Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Perceived Organizational Support For Women’S Advancement And Turnover Intentions And Career Advancement Aspirations. The Mediating Role Of Job And Employer Satisfaction., Marta Squadrito

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to examine whether the lack of organizational support for women’s advancement decreases female supervisors and managers’ aspiration to advance their careers and increases their turnover intentions and, the mediating effect of job satisfaction and employer satisfaction on the relationship between support and advancement aspirations and turnover intentions.

The antecedents of turnover intentions have been widely studied in the literature, while the antecedents of career aspirations, especially women’s, have not been a focus of much scholarly attention. Based on a review of the literature and drawing upon social exchange theory, and social cognitive theory, it …

Forecasting Attrition By Afsc For The United States Air Force, Trey S. Pujats

Theses and Dissertations

Retention and personnel management is a challenge for every organization, particularly the military due to its hierarchical structure and barriers to entry. Talent must be developed and retained to become leaders, beginning at the lowest level in the Air Force. The Air Force faces a retention problem unlike most organizations that requires a unique perspective and tailored solution to each Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC). There exists previous efforts to predict attrition rates in the Air Force based on economic factors. This study expands upon the economic factors and tailors the predictor variables of attrition based on the AFSC. The …

Exploring The Impact Of Diversity Training On The Development And Application Of Cultural Competence Skills In Higher Education Professionals, Kendra Cabler

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years the terms diversity and inclusion have become major buzzwords across industries and fields of study. Within the field of education broadly, and higher education in particular, a shifting student demographic can be seen across the country. Issues of equity and inclusion have become central complexities for present day educational strategists, and organizations committed to cultivating a culture of inclusion must do so with intentionality. In the context of higher education, this often requires the intentional development of professionals within a particular college or university. There has been a great deal of research concerning the development of cultural …

Cultivating Agile Organizational Culture: Addressing Resistance To Change In Bureaucratic Government Organizations, Michael P. Mclane

Theses and Dissertations

Resistance to change is a phenomenon that affects organizations almost universally. All organizations large and small are continuously challenged to adjust, evolve and innovate to gain or maintain competitive advantage and mission effectiveness. Alarmingly high failure rates are reported: 30-70% of change initiatives falling short of their prescribed intent or never attain the desired results. This research investigates how bureaucratic governmental organizations can address this truth, and how leadership can cultivate a flexible, agile culture that is more adaptable to the demands of constant change. This study uses case study methodology and qualitative research methods aid in the understanding of …

How A Conducive Environment And Susceptible Followers Influence Toxic Leadership Behaviors In The Air Force: An Examination Of The Toxic Triangle Theory, Rachel S. Beightel

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis was to determine what characteristics of the Air Force’s environment and Airmen perpetuate toxic leadership behaviors. This survey study was designed, using the toxic triangle theory, to evaluate the toxic leadership behaviors, susceptible follower traits, and conducive environment characteristics participants have experienced in the Air Force. The study applied ordinary least squares path analysis to determine the influence susceptible followers and characteristics of a conducive environment have on toxic leadership behaviors in the Air Force. Results revealed that collusive followers have a direct influence on toxic leadership. While only two characteristics of a conducive environment …

Understanding Knowledge Sharing Motivation In The Public Sector: Application Of Self-Determination And Person-Environment Fit Theories, Jaeyong Lee

Theses and Dissertations

Knowledge has been recognized as an important resource that should be carefully managed in order to enhance organizational competitiveness. Therefore, it is important to manage knowledge resources that have been learned and stored in organizations. Several scholars in the public administration literature have examined whether public service motivation (PSM) can help employees share their knowledge in ways that contribute to the effective functioning of public organizations. However, the mechanisms by which PSM influences individuals’ propensity to share knowledge have not been clarified by past research.

Against this background, at first, this study contributes to understanding the relationship between PSM and …

Three Essays On The Effects Of Appraisal, Cultural, Emotional, And Cognitive Factors On Information Technologies Acceptance And Use, Chun-Lung Huang

Theses and Dissertations

In essay 1, we propose a model, which utilized Lazarus and Folkman’s Cognitive Appraisal Theory of Emotion or Appraisal Theory (1984, 1987) as a structural foundation to lay out the nomological relationships among a person’s personal, cognitive, and emotional factors in predicting technology use behaviors. Emotion, likes many social and psychological factors, is challenging to give a full-consensus definition, and has been treated as a polar counterpart of cognition. Lazarus and Folkman’s Appraisal Theory suggested that when a person is facing a (disruptive) event, he or she appraises the possible outcomes (we suppose that appraising is a form of cognitive …

A Study Of Transformational Initiatives And Social Capital, Craig Dean Plain

Theses and Dissertations

A STUDY OF TRANSFORMATIONAL INITIATIVES AND SOCIAL CAPITAL

Organizations seek to improve themselves. They do so to become more efficient, to increase sales...indeed, to survive. Many have implemented various initiatives to transform themselves. For some, these efforts have paid off. Companies such as General Electric, Motorola, Allied Signal, and others have claimed billions of dollars in cost reductions and increases in revenue (Altinkemer, Ozcelik, & Ozdemir, 2011; Lucier & Seshadri, 2001). Such successes have driven many others to implement these transformational initiatives. Yet the failure rate hovers around 70% (Kotter J. P., 1995).

