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The Impact of Spiritual Leadership on Entrepreneurial Orientation: A Study of Enterprises in Malawi Moderated by Technological Readiness

The Impact of Spiritual Leadership on Entrepreneurial Orientation: A Study of Enterprises in Malawi Moderated by Technological Readiness

Frank Dalitso Chozenga | 2024

Abstract

Entrepreneurial orientation is a predictor of better company performance and a source of competitive advantage in both corporations and medium-sized enterprises. In the Malawian context, a gap exist in research into the presence of entrepreneurial orientation in corporations and medium-sized enterprises and its antecedents. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between spiritual leadership dimensions of vision, faith, altruistic love, calling, and membership and the entrepreneurial dimensions of proactiveness, innovativeness, risk-taking, competitive aggressiveness, and autonomy. Technological readiness was the moderating variable and organizational age and organizational type were the control variables. Two questions guided this study: (a) does spiritual leadership positively influence entrepreneurial orientation in Malawian companies? and (b) does technological readiness moderate the strength of the relationship between spiritual leadership and entrepreneurial orientation? Data was collected from 322 participants sampled from listed companies and medium-sized companies in Malawi. The analysis of data occurred in four parts: correlation analysis, Hayes mediation analysis, Hayes moderation analysis, and the five moderated hierarchical multiple regression analyses. The findings from this study highlighted that spiritual leadership, precisely the dimensions of vision and altruistic love, are significant predictors of entrepreneurial orientation. A partial or full mediation of calling and membership on the relationship between spiritual values of vision, faith, and altruistic love and the entrepreneurial orientation dimensions of proactiveness, innovativeness, risk-taking, competitive aggressiveness, and autonomy was also found. Lastly, the findings demonstrated a weak moderation effect of technological readiness on the relationship between spiritual leadership and entrepreneurial orientation. Overall, the study highlighted the importance of spiritual leadership and spiritual well-being as predictors of entrepreneurial orientation in Malawian corporate and medium-sized enterprises.

Key Words: Corporate companies, entrepreneurial orientation, medium-sized enterprises, spiritual leadership, technological readiness

Visionary Leadership in Christian Higher Education: A Qualitative Phenomenological Research Study

Visionary Leadership in Christian Higher Education: A Qualitative Phenomenological Research Study

Dorothy Foster | 2024

Abstract

Visionary leadership theory is built upon the premise that leaders cast a vision for followers by developing an image of the future and then inspiring followers to achieve that vision (Sashkin, 1996). Visionary leaders articulate where a group is going and encourage the group to innovate, experiment, and take risks in pursuit of the vision. How is visionary leadership demonstrated in Christian higher education, and how can today’s higher education leaders leverage visionary leadership? Two world-class Christian universities have emerged to become the largest private nonprofit universities in Virginia: Liberty University and Regent University. This qualitative phenomenological research study leverages heuristic phenomenology (Moustakas, 1990) to explore the visionary leadership of the founders of Liberty University and Regent University through the lens of their followers’ perceptions of leadership. In-depth interviews were conducted to explore visionary leadership traits that university employees witnessed firsthand. Implications are discussed for today’s higher education leaders and for future research on visionary leadership.

