Leadership Studies Commons^™

Leadership And Character In The Law: An Introduction From Kenneth Townsend, Kenneth Townsend

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Fostering Future Difference-Makers: The Integration Of Leadership Training In Law Schools, Leah Teague

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

The Moderating Role Of Psychological Power Distance On The Relationship Between Moral Disengagement And Submissiveness To Authority In Senior Healthcare Executives, Carl Kirton

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Background: Understanding how senior healthcare executives respond to authority is critical in complex health systems where ethical decision-making, hierarchy, and organizational culture intersect. This study explored the relationships among moral disengagement, submissiveness to authority, and psychological power distance (PPD) in U.S. healthcare executives, as well as the influence of selected demographic and professional covariates.

Methods: A descriptive correlational design was used with a non-probability sample of senior healthcare executives (N = 98). Participants completed a demographic questionnaire and three validated instruments: the Submissiveness to Authority Scale (SOAS), the Moral Disengagement through Displacement of Responsibility Questionnaire (MDDR), and the Psychological Power …

Defining The Meta-Story Of Heroism Science: Initiation, Formation, And Governance In An Emerging Discipline, Peter Bray

Heroism Science

This article traces the meta-story of the journal Heroism Science across Volumes 1–10 by treating the publication record as a living narrative of field formation. Using an eight-dimension decoding framework (D1–D8), it argues that the journal’s development is best understood as a braided trajectory in which methodological maturation and theoretical maturation co-evolve. Special issues function as turning points: downside dynamics, whistleblowing, and heroic screens formalize consequence sensitivity and contestation, while later conference and legacy issues consolidate pluralism and reflexive ethics. The article contributes (a) an explicit coding and audit method for reading a journal as a field-forming narrative and (b) …

Morality Meets Education: Transactional And Transformational Leadership Of Business Students, Arthur L. Conyers

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In an era where ethical failures in business can destabilize markets and damage public trust, understanding how future leaders develop moral clarity is becoming increasingly urgent. Transformational leadership highlights relational influence and purpose, while transactional leadership provides structural clarity that supports organizational operations. Morality, broadly defined as adherence to a standard of righteousness, remains essential for leadership in commerce, policy, and organizational contexts. This qualitative phenomenological study looked into how business and management students experience leadership development, moral decision-making, and faith integration in their academic and personal lives. Students enrolled in accredited colleges and universities were interviewed, and transcripts were …

Ethics And Art: Fulfilling Your Aesthetic Obligations To The Fullest, Zoe Epstein

Honors Theses

My thesis defends the existence of aesthetic obligations, or the duty to engage with aesthetics, primarily in relation to the arts. I find completing aesthetic duties results in greater intellectual growth, virtues, and quality of life. Secondly, I argue you should consume and create human-made art over AI-generated art because human art has higher aesthetic value. Finally, I discuss the extent to which worth and non-worthy immoral art plays a beneficial role in fulfilling aesthetic obligations.

Dramatism And Crossfit: The Guilt Redemption Cycle In The Wake Of Ðukič’S Death, Anasheh G. Oliven

The Scholarship Without Borders Journal

After the death of elite Serbian athlete, Lazar Ðukič, at the 2024 CrossFit Games, CrossFit, LLC’s leadership was once again in the spotlight of another controversy. In the immediate aftermath, Chief Executive Officer, Don Faul, was responsible for navigating the complex crisis communication that was required. This study evaluates the language in Faul’s oratory and seeks to answer the questions: (1) what pentadic elements are incorporated in Faul’s communication, (2) what ratio prevails and (3) how do the linguistic choices offload the guilt and responsibility that the organization had to ensure athlete safety. In employing a critical linguistic analysis framework, …

Bridging Worlds, Singapore Management University

Asian Management Insights

How philosophy, culture, and ethics shape leadership and learning.

