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The Relationship Between Spiritual Engagement and Authentic Leadership: Exploring the Core of Leadership

Abstract

Authentic leadership has garnered recent interest with some theorists suggesting it is a root construct of all positive leadership theories (Avolio & Gardner, 2005) and a developable construct that holds promise for advancing leadership (Walumbwa, Avolio, Gardner, Wernsing, & Peterson, 2008), yet few antecedents have been investigated. Responding to the call to explore potential antecedents, this research used a quantitative, cross-sectional, survey-based study to examine the relationship of authentic leadership and spiritual engagement. Spiritual engagement is defined as a complex spiritual transformative process of spiritual practices and the attitudes and beliefs that motivate spiritual disciplines and are consequently enhanced by the practices (Roof, Bocarnea, & Winston, 2015). Data were collected from a diverse sample of 65 leaders who self-reported spiritual engagement and 266 associated followers’ perceptions of the leaders’ authentic leadership using previously validated instruments including the Authentic Leadership Questionairre (Walumbwa et al., 2008) and the Spiritual Engagement Instrument (Roof et al., 2015). The potential influence of social desirable responses, age, and gender was tested and found to be not significant. The relationship of the four spiritual engagement constructs—worship, meditation, fasting, and rest—were analyzed using multiple regression and found to not be significant predictors of second-order authentic leadership. Post hoc analyses revealed greater reported measures of spiritual engagement worship and fasting in not-for-profit leaders compared with for-profit leaders, but no significant difference in authentic leadership measures was found. An analysis of the relationship of first-order authentic leadership constructs to spiritual engagement found worship positively related to the relational transparency and balanced processing dimensions of authentic leadership. Implications for advancing spiritual engagement and leadership theory, suggestions for practitioners, and future research directions are examined.

The Effect of American and Nigerian Culture on Antecedents of Ethical Leadership

Abstract

This study addresses the question: How do individual characteristics and organizational environmental factors relate to ethical leadership behaviors of American and Nigerian leaders? Based on a comprehensive review of ethical leadership research, including recent cross-cultural studies, ethical leadership can be defined as modeling ethical normatively appropriate behavior (exemplified by demonstrating integrity, consideration of others, and ethical decision making) and the promotion and reinforcement of such behavior. The study identifies three antecedents researchers have shown to have a significant relationship with ethical leadership: internalized moral identity, individual spirituality, and organizational ethical culture. Nigerian and American cultural differences are identified, most notably, power distance, collectivism, and performance orientation. Six hypotheses are proposed regarding the relationship of the three antecedents to ethical leadership and the moderating effect of American and Nigerian culture. The study utilizes a quantitative approach to test the hypothesized relationships. Results indicate that (a) internalized moral identity is positively associated with ethical leadership behavior in both the American and Nigerian cultures, (b) individual spirituality is positively associated with ethical leadership behavior in both cultures, and (c) organizational ethical culture is positively associated with ethical leadership behavior in the Nigerian sample. Societal culture was not found to moderate the influence of any of the antecedents assessed. These findings further the understanding of antecedents of ethical leadership in both Nigerian and American cultures.

Exploring the Relationships Between Leadership Styles and Job Satisfaction Among Employees of Nonprofit Organizations

Abstract

This nonexperimental study aims to explore the relationship between leadership styles and job satisfaction among employees of nonprofits. Specifically, the goal of the study is to determine the strength of the linear relationships between job satisfaction and transformational leadership, servant leadership, authentic leadership, and transactional leadership. The research addresses two research questions: Do leadership styles have a positive relationship with job satisfaction among employees of nonprofit organizations? Do leadership styles differ in levels of job satisfaction among employees of nonprofit organizations? The study has five hypotheses. H1: Transformational leadership is positively correlated with job satisfaction. H2: Servant leadership is positively correlated with job satisfaction. H3: Authentic leadership is positively correlated with job satisfaction. H4: Transactional leadership is negatively correlated with job satisfaction. H5: Transformational, servant, authentic, and transactional leadership styles display significantly different levels of job satisfaction. The study employs snowball sampling securing 132 participants who completed the survey electronically. ALQ measured Authentic Leadership; SLQ measured Servant Leadership; MLQ measured Transformational and Transactional Leadership; and JDI measured Job Satisfaction. Age, tenure, and workforce were identified as covariates (categorical control variables). Following analysis, H1, H2, H3, and H4 are supported. With the covariates age and tenure, H5 is supported when considering the significant differences between transformational and authentic leadership and between transformational and transactional leadership. Without the covariates, H5 is supported when considering the significant difference between transformational and authentic leadership.