Attachment at Work as a Predictor of Employee Communication Style

Attachment at Work as a Predictor of Employee Communication Style

Lisa Diane Foster | 2024

Abstract

The current study was the first to apply the conceptual model of attachment theory to examine the relationship between adult attachment style in the workplace and employee communication style. For more than a half century, scholars have employed attachment theory as the paradigm of choice for examining attachment relationships across the lifespan and for understanding attachment as a style of relationship to others that is characterized as either secure or insecure—avoidant, ambivalent, disorganized—in nature. Adult attachment style in the workplace was classified as secure, avoidant, and ambivalent using the Adult Attachment in the Workplace (AAW) Scale; and employee communication style was categorized as six domains—expressiveness, preciseness, verbal aggressiveness, questioningness, emotionality, and impression manipulativeness—and measured using the Communication Styles Inventory (CSI). Multiple regression analyses showed that attachment at work significantly predicted some styles of communication. However, the respective R2 values suggest that practitioners should not rely on these findings for organizational decision making. Results also indicated that Cronbach’s alpha for both the AAW Scale and CSI were lower than values that have been reported in the extant literature. Cross-cultural equivalence and negative wording of Likert-response items may have contributed to this finding. Finally, the unstable factor structure of the AAW Scale as demonstrated by past research, taken together with the unfavorable internal consistency of the AAW Scale subscales found by the current study, may suggest a burgeoning paradigm shift in attachment research. To this end, it will be especially valuable for researchers to delineate in future research if attachment to work colleagues is qualitatively different than attachment to family and romantic partners.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence’s Impact on Leadership for the Administrative and Management Functions Within the U.S. Department of the Navy Organizations

Dominic Rudolpho Frank | 2024

Abstract

Artificial intelligence’s impact on leadership is a novel, complex, and poorly understood area (Döppner et al., 2019; von Krogh, 2018). While new leadership theories such as digital, e-leadership, and leadership 4.0 are starting to emerge, there is still a need to build upon the new emerging leadership theories by understanding the impact of digitization, specifically artificial intelligence, on leaders and leadership (Cortellazzo et al., 2019). The results of this phenomenological qualitative study built upon the digital leadership theory by identifying leadership traits essential in successfully leading a new area of human and technological followers. This research concluded that to successfully adopt artificial intelligence within the U.S. Department of the Navy for administrative and management functions, a digital leader must apply a human-centric approach to navigate change. The essential traits required to do so, and in order of importance, are extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Openness to new experiences is also a required trait. However, due to the hierarchical nature of a government organization, it plays a significantly lesser role. Furthermore, it was also concluded that the organizational structure of a U.S. Department of the Navy organization has a lower adoption rate than that of a private industry. Means to increase the adoption rate include building trust, experiential learning, proper human and AI task assignment, and the creation of critical colleagues. These results inform and enable current and future leaders to successfully balance the behavioral needs of their human workforce with the rapid adoption of technology and innovation (Oberer & Erkollar, 2018) while also achieving strategy and organizational structure fit.

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Digital Leadership, Industry 4.0, Leadership

Exploring the Artificial Intelligence for Human Resource Professionals in Corporate Organizations

Exploring the Artificial Intelligence for Human Resource Professionals in Corporate Organizations

Oliver James Freeman III | 2024

Abstract

The aim of this qualitative research was to determine whether there was a phenomenon between artificial intelligence (AI) and corporate human resources (HR). The global race of AI continues to be a driving factor in the global economy. Leaders need to be prepared and have a conversation to obtain the perceptions of AI from HR professionals. The co-existence of a relationship between AI and HR could promote or limit the advancement toward the collaboration between AI and HR in the future.

Contextual Factors That Enable Positive Deviance to Occur in Leaders

Contextual Factors That Enable Positive Deviance to Occur in Leaders

Joshua Friedeman | 2024

Abstract

Spreitzer and Sonenshein (2003, 2004) developed a strong conceptual foundation for positive deviance (PD) research. Lavine (2012) continued this development and called for further research to operationalize the concept of PD at an organizational level. One of his direct calls was to explore the contextual factors that would enable PD. Spreitzer and Sonenshein’s (2003) construct included five psychological factors that facilitate PD: sense of meaning, other focus, self-determination, personal efficacy, and courage. They identified transformational leadership and contexts of crisis as two additional contextual factors that may enable PD. Using a multiple bounded case study approach, this project answers three research questions: How does context influence the psychological factors that facilitate positive deviance in organizational leaders? How does the contextual factor of transformational leadership influence positive deviance in organizational leaders? How do contexts of crisis influence positive deviance in organizational leaders? This project is the first attempt to answer Lavine’s direct call to understand the important contextual antecedents to PD actions or behaviors in organizational leaders.

