Digital Commons Network^™

African American Female Law Enforcement Officers' Lived Experiences And Mentoring: A Thematic Narrative, Harold Wilson

Doctoral Dissertations

Black female officers are an underrepresented sub-group of the law-enforcement profession. The bulk of research on women’s policing has focused on the growth of women in law enforcement, barriers, sexual harassment, gender differences, why women are deterred from law enforcement, physical limitations, and instruments used during the recruitment process, and the stress endured after entry into the profession. When looking at Black female officers’ lived experience and perceptions around mentoring; research is lacking. Eight Black female officers from the San Francisco Bay Area participated in this study. Findings revealed that all of the women have faced a recurring sense of …

An Examination Of Efficacy And Resilience In College Students: Influences On Socially Responsible Leadership, Paula Berry Atkins

Doctoral Dissertations

My study explored socially responsible leadership and its relationship to leader efficacy and resilience in college students. The investigation also examined the role of gender and race in these relationships. The study employed the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership (MSL), which assesses student and educational outcomes relevant to the values underlying the Social Change Model of Student Leadership. The MSL utilizes the Socially Responsible Leadership Scale (Tyree, 1998) as a foundation but also includes measures of leader efficacy and resilience. Utilizing archival data from the 2015 administration of the MSL, my sample (N=840) included equal numbers of males and females equally …

Validation Of External Organizational Justice Assessment Through Replication, And Examination Of Extraversion, Core Self-Evaluations, And Self-Monitoring As Moderators Of The Relationship Between External Organizational Justice And Organizational Outcomes: A Two-Part Dissertation, Clifton E. Luther

Doctoral Dissertations

In the first portion of this two-part dissertation, I attempted to replicate the findings published in Toaddy (2012), illustrating the relationships between External Organizational Justice (EJ) and a collection of organizational outcomes. In the second portion, I examined how the variables of Extraversion, Core Self-Evaluations (CSE), and Self-Monitoring (SM) moderate the relationships that were established in Toaddy (2012). The implications of this research attempted to illustrate the role that self-assessed personality factors can play in explaining and predicting the behavior of employees due to their perceptions of moral/immoral behaviors of their employers toward external entities. Cases that illustrate the importance …

Direct Message? Examining How Principals Frame Connecticut’S Anti-Bullying Policy, Scott Hurwitz

Doctoral Dissertations

School leaders across the country are challenged to build positive school climates by implementing policies aimed at tackling bullying. As educational policies — like anti-bullying policies — move from inception to implementation, school leaders oftentimes frame messages to garner support. As stakeholders engage in the policy implementation process, policies are often interpreted differently, potentially resulting in a transformation of the original intentions. The variety of options for ways to strategically frame anti-bullying policy has implications for practice in schools. The pressure for schools to be completely safe and secure while at the same time being open and welcoming creates a …

Transformational And Transactional Leadership Outcomes On The City Of Oakland By Demographics, Jason W. Mitchell

Doctoral Dissertations

This study utilized a quantitative method, using surveys of workers in the public sector in the City of Oakland to determine the barriers that make it difficult to manage performance and tackle complex issues of that organization. Further, this study delved into the possibility for these leaders to create transactional or transformational environments in this sector. The goal was to find issues that make it difficult for public-sector executives to lead effectively; that is, the goal was to discern factors that prohibit executives from delivering high-quality and efficient services to the public and developing change management. This survey is vital …

Mission Enactment And Strategic Enrollment Management At Jesuit Universities, Drew Roberts

Doctoral Dissertations

The larger neoliberal environment that is driving all of higher education has left Jesuit universities and their leadership to face two problems. First, the ability for Jesuit universities to uphold their social justice inspired mission and offer an affordable and accessible liberal education is being threatened because they are pricing out those they seek to serve. Second, there is a growing disconnect between the espoused mission of Jesuit universities and the decisions that their leaders and administrators make to run the enterprise.

This explanatory case study seeks to understand the ways senior-level strategic enrollment officers at Jesuit universities experience and …

Differences In Leadership Behaviors Of Principals And Success In The School Turnaround Processes, Annette Lee

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine leadership behaviors of principals associated with public elementary schools that were either in the school turnaround process or had already transitioned out of school academic turnaround from 2011 through 2016. Transformational leadership guided the study to determine whether leadership behaviors differed among leaders of schools associated with academic failure. School accountability data were initially gathered through the Louisiana Department of Education website. Academically unsuccessful schools (AUS) were identified. Schools that were deemed failing at least one time during the 2012-2016 timeframe were grouped as follows: (a) Group A consisted of two schools …

Improvisation And Leadership Development: Understanding Improvisational Theater Arts As Leadership Skills, Jack Skalican

Doctoral Dissertations

Leadership development is immersed in a philosophical struggle. Past efforts at developing leaders have missed a set of skills important to the role of today’s leaders. Since Frederick Taylor invented the practice of scientific management, the study of management and leadership has largely focused on traits, practices, and behaviors that conform to this model such as planning, analysis, control, and monitoring. Missing in this focus, however, are less transactional leadership skills like intuition, improvisation, and creativity. As a result, organizations have begun drawing on improvisational theater skills as one answer to fill this leadership development gap.

