings from this study highlight the importance of …

A Case Study On Factors Influencing Retention Of Mental Health Clinicians In A New Hampshire Community Mental Health Center, William E. Keating

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

This study examined the perspectives of master-level clinical mental health providers and members of leadership at a Community Mental Health Center (CMHC) in New Hampshire, to understand clinician and leadership perspectives as to why master-level providers choose to continue working at CMHCs. Most prior research on turnover in such organizations has focused on why so many leave their positions, however this study instead focuses on factors related to the decision to stay at a specific CMHC in an urban area of New Hampshire. A single case study method was utilized to focus on masters-level mental health care providers with additional …