Workshop Series: Reflections On An Emerging Leadership Journey, Sanjay D. Paul

Doctor of Strategic Leadership (DSL) Capstone Abstracts

Defense Date

April 1, 2025

Candidate Name

Sanjay Paul

Personal Email Address

[email protected]

First Advisor

Dr. Emile Hawkins

Second Advisor

Dr. Debra Dean

DSL Final Project Abstract

Project Type

Global Conference Presentation

Project Overview

Reflections on an Emerging Leadership Journey is a PowerPoint presentation (of approximately 3 hours and 15 minutes) which designed to connect glo al interests in a way that can share best practices across an interdisciplinary front. Sanjay Paul shares ideas, observations, educational, volunteer, and professional experiences, along with his growth in the leadership journey. This journey can serve as a catalyst for others who are on …

Adaptivity And Ethics In Educational Leadership: Improving Essa Subgroup Outcomes, Priscilla A. Green

Doctor of Strategic Leadership (DSL) Capstone Abstracts

Project Type

Educational Leadership

Project Overview

The project is a workshop/seminar with four components or sections: ESSA subgroups and factors of ethics and adaptivity, Ethical leadership and its applications in education, adaptive leadership and its applications in education, and combining ethical and adaptive leadership strategies to improve and increase ESSA Subgroup data outcomes. The project will include a workshop with educational leaders to help them understand and define strategies to support teacher training and practice in schools. The seminar encompasses both the initial and closing sections, featuring engaging self-assessments, data, and a focus on the organizational change in education. A …

A Thanksgiving Without Family: A Covid-19 Employer Dilemma Case, Michael Dobbs

Journal of the North American Management Society

Based on an actual organization in the Midwest, this case describes the Director of an alcohol and drug rehabilitation center located in the Midwest and her adoption of policies to address the threat of Covid-19 to employees, clients, and the community. Names have been changed, but the facts of the case are based on employee descriptions of the organization, its director, and its new policies. The case presents students with an opportunity to wrestle with real-world situations that they themselves have faced and with which they are familiar. In this paper, I present the case itself, the worksheet assignment for …

Citizen Or Professional: Exploring Heroic Moral Choice Motivations In Photojournalism, Kevin Moloney, Tong Li, Martin Smith-Rodden

Heroism Science

Photojournalists make serious and often heroic split-second decisions when covering scenes. One of the dilemmas they might encounter is the choice between humanitarianism, which favors the subject in need, versus professionalism, which focuses on telling the story. This exploratory study aims to understand the moral decision-making situations encountered by professional photojournalists and how they process decisions in these situations. We interviewed nine professional photojournalists and surveyed the moral intensity of the situations they encountered. The results identified three types of situations where photojournalists encounter citizen vs. professional moral dilemmas. We found that most participants situationally prioritized the subject’s needs and …

Leader-Expressed Humility: Development And Validation Of Scales Based On A Comprehensive Conceptualization, Kraivin Chintakananda, James M. Diefendorff, Burak Oc, Michael A. Daniels, Gary J. Greguras, Michael R. Bashshur

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We introduce new leader humility scales capturing a theoretically rich conceptualization of leader-expressed humility aligned with traditional and ethically-grounded philosophies. These scales draw from recent inductive research (Oc et al., 2015) identifying nine dimensions of leader-expressed humility: (1) having an accurate view of self, (2) recognizing follower strengths and achievements, (3) modeling teachability and being correctable, (4) leading by example, (5) showing modesty, (6) working together for the collective good, (7) empathy and approachability, (8) showing mutual respect and fairness, and (9) mentoring and coaching. The first three dimensions overlap with the most prominent conceptualization of leader-expressed humility in the …

Worldviews Impacting Leadership Within U.S. National Security: Christianity Vs Secularism, Remy Goldsmith

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

Worldviews influence and impact all aspects of life. This is because the way one chooses to see the world affects the decisions one chooses to make. Whether choosing a job, a religion, or a partner, all are affected by one’s worldview. This is also because worldview is where virtues derive from. The establishment of virtue is the cornerstone of building character and developing ethics. In other words, it forms the moral compass that an individual uses to base their decisions. As that stands, this means that worldviews and virtues are applicable and impactful toward leadership and decision-making within national security. …

Apple: Global Ethics And Transformational Leadership, Bisma Ahmed

Journal of Global Awareness

Apple Inc. is an American technological company that designs, manufactures, and sells various products such as laptops, phones, accessories, streaming services, licensing services, and so much more. The paper explores the corporate responsibility and unethical business practices that arise from the global sourcing of Apple’s products. The company established many relationships with suppliers in East Asia to meet the rigorous demands of consumers, promising high-quality products at the expense of factory workers. However, global sourcing comes with unethical business practices. There have been various cases against Apple’s suppliers. This research highlights unfair working conditions, overworking employees, and environmental pollution that …

Weakness Is The New Strength: How Vulnerability Makes Leaders Stronger, Scott Dick