This study sought to expand the body …

Leadership Criteria Under Maximum Performance Conditions, Aaron J. Pauli

Theses and Dissertations

Since the seminal work investigating the relationship between typical and maximum performance by Sackett, Zedeck, and Fogli in 1988, there has been a marked increase in research in this area. Although much research has furthered the relationship between typical and maximum performance, none have attempted to identify which leadership effectiveness criteria are considered most important to an individual’s maximum performance, or assessment of one’s potential. Thus, this empirical study seeks to identify the leadership effectiveness criteria under maximum performance conditions as it relates to entry and middle level managers. Using an exploratory factor analysis, the results suggest an interesting comparison …

The Positive Impact Of Negative Feedback, Mark B. Richey

Theses and Dissertations

While feedback is an essential element of performance, there is little theory explaining the effects of negative feedback. Disagreement exists as to whether negative feedback is good or bad and this impacts its use. Fortunately, control theory provides scholars with an opportunity to better understand negative feedback and the conditions necessary to support its intended function. This study examined the relationship between negative feedback and task performance in a leadership development environment. This work asserts that performance is contingent on perceived feedback usefulness, such that the relationship is stronger when feedback usefulness is high and weaker when it is low. …

An Analysis Of The Balance Of Management Technical And Leadership Progression Through The Three Usaf Officer Tiers, Matthew J. Heath Van Horn

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to identify the balance of management, technical and leadership responsibilities learned at each of the three USAF officer tiers. Specifically, this thesis sought to answer research questions addressing the essential learning elements for developing leadership, technical and management knowledge and skills as well as the proportional emphasis of the three areas in each of the three officer tiers. The questions were answered through a comprehensive literature review and a review of current professional military education (PME) syllabi and educational profiles of USAF officers. The research identified that management training does not grow with the …

The Effects Of Career Broadening On Leadership Development, S. David Walker

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this research was to improve the Air Force’s knowledge of the effects of career broadening jobs on the leadership development of its officer corps. Specifically, the study sought to find significant relationships between incidents of career broadening in the officers’ background and their odds of being selected for promotion and in-residence professional military education (PME). Selection under these two areas is considered recognition of an officer’s ability to handle more responsibility and greater leadership challenges. Therefore, they are logical assessments of an officer’s leadership development. Duty histories of officers who met the Major, Lieutenant Colonel, and Colonel …

High Performance Individuals And How They Manage Their Personal Knowledge For Decision-Making: An Exploratory Study Of Us Air Force Leaders, Kenneth M. Ivey

Theses and Dissertations

The ability of Colonels, Generals, and Chiefs to effectively manage their personal knowledge may lead to better decisions; however, the Air Force does not have an understanding of how these high performance leaders manage their personal knowledge. This research used a multiple-case study methodology to explore how USAF leaders manage their personal knowledge when making routine and novel decisions. Viewing personal knowledge management as it related to sociotechnical theory provided the basis to determine how the need to accomplish the tasks associated with personal knowledge management impacted the people, technology, organizational structure, and the tasks associated with managing personal knowledge. …

Effects Of Deployment On Homestation Job Stress And Burnout, S. Ryan Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

The Global War on Terrorism has increased the demands placed on military members. The increased rate of deployments, coupled with the reduction in resources, has military leaders concerned that these changing demands will cause undue strain, adversely affecting the military member's quality of life. This research tests the effects of active duty military deployments on homestation job stressors and burnout. Pre- and post- deployment surveys were administered to test for any significant changes that resulted from a deployment. A group of non-deploying members was also measured during the same time frame to serve as the control group. Results showed that …

Empowering Marine Corps System Administrators: Taxonomy Of Training, Brian K. Hamilton

Theses and Dissertations

Organizations cannot protect the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of information in today's highly networked systems environment without ensuring that System Administrators are properly trained and meet a minimum standard that is enforced enterprise-wide. Only with this ubiquitous benchmark training, will the System Administrators roles and responsibilities become synchronous to achieving Defense in Depth in the IT realm. The goal of this research is to analyze Marine Corps training methods to identify viable solutions that will produce consistent skill sets and meet requirements set forth in mandates from DoD.