This case study focuses …

Perceptions Of Primary School Principals In Singapore About Their Role As Justice Agents, Kit Wah Antonia Teng

Doctoral Dissertations

Justice in school is central to both the Catholic church and the government of Singapore. Both institutions have expectations of principals as justice agents to serve the needs of every student by means of equality and equity in educational provision to all students. There is limited research on how principals of Catholic and government primary schools in Singapore perceive their role as justice agents and how they fulfill this expectation.

This qualitative research examined the experiences of primary school principals in Singapore in their enactment of educational leadership for justice. Of the 10 principals interviewed, 4 were principals of Catholic …

An Investigation Into Full Range Leadership And Leadership Development Methods In Public Parks And Recreation Organizations In California, Heather Vilhauer

Doctoral Dissertations

As current public parks and recreation organizational leaders age and retire, it will become important for qualified professionals to be prepared to fill these positions. A study by Hurd and McLean (2004) examined the perceived competencies of CEOs in public park and recreation organizations. Leadership and management were rated as the most important competencies for CEOs. However, these perceived competencies are not only for the CEOs; all professionals employed in parks and recreation, from administrative leaders to direct service providers, must demonstrate leadership to succeed in their positions (Russell, 2005). Thus, it is crucial for parks and recreation organizations to …

Access Without Equity: Institutional Logics Of University Middle Managers And Valuing Diversity, Emerald Templeton

Doctoral Dissertations

Institutional barriers to Black student success (e.g. a history of exclusion, inaccessibility, and inequity) that exist at the undergraduate level, persist at the graduate level. Though traditionally marginally students have gained access to predominantly and historically White colleges and universities, Black graduate students continue to be marginalized by institutionalized oppression and inequitable structures. When the values, attitudes, and beliefs of individual actors who serve these students are at odds with an institutional mission of equity and inclusion, misalignment and competing priorities emerge. This study seeks to understand the logics university middle managers use in operationalizing equity and inclusion, specifically, in …

The Voices Of Nurses Who Serve: A Dissertation Examining Nurses On Governing Boards, Lisa J. Sundean Phd

Doctoral Dissertations

Archival abstract submitted

Evaluation Of A Community-Based Care Transitions Program To Reduce 30-Day Readmissions Using The Re-Aim Framework, Diahann K. Wilcox

Doctoral Dissertations

Reducing hospital readmissions has become a national priority to improve the quality of care and lower health care spending. Section 3026 of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 created the Community-based Care Transition Program (CCTP) to reduce 30-day all-cause readmissions in the Medicare FFS population. A CCTP program called the Community Passport 2 Care (ComPass^2c) was implemented in nine hospitals in New England. The RE-AIM framework (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance) was used to evaluate the ComPass^2c program in reducing 30-day readmissions in Medicare FFS beneficiaries discharged from one academic hospital in New England.

A retrospective …

Epistemology, Wisdom, And Social Transformation: Strategies At The Forefront Of The Contemplative Movement In Higher Education, Nicola Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

American society is currently experiencing a surging interest in contemplative practices. The secularization and professionalization of contemplative practices can be seen in the adoption of mindfulness-based approaches in sectors as wide-ranging as technology, nonprofit, and higher education. Amongst all these fields, institutions of higher education play a unique role within the contemplative movement in that the academy lays claim to the powerful social roles of producing and disseminating knowledge and, subsequently, of shaping societal values and behaviors.