Transform

Weakness is the new strength: How vulnerability makes leaders stronger is the result from the meta-analysis of five phenomenological studies designed to generate a theory that explains how exemplar leaders from five different fields used “soft-skills” and four domains of behavior to create mutual shared knowledge, resolve conflict and transform relationships to produce breakthrough results. The four domains of behavior are communication, collaboration, ethics, and emotional intelligence. The sample was composed of 75 exemplar leaders from five different professional fields and included an analysis of over 1,300 pages of interview transcripts as the main data source for the study. The …

Power Of Attachment Styles In Servant Leadership: A Conceptual Paper, Stacy Menezes

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

The paper aims to advance an understanding of the relationship between servant leadership and attachment styles. This paper provides a review of servant leadership and attachment styles to explain how this understanding can be used to confront challenges faced by leaders due to a crisis. A proposed conceptual model is posited to investigate the moderating effect of followers' attachment styles on the relationship between servant leadership and desired follower outcomes. Additionally, this study adds support to the criticism of the leader-centric approach of research by investigating the moderating role of followers' characteristics, such as followers' attachment styles. The practical implications …

Algorithms, Leadership, And Morality: Why A Mere Human Effect Drives The Preference For Human Over Algorithmic Leadership, Jack Mcguire, David De Cremer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Algorithms are increasingly making decisions in organizations that carry moral consequences and such decisions are considered to be ordinarily made by leaders. An important consideration to be made by organizations is therefore whether adopting algorithms in this domain will be accepted by employees and whether this practice will harm their reputation. Considering this emergent phenomenon, we set out to examine employees’ perceptions about (a) algorithmic decision-making systems employed to occupy leadership roles and make moral decisions in organizations, and (b) the reputation of organizations that employ such systems. Furthermore, we examine the extent to which the decision agent needs to …

Elementary Classroom Ethics: The Emergence Of Ethical Literacy Within The Morning Meeting, Leo A. Zumpetta

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Rituals have proven effective in the elementary classroom. One ritualistic practice, the morning meeting, is rooted in social and emotional learning (SEL), an approach that integrates traditional academic pursuits with an understanding of emotional regulation, self-actualization and interpersonal relationships. Ethical literacy, a facility with ethical concepts empowering individuals to act as autonomous ethical beings, may be cultivated through SEL. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate the morning meeting for evidence of foundational experiences leading to ethical literacy in student participants, along with an analysis of the effectiveness of these experiences. Data were collected through nonparticipant observation …

Acting On The Pivot Point, Susan Vroman, Tiffany Danko

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

When facing opportunities, effective leaders trod a path that effectively incorporates ethical and empathetic leadership considerations and characteristics to drive change. The actions and impacts of two very different women facing challenges as change moments each tie back to Kouzes and Posner’s traits of exemplary leaders such as model the way and inspire a shared vision (Kouzes & Posner, 2017). Rear Admiral Meredith Austin, United States Coast Guard (retired), and Patricia (Trish) Foster, Executive Director Emeritus of Bentley University’s Center for Women in Business have led transformative changes. Admiral Austin was crucial in coordinating the early-pandemic smooth return of the …

Ethical Pluralism: The Decision-Making System Of A Complex World, Clinton P. Unger

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

Today's leaders are faced with many different ethical decisions that are further highlighted by social media and a rapid news cycle. It has been established that there is no universal ethical code, nor is there one unified global culture. Leaders must continually educate themselves and their employees in proper leadership techniques, education, decision-making, and cultural understanding. Pluralism is engrained in ethics, where there are different interpretations of the same information, different ways to analyze the situation and different ethical frameworks. Pluralism can lead to different outputs and decisions across the same situation, but pluralism is not a blight on ethics …

Coercion Or Influence? Ethical Strategies Leaders Should Use To Increase Covid-19 Vaccination Uptake, Olivia Podber

Honors Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to millions of cases and deaths around the world, persists, in large part, due to vaccine hesitancy. Through interrogating the harm principle and exploring ethical justifications of influence, this thesis seeks to determine justifiable strategies leaders should use to increase COVID-19 vaccination uptake. I will argue that lesser forms of coercion—such as vaccine mandates—are justifiable, in principle, but ought not to be used by agents due to concerns for liberty and trust, and the presence of less restrictive alternatives. Thus, leaders should use influence strategies to motivate behavior change from the vaccine hesitant.