Authentic Leadership: A Quantitative Study of the Effect of Authentic Leadership on Group Cohesion and Work Engagement in Student Organizations in Mexico

Abstract

Authentic leadership, as a construct, has caught researchers’ attention, and it has gained recognition and position within leadership studies. Authentic leadership’s predictive capacity is in the developmental and discovering phase. Empirical studies on authentic leadership have less than 8 years, and there is still much to analyze and discover regarding this construct. This quantitative research aimed to add value and knowledge in the exploration of authentic leadership in Mexico. The authentic leadership construct includes four dimensions: (a) self-awareness, which refers to how leaders understand their strengths and weaknesses and the motives they exposure to others; (b) balance processing, which refers to how leaders analyze all relevant data before coming to a decision; (c) internalized moral perspective, which refers to how leaders make decisions based on values and high internal ethical standards; and (d) relational transparency, which refers to how leaders are open in presenting one’s true self to others (Walumbwa, Avolio, Gardner, Wernsing, & Peterson, 2008). Utilizing previously validated instruments, this study explored whether or not a relationship exists between authentic leadership behaviors of the leader (as perceived by the group members) and group cohesion and work engagement (as reported by the group members) within the Mexican context. This study worked with a sample of undergraduate students from Universidad de Monterrey who are members and active participants of student organizations and who are between 18-29 years old. Using a sample of 226 participants (N = 226), it was clearly demonstrated that there is a positive relationship between the authentic leadership behaviors of the leader and the members’ group cohesion (r = .56, β = .54, p = .000) and that there is a positive relationship between the authentic leadership behaviors of the leader and the members’ work engagement (r = .54, β = .54, p = .000). The study’s findings demonstrate the need to advance the research of authentic leadership in Mexico and Latin America.

The Role of Learner Autonomy in Avoiding Leader Derailment

Abstract

The purpose of this research study was to explore whether or not a significant correlation exists between learner autonomy and leader reserved behavior. Through this correlational study, I examined the relationship between learner autonomy and leader reserved behavior to determine if higher levels of learner autonomy may be associated with lower levels of reserved behavior in leaders and, therefore, lower risk of leader derailment. I reviewed the autonomous learning and leader derailment literature and posed the question: Is there a correlation between learner autonomy and leader reserved behavior? Additionally, from the extant literature, I synthesized a composite illustration, the Sass model, to more fully explicate the development of behavioral intentions toward autonomous learning. I presented the variables of interest, learner autonomy and reserved behavior, along with the instruments used to measure them: the Learner Autonomy Profile-Short Form (LAP-SF) and the Hogan Development Survey (HDS). While, to date, no other researchers have explicitly investigated a correlation between learner autonomy and leader reserved behavior, prior research in the two fields has provided a plausible theoretical basis for the hypothesis that there is a significant, negative correlation between total LAP-SF scores and HDS Reserved scale scores. This self-reporting, cross-sectional, survey-based correlational study utilized a complete sample of managers employed by four firms that comprise a major U.S. healthcare organization’s southern California region. I analyzed the collected data using Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (Pearson r). The data supported my hypothesis, revealing a statistically significant, moderate, negative correlation between the two variables of interest. An analysis of the data also revealed additional significant associations between learner autonomy and several potentially derailing leader behaviors. This study made important, original contributions to the quantitative-based literature and bodies of knowledge of two fields—autonomous learning and leader derailment—by discovering new, previously unknown, significant correlations. I make recommendations for future research to ascertain causality.