In conducting this qualitative study, the researcher analyzed 1) what the academics in the contemplative movement expressed through their speech regarding the activities …

Three Essays On Institutions And Organizations, Matthew J. Histen Jr

Doctoral Dissertations

Organizational economics asks the question why are some transactions located in one firm, while in other cases they are located across firms. The classic answer is that market and firms are substitutes, and the boundary between these organizing features depends on transaction costs. The costs of accessing and using the price mechanism can lead to cheaper economic organization with internal governance. But avenues remain to explore through extensions to the theory, novel applications, and empirical work. While transaction cost economics challenged the Marshallian firm as a black box, the market continued to remain a black box itself. Thus chapter one …

Implicit Theories And Perceptions Of Academic Changes Among Teachers In Lasallian Secondary Schools In The San Francisco New Orleans District, Heidi M. Harrison

Doctoral Dissertations

A central issue in education is whether teachers are preparing students to succeed and serve a rapidly changing world. In Catholic Lasallian schools, teachers are called to accomplish the Church’s ministry of education and therefore to continually renew and adapt their practices to prepare students for their contemporary society and to live out Christian values in service to others.

This study focused on the fundamental beliefs and perceptions of teachers who implement academic changes in Lasallian schools. It utilized the psychological framework of implicit theories (Dweck, 2000) as its theoretical rationale. The purpose of the study was to investigate the …

San Francisco Bay Area School Districts Contracted With California Public Employees' Retirement System (Calpers) And The Impact Of The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act Of 2010, Michael David Blanco

Doctoral Dissertations

San Francisco Bay Area school districts contracted with California Public Employees’ Retirement system (CalPERS) and the impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010

This qualitative study examined the impact of high cost CalPERS medical plans on the participant’s school district in regards to the 2020 Cadillac Tax, the types of administrative action the participants have taken to comply with the mandated reporting to the IRS, and the types of administrative measures the participants have taken to comply with the offer of coverage to employees working a minimum of 30 hours per week. The theoretical framework used …

School Counselor Social Advocacy Behaviors: Understanding, Relating, And Predicting Counselors’ Attitudes, Supports, And Engagement, Danielle Annett

Doctoral Dissertations

The profession of school counseling has the charge of facilitating student success in the effort to break down barriers to achievement and opportunity toward college and career readiness. Leading professional associations such as the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) and the National Center for Transformed School Counseling strongly encourage counselor practice centered on leadership, advocacy, and accountability toward social justice centered practice, or school counselor social advocacy as defined by this study. This study assessed school counselor attitudes related to their belief in the importance, quality of support for, and level of actual engagement in school counselor social advocacy through …

Affect Variability At Work: Examining Pulse And Spin In A Stressor-Strain Framework, Jenna Shapiro

Doctoral Dissertations

Research on emotions has been influenced by societal changes and developments, and scholars have recognized that the integration of both cognition and affect in predicting employees’ attitudes and behaviors is a vital next step in organizational research efforts. Despite the growing interest in the dynamic nature of affectivity at work, most studies have examined either cross-sectional or mean levels of affective states, overlooking the variability from a multidimensional perspective. This dissertation examines a novel approach to conceptualizing and measuring affect variability. In particular, how affect pulse (i.e., the variability of affect intensity) and affect spin (i.e., the variability of qualitatively …

Effects Of Psychological Contract Breaches On Mergers And Acquisitions, Kristine M. Murphy

Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigates breaches in the psychological employment contract during mergers and acquisitions. An employee's contract is incomplete in regards to mergers and acquisitions (M&A). In its place, psychological contracts are formed. Common psychological contracts breached in the M&A process include raises, bonuses, promotions, job responsibilities, job security, and career development. Employees who have experienced an M&A were surveyed to test the severity of various psychological contract breaches and their effect on employee performance, organizational citizenship behavior, job satisfaction, organizational deviance, and turnover using t-tests, Structural Equation Modeling, and ANOVA. The mediating effect of feelings of violation was also tested. …

Examining The Influence Of Ethical And Authentic Leadership Behaviors Of Ncaa Division-I Athletic Directors, Raymond J. Cotrufo

Doctoral Dissertations

Leadership is one of the primary critical attributes of any enterprise. Leaders within and outside of sport establish a guiding vision that communicates the organization's purpose, culture, structures, systems, and goals to organizational members in ways that motivate them to work on its behalf. The current study sought to determine the role of athletic director (AD) leadership on the performance of NCAA Division I FBS athletic departments. A sample of 363 staff members across 55 institutions provided information related to the ethical and authentic leadership practices of their athletic directors, the presence of high-performance work systems (HPWS) within their departments, …

Implementing Health And Safety Policy Changes At The High School Level From A Leadership Perspective, Kelly D. Pagnotta

Doctoral Dissertations

Context: Every year high school athletes die or are injured while participating in sports. Several policies can be implemented by high school athletic associations (HSAA) to reduce the incidence of sudden death in sport. While these policies may not prevent incidences, they certainly reduce the risk associated with sport. There are consensus statements and recommendations made by professional organizations such as the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA), however nothing is mandated, allowing each state the freedom to create, implement and adapt policies, as they deem necessary. An example of a recommended policy is heat acclimatization for the reduction in …