Analysis Of Army Reserve Officer Training Corps Cadet Behavioral Leadership And Development, Matthew S. Woodruff

Theses and Dissertations

The United States Army is continually looking for ways to improve the training of its leaders. FM 22-100, Army Leadership: Be, Know, Do (1999), provides the foundation for the Army's leadership training. Its goal is to train leaders who can both accomplish the mission and take care of soldiers and their families. This project investigates how individuals' leadership opinions may vary according to their year in the Reserve Officer Training Corps program and also compared to non-ROTC students of similar academic standing. Does the leadership training implemented in ROTC effect change in leadership opinions from the MS III (junior) to …

Analysis Of The Theoretical Relationships Between Work Exhaustion, Job Satisfaction, And Turnover Intention Of Air Force Information Systems Managers, Alfred D. Ray

Theses and Dissertations

The use of information technology has increased exponentially over the last two decades (Cohen and Burton, 2001), Accordingly, the ability of organizations to retain their information systems staff has been a critical factor in the effort to achieve strategic goals (Moore, 2002), When IS professionals leave an organization, not only is the number of them available for assignment to projects depleted, the professionals themselves often take specialized skills, tacit knowledge, and understanding of specific business operations and information systems with them (Agarwal and Ferratt, 2002), Chief Executives have become increasingly interested in issues related to the recruitment, development, and retention …

Deception Detection In A Computer-Mediated Environment: Gender, Trust, And Training Issues, Monica A. Dziubinski

Theses and Dissertations

The Department of Defense is increasingly relying on computer-mediated communications to conduct business. This reliance introduces an amplified vulnerability to strategic information manipulation, or deception. This research draws on communication and deception literature to develop a conceptual model proposing relationships between deception detection abilities in a computer-mediated environment, gender, trust, and training. An experiment was conducted with 119 communications personnel to test the proposed hypotheses. No relationship between gender or trust and deception detection accuracy was found. Partial support was found showing that training improves deception detection accuracy. The most significant finding was that individual’s deception detection abilities deteriorate in …

Utility Assessment Of Specificity In Upward Feedback Instruments For Leadership Development, Theresa M. Wardak

Theses and Dissertations

Recently, organizations have been modifying performance appraisal systems to collect data from multiple sources to guide the development of supervisors. Upward feedback programs focus on development rather than appraisal by supplementing traditional downward feedback with subordinate feedback. The utility of two upward feedback instruments was assessed in this study; one is a commercially available instrument, the Leadership Practices Inventory (Posner & Kouzes, 1988) and the other is the recently developed, non-proprietary Upward Feedback Instrument (2002). The Upward Feedback Instrument was designed to measure leadership behaviors at a more specific level. It was thought that greater feedback specificity world lead to …

Developing A Leadership Commitments Inventory, Abigail L. White

Theses and Dissertations

Organizations have been modifying performance appraisal systems to collect data from multiple source to guide supervisor development. Multiple rater programs provide leaders with more than one source of feedback, and give them a more complete, and possibly more accurate picture of their performance, which can facilitate meaningful behavioral change. The purpose of this thesis was to develop and validate a Leadership Commitments Inventory (LCI) from a 360-degree feedback approach that reflected a six-factor leadership taxonomy composed of twelve distinct indices, Using successive content adequacy tests, 48 items were validated and the web-based LCI was administered to 278 participants. Internal consistency …

Analysis Of Factors Influencing Tolerance Of Fraternization, George J. Matusak Iii

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores several factors that might explain discrepancies in the tolerance level of fraternization among company grade officers within the Air Force. Factors that may influence implementation may include the nature of the relationship (platonic or sexual), the sex of the participants (same or different gender or gender of the senior person), whether the incident occurred between people in the same chain of command, and whether the survey respondent was ever stationed at a remote location. This research used a survey sent out to a population of company grade officers and comprising of scenarios that varied the combination of …

Capturing The Policy That Air Force Raters Use When Writing Performance Appraisals On Junior Officers, Owen D. Stephens

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between four dimensions of performance leadership, task performance, interpersonal facilitation, and job dedication and overall performance by junior officers in the Air Force. It was hypothesized that the four dimensions would have different relative importance to overall performance, ratee gender would have no effect on rating policy, and raters with greater experience would show greater rating consistency. Finally, it was hypothesized that the Conscientiousness factor of the International Personality Inventory Protocol and Positive and Negative Affectivity may be correlated with the relative importance of the four dimensions of performance and a rater leniency measure and …

Factors Influencing Air Force Members' Tolerance Of Fraternization, Amanda G. Brandau