The Impact of Leadership Styles on Employee Entrepreneurial Orientation and Innovative Behavior: A Comparative Analysis of American and Indian Immigrant Entrepreneurs

Abstract

There is a dearth of literature on leadership styles’ effect on innovative behavior and entrepreneurial orientation within the context of American and Indian immigrant firms. This study fills the gaps in the literature with focus on the leadership styles’ impact on American and Indian immigrant employees employed in small- and medium-sized firms. Theses styles have been understudied regarding the impact germane to employee behavior, despite the current rise in American entrepreneurial firms and the recent spike in Indian immigrant entrepreneurial venture firms operated in the United States. The quantitative research design made it possible to garner a rich amount of data, collected from both American and Indian immigrant firms located in the Research Triangle Park area. The firms in which the samples were drawn represented industries that include technology, sales, grocers, hospitality, and finance. The total overall sample size was 321. The American sample respondent size was 161, and Indian immigrant sample size was 160. These data were analyzed with hierarchical regression analysis and multivariate analysis of variance. After analyzing and testing the hypotheses, results showed there are statistical significant differences in leadership styles between American and Indian immigrant entrepreneurial leaders. The results indicate that transformational leadership style has a statistical significant positive impact on innovative behavior in the context of an Indian immigrant firm; transactional leadership style had a statistical significant positive impact on innovative behavior in American firms and a statistically significant positive impact on entrepreneurial orientation in Indian immigrant firms. The study findings reflect the importance of leadership styles and the impact they have on employee behavior in the workplace. Ingenuity, idea creation, and idea implementation in the workplace play a large part in remaining competitive. Risk taking and proactiveness are behaviors that enable employees to harness future-orientated opportunities for the firm. Therefore, transformational and transactional styles are positively related to increasing employees’ innovative and entrepreneurial behaviors.

The Relationship Between Managers

Abstract

This study explored the relationship between a manager’s cognitive style and his or her leadership type as moderated by organizational culture through the perception of his or her subordinates. The manager’s cognitive style was the independent variable, the manager’s leadership type was the dependent variable, and the organizational cultural orientation of unit was the moderator variable. The members of LinkedIn social network and the Association of Professional Futurists listserv who were working under a manager at least for three years shaped the population of this study of which 140 subordinates made the sample through snowball sampling method. Quinn and Cameron’s (1983) competing values framework (CVF) formed the theoretical foundation of this study. Its associated measures at the individual and organizational levels of analysis generate 12 leadership types functioning within four orientations: create, compete, collaborate, and control. Kirton’s (1976) Adaption–Innovation Inventory measured managers’ cognitive style. Lawrence, Lenk, and Quinn’s (2009) Managerial Behavior Instrument measured managers’ leadership type. Quinn and Cameron’s Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument measured the organizational cultural orientation of the unit. This quantitative study applied a hierarchical multiple regression analysis method to test 24 hypotheses derived from the relationships between the independent, dependent, and moderator variables. The regression analyses supported more than one third of the hypotheses. While the adaptive cognitive style could be a predictor of competitor, producer, regulator, and monitor leadership types under the moderating effect of market and hierarchy organizational cultural orientations. The innovative cognitive style only could be a predictor of innovator leadership type in the adhocracy culture. The findings of this study contribute to the study of behavioral complexity in leadership by introducing a new paradigm in which the effectiveness of managers originates from the coordination between their cognitive style and leadership type.