An Exploration Of Leadership And Campus Cultural Orientation In A California Community College, Eduardo Cervantes

Doctoral Dissertations

This research explored transformational leadership and campus cultural orientation at a single California community college. The conceptual framework for the study consisted of the transformational leadership paradigm articulated by the full range leadership model (Bass & Avolio, 1994; Bass & Riggio, 2006). A taxonomy of campus cultural orientations was also employed to complement the full range leadership model (Jayakumar & Museus, 2012). The study showed that transactional leadership was used management of a business culture and maintaining a stable fiscal foundation. Transformational leadership was employed to create a diversity oriented campus culture that was leading toward an equity oriented campus …

Principals' Concerns Regarding The Implementation Of Change, Theresa Diana Pelfrey

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the Stages of Concern (SoC) that school principals have toward change and then report participants' behavior relevant to their Level of Use (LoU) of an innovation. An understanding of principals' concerns regarding change suggested a variety of factors that impede educational leaders' implementation of innovations and change within the school environment.

The researcher studied principals' perspectives regarding change implementation in the course of their daily administrative activities. Although many principals are aware and knowledgeable of the current standards for school leadership, difficulties arise when innovations and change are implemented. This study was …

Emerging 21st-Century Educational Challenges And Opportunities: An Appreciative Inquiry Of Public Education In The U.S. Virgin Islands, Sheree Necole Bryant

Doctoral Dissertations

This study explored the critical challenges and opportunities in K–12 public education in the U.S. Virgins Islands (USVI). Specifically, this study sought to understand the USVI education leaders’ experiences in their public education system as a whole, the challenges and opportunities they faced, their perceptions of the institution’s greatest strengths, and their perceptions on the future of education in the territory. This research also explored which factors influence educational-leadership success in the USVI.

The study employed appreciative inquiry as a theoretical framework. Application of the core principles of appreciative inquiry laid the foundation for a narrative-based qualitative inquiry into educational …

A Self-Organizing Group Within A Hierarchical Organization, Sheila Yuter

Doctoral Dissertations

This study was conducted to discover and describe the characteristics of a community of practice (CoP) and the health care system within which it formed. The study explored the relationship between a CoP of primary care physicians and a health care system that was both a hierarchical organization and a complex adaptive entity. It further examined the impact that relationship may have had on the organization’s sustainability within its environment.

A qualitative approach was used for the collection and analysis of data. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four members of the CoP and three members of their administrative hierarchy. There …

The Effect Of Leadership Orientations On Student Achievement, Rhonda Davis

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between and impact of principals' leadership styles on student achievement as determined by school performance scores (SPS). Bolman and Deal's (1984; 2003) four leadership frames model (structural, human, political, and symbolic) were utilized to identify principals' leadership styles. The sample for this study consisted of 15 principals from low socioeconomic status (SES) schools and 17 principals from high SES schools located in north and middle Louisiana.

Schools were chosen by searching the Louisiana School Directory, which is based on grade configuration, pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. All schools in selected parishes …

An Analysis Of Appreciative Inquiry As Organizational Development For An Alternative School, Michael Young

Doctoral Dissertations

Schools and youth development programs are continually under pressure to reform and improve. Recent scholarship in the organizational development field suggests that a post modern approach to such efforts may yield new and generative results. Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is an Action Research methodology used for organizational development that is based on a number of post modern assumptions. Because AI has seen a rapid increase in use, including implementations in educational settings, and because of its potential to offer new insights into organizational development, a further understanding of how it works is warranted.

This interpretive case study, grounded in a social …

Peer Coaching And The Perceived Impact On Fostering Positive Relationships, Knowledge Creation And Sharing Among Nursing Personnel, Lisa Miller

Doctoral Dissertations

Creating a team on which caregivers consistently deliver safe and compassionate care requires ongoing developmental attention, not just for excellent technical skills, but also for exceptional interpersonal, relational, and service skills. Supportive and encouraging peer-developmental relationships have the potential to augment the role of a nurse manager in addressing "soft skill" learning and development needs.

The specific construct of peer coaching represents a small but emerging focus in the scholarly literature. In the healthcare setting, there are relatively few studies of the use of peer coaching outside the classroom setting. There are no scholarly reports documenting the study of peer …

Re-Imagining Individual And Communal Identity : Corporate Mergers, Susan Duvall-Dickson

Doctoral Dissertations

unavailable