Theses and Dissertations

AFI 36-2909, provides the current policy on acceptable and unacceptable social interactions between Air Force members. The intent of distinguishing relationships as professional or unprofessional is to preserve proper respect for authority and maintain focus on the mission through professional relationships while avoiding the negative effects of unprofessional relationships. Fraternization is one unacceptable type, which governs relationships between officers and enlisted members. There have long been differences between official policy and actual practice in the area of fraternization. These differences likely influence the acceptance of existing policy, and the amount of tolerance toward behaviors that Air Force policy would consider …

Factors Affecting Exchange Relationships Among Subordinates And Supervisors: A Study Of Military Officers, Laurie K. Richter

Theses and Dissertations

This research examined the effect of organizational structure on the relationships between subordinates and their supervisors using measures of leader-member exchange (LMX), mentoring effectiveness, perceived organizational support (POS), perceived opportunities for promotion, job satisfaction, affective commitment, and intent to remain. The sample obtained included 147 subordinate Air Force traditional Civil Engineer officers, Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) officers, Bioenvironmental Engineer officers, and 27 squadron commanders at 19 Air Force bases. The methods of multiple analysis of variance and structural equation modeling were used to evaluate five research questions and nineteen hypotheses. Overall, no differences were found between the types of subordinate …

Organizational And Individual Effects On The Reporting Of Wrongdoing In The Workplace, Brian M. Stumpe

Theses and Dissertations

The study focuses on the organizational context in which the act of whistle-blowing occurs within organizations. The study suggests that many aspects of the context in which whistle-blowing actually occurs may be within the span of control of managers. Thus, management can possibly take steps to after certain aspects of the organizational context and ensure that organizational members are willing to report wrongdoing observed within their organization. To fulfill this objective, the study analyzes survey responses taken from military members' and civilian employees' responses to a 1997 survey distributed throughout the Aeronautical Systems Center (ASC), Wright Patterson Air Force Base …

An Assessment Of Mentoring Functions And Barriers To Mentoring, Kristopher A. Singer

Theses and Dissertations

A study of 91 Coast Guard junior officers and their mentors established the construct validity for mentoring functions and barriers to mentoring. The Air Force relies on supervisors to provide mentoring to their subordinates. The key predictors of whether junior officers report their supervisors as mentors were similarity between mentor and mentee and the quality of the supervisory relationship in terms of LMX and psychosocial and career development mentoring functions. The results demonstrated evidence for a compensatory theory of mentoring. Multiple mentors do not have a synergistic effect on mentoring relationships. The key predictors of reporting an additional mentor (other …

Workplace Violence: Exploring The Dangers For Air Force Leadership, Shawn R. Jones

Theses and Dissertations

The repeated occurrences of workplace violence throughout society today require the Air Force to evaluate its own workplaces and determine if a threat exists. This research explored violence in the workplace and established the possibility that workplace violence can affect the Air Force. Additionally, Air Force Climate Assessment Surveys were evaluated to find information that could be useful in detecting early warning signs of potential workplace violence. A number of examples of violence that occurred within Air Force workplaces highlighted the threat for Air Force leadership. With over 1,680 incidents of workplace violence reported to the AFOSI in a 5-year …

Military Members Responses To Sexually Harassing Behavior: Response Types And Efficacies, Michael W. Braucher

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses four sexual harassment response constructs and evaluates the efficacy of the responses. The constructs are built based on individual or joint/collaboratory responses and whether or not the harasser is confronted with his or her behavior(s) perceived as harassing by the victim. The constructs are applied to the 1995 Department of Defense survey of Harassment. Results include each response's effect on the harassing behavior, whether the behavior is ceased or not. A second result is the victim's perception of improvement or worsening of the situation based on the response type used. Tests for proportional differences were used to …

An Economic/Demographic Comparison Of Air Force And Other Service Families, John C. Glover

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to compare economic, attitudinal and demographic variables for families in all branches of service to see in which areas the Air Force is ranked/rated higher and lower than other services. Analysis is broken out by officers and enlisted personnel in all main branches of service (Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marines). Two testing methods are employed to determine if there is a difference between the services: Tukey's multiple comparison procedure, and pair-wise comparisons of proportions for the different services. Results indicate that Air Force officers rate the Air Force higher for lower number of …

Full Integration Of Women In The Air Force: Myth Or Possibility?, Helen M. Newell

Theses and Dissertations

The full integration of women in the military, particularly the United States Air Force, has been an ongoing effort. Based on the definition of "full integration" as allowing all qualified military personnel the opportunity to hold any position and accomplish any mission, given that they are in possession of the required capabilities and training, without restriction, certain issues have arisen during the course of the integration process. These issues include sex, as defined by gender and function, the capability of women to accomplish the same tasks as men, and the combat issue. To support and establish the full integration of …