Kenotic Alterity: An Exegetical Study of the Ontological Essence of Leadership as the

Abstract

Although previous studies have attributed empowerment and trust to a leader’s use of generalized reciprocity (Coyle-Shapiro, Kessler, & Purcell, 2004; Gouldner, 1960), this dissertation posited that the relational context flowing from a leader’s ontological acceptance of kenotic alterity may be identified in terms of generalized norms of reciprocity (i.e., low concern for equivalence of exchange, low concern for immediacy of reciprocation, and shared focus of interest rather than self-interest). This qualitative exegetical analysis of John 21, Colossians 3:3, and 1 Peter 4:1 (RSV) presented a biblical perspective on the essence or starting point of leadership in death, inability, and external locus of control resting in God. Based on an exegetical analysis of these passages, this study qualified the meaning of kenosis (exiting or emptying oneself formulated as death per exegesis) for the benefit of others (alterity) recognizing an external locus of control in the work of Christ, rather than internal self–control or self–constraint, or assumption of skill sets. The study explored the extent and function of the death analogy used in Johannine, Pauline, and Petrine Scriptures to describe kenotic alterity and suggested that resulting affective trust leads to generalized norms of reciprocity. Research presented here further suggested that Scripture’s thematic teaching of kenotic emptying using the objectionable figure of death is actually the essence of God-designed leadership.

Examining Learning Antecedents to Entrepreneurial Success

Abstract

In an effort to improve entrepreneurial success outcomes in the United States, researchers have focused on examining variables that promote entrepreneurial activity. The challenge for practitioners is to determine variables that help improve entrepreneurial success. Although there is adequate research in the literature on relationships between variables that precede start-up activity, relatively few studies have investigated the role of entrepreneurial learning on entrepreneurial success. To address these gaps, the current study examined the empirical relationships between entrepreneurial instructional learning, entrepreneurial mentorship learning, entrepreneurial experiential learning, and the self-efficacy of entrepreneurial knowledge on start-up success, income improvement, and net worth improvement. With a cross-sectional sample of entrepreneurs in the United States, the study revealed that entrepreneurial mentorship learning and self-efficacy of entrepreneurial knowledge had a significant and positive relationship with start-up success, income improvement, and net worth improvement but only when examined prior to adding control variables. The study also found that the dimension of the highest level of specific business education achieved within the construct of instructional learning had a significant and positive relationship with income improvement and net worth improvement prior to control variables but not start-up success. Furthermore, the study also found that the dimension of years of start-up experience within the construct of entrepreneurial experiential learning had a significant and positive relationship with net worth improvement and income improvement prior to control variables but not start-up success. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are presented, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Enabling Disruption: Predicting Firms

Abstract

Researchers operating within the field of innovation have continually revisited market exploitation beyond the assertions posed within traditional management theory by shifting theoretical and practical interests toward examining organizational refinement and redirection as a basis for competition. Within this context, disruptive innovation, as an innovation refinement approach, has produced paralyzing effects on competition by way of altering market identities. As the complex nature of innovative markets continues to grow, so too do educator and practitioner interests for further interpreting influences on strategic innovative proficiency. The concept of disrupting market conditions necessitates a paradigm shift from traditional technological focus toward examining innovations from a much larger business modeling perspective, requiring realignment of organizational key capacities. Under such assertions, this dissertation provides an analysis and validation of various organizational characteristics and their measured impact on the disruptiveness of innovations when applying toward disruption as a calculated growth strategy. A reductionist approach used within an ex post exhaustive examination of case evidence on disruptive innovation uncovered causal indicators and their respective compiled causes for possible representation of those characteristics pertaining to firms’ likeliness for disruptive innovation success. The disruptive innovation enabler instrument provided the empirical evidence for extending the literature by assigning a prescriptive response from the ex post findings. Specifically, the use of a U.S.-based development sample constructed from 659 founders of entrant firms currently considering themselves disruptive uncovered that (a) disassociation from systematic processes, (b) enhancement of managerial capacities, (c) autonomy for disruptive development and commercialization processes, (d) aligned value innovations, and (e) avoidance of entrenched perspectives, as enabling characteristics, contributed to the grandest degree for improving likeliness for disruptive innovation success.