Ransomware Incident Preparations With Ethical Considerations And Command System Framework Proposal, Stanley Mierzwa, James Drylie, Dennis Bogdan

Center for Cybersecurity

Concerns with cyber-attacks in the form of ransomware are on the mind of many executives and leadership staff in all industries. Inaction is not an option, and approaching the topic with real, honest, and hard discussions will be valuable ahead of such a possible devastating experience. This research note aims to bring thoughtfulness to the topics of ethics in the role of cybersecurity when dealing with ransomware events. Additionally, a proposed set of non-technical recovery preparation tasks are outlined to help organizations bring about cohesiveness and planning for dealing with the real potential of a ransomware event. Constraints from many …

Lasting Lessons And Legacy Influences: Christian Leadership Characteristics Of Southern Baptists Who Overcame Jim Crow, Aabram G. Marsh

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The legacy of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement was the social change its protests inspired. However, its leadership and moral compass were set by Christian theologians and ministers. These leaders moved the nation to recognize the humanity of African-Americans, demonize the sin of racism, and motivate their fellow Americans to oppose Jim Crow segregation. The purpose of this qualitative grounded theory study was to examine and identify the Christian leadership characteristics of influential legacy leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention (Henlee Barnette, Billy Graham, Thomas Maston, Acker Miller, and Foy Valentine) who supported desegregation during the Civil Rights Movement. Further, …

Buddhist Ethics As A Path: A Defense Of Normative Gradualism, Javier S. Hidalgo

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

This essay defends a new interpretation of Buddhist ethics: normative gradualism. According to normative gradualism, what we have normative reason to do depends on our stage along the Buddhist spiritual path. The essay shows how normative gradualism can justify distinctive features of Buddhist ethics and reconcile consequentialist and eudaimonistic interpretations of Buddhist moral thought.

A Phenomenological Study Of Scripture-Based Ethical Principles Embedded Within Corporate Leadership Practices, Steven T. Smith

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The ethical treatment of others within the corporate working environment is essential for that corporation's success. Ethical treatment of others applies to business transactions with customers and clients and engages the policies designed to formulate the ethical treatment of company employees. Although most major corporation documentation includes corporate code of conduct policies, the ethical principles used to define those policies and enact leadership based upon those policies are not always consistent. Four research questions defined the structure of this qualitative phenomenological study. The study’s purpose was to define the nature of Scripture-based ethics within the corporate environment. The theory guiding …

Prudence, Ethics And Anticipation In Visionary Leaders, Yanick Farmer

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

In ethics, prudence is an essential skill in making informed decisions. Although several studies in various fields have dealt with the notion, few empirical studies have addressed one of its inextricable aspects: anticipation. To gain a better understanding of the notion, this study questioned fifteen leaders whose peers consider to be “visionary” in their respective fields. The results of this qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews describe the fundamental aspects of anticipation according to three categories: reasoning and trend analysis, implementation and strategy, and personality and values.

Lead At Any Level, Will Gunzelman

Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentation discusses the key leadership imperatives and leadership lessons learned in combat, which transfer to the corporate sector

•Keywords: leadership, team building, strategy, talent management, ethics, Christian leadership, combat, special operations, project management, employee retention, recruiting, planning, and risk management

• Author, Will Gunzelman: retired U.S. Army Special Forces (“Green Berets”) after 27 years of service and numerous combat deployments. – Adjunct professor of Business Strategy and Policy – Strategy, leadership, and operations consultant for senior executives

Leading Organizational Learning, Jessica C. Wells

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Leadership is hard to define but easy to recognize and is found in every facet of life. Leaders themselves range from good to bad, the extremities of which are determined by their character, actions, perception of self, how they are perceived by others and their worldviews. An individual’s values provide the basis for ethical decisions, which makes self-awareness a critical element in the development of one’s leader identity. This article provides an overview of leader identity development and offers ways for leaders to apply ethics in their everyday lives.

Becoming: Shaping Leader Identity Through Ethical Behavior, Yolonda T. Sanders

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Leadership is hard to define but easy to recognize and is found in every facet of life. Leaders themselves range from good to bad, the extremities of which are determined by their character, actions, perception of self, how they are perceived by others and their worldviews. An individual’s values provide the basis for ethical decisions, which makes self-awareness a critical element in the development of one’s leader identity. This article provides an overview of leader identity development and offers ways for leaders to apply ethics in their everyday lives.