Keywords: Crisis management, Executive leadership, Leadership, Positive deviance, Servant leadership, Transformational Leadership

A Concept Study Toward the Adumbrations of a Meta-Model of a Theology of Leadership: Gërhart

A Concept Study Toward the Adumbrations of a Meta-Model of a Theology of Leadership: Gërhart’s Taxonomy of the Imbrications of Secular and Theological Leadership

Kenneth P. Gerhart | 2024

Abstract

In researching the concept of a comprehensive, wholistic, meta-model of a theology of leadership, most of the relevant literature focused on the four converging approaches to a nascent theology of leadership—mimetic, power, followership, and Christological leadership—found in the literature (Bekker, 2009). But more is needed to develop a fully functioning meta-model of a theology of leadership. This conceptual study addresses the literature, and the praxis gap found in researching the concept of a meta-model of a theology of leadership. Bekker (2009) identified the scholarly literature gap: “Little work has been done to synthesize all these [four converging] approaches and to provide a ‘mega-theory’ of the concept [of a theology of leadership]” (p. 148) beyond the four extant approaches of mimetic, power, followership, and Christological leadership found in the literature. The practitioner literature gap identified by M. Ayers (2015) addressed the dearth of leadership courses offered in the evangelical seminaries at the master’s level, finding that only 12% of those classes addressed the subject of leadership. The methodology used to conduct such comprehensive research is sociorhetorical interpretation (Robbins, 1996). Given the conceptual nature of this study, the method was limited to content analysis of scripture through inner-texture interpretation—one of five in the comprehensive sociorhetorical paradigm. This conceptual study found that the proposed meta-model contributes to the scholarly and practitioner literature, addresses concerns with the limitations of a conceptual paper, and identifies corridors for future research. Each of these findings confirm the validity of the conceptual study and point to a prodigious path for future research. Finally, the significance of this conceptual study is that it lays the foundation upon which can be built the proposed meta-model of a theology of leadership.

Keywords: theology, leadership, socio-rhetorical interpretation, inner-texture analysis, narrative analysis, taxonomy, meta-model

Peering Inside Pygmalion

Peering Inside Pygmalion’s Black Box: Exploring the Essential Links Between Follower Emotion and Performance

Andrea Smith | 2025

Abstract

Pygmalion-in-management (PIM) theory conveys the process steps that precipitate manifestations of the Pygmalion phenomenon in the workplace. Curiously, though mainstream scholars acknowledge the emotion-laden nature of leadership, PIM theory is silent on the topic of emotions. To pinpoint the role which emotions play, the author conducted 12 exploratory, semistructured, expert interviews with academics who were well versed in PIM theory, the intersection of emotion and performance, or both. Interview results indicate that the PIM phenomenon, like other forms of leadership, is influenced by leader and follower emotion. Findings indicate that Pygmalion leaders work diligently to establish high-quality relationships with their followers and that those high-quality relationships motivate follower performance; that Pygmalion leaders exude positive, emotionally toned verbal and nonverbal communication, which serves to strengthen and sustain those high-quality relationships, further motivating follower performance; and that Pygmalion leaders engineer environments that catalyze, capitalize upon, and help to sustain positive follower emotion—and that those positive emotions motivate follower performance.

Keywords: emotions and performance, follower emotion, follower motivation, follower performance, Pygmalion in management, Pygmalion in the classroom

Qualitative Research Bounded Case Study: How Does a Sense of Belonging Shape the Perspective of Women, Minorities, and LGBTQ+ Employees Regarding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Corporate Culture?

Qualitative Research Bounded Case Study: How Does a Sense of Belonging Shape the Perspective of Women, Minorities, and LGBTQ+ Employees Regarding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Corporate Culture?

Anthony L Spann | 2025

Abstract

This qualitative bounded case study focused on corporate culture leadership, sense of belonging, diversity, equity, and inclusion based on first-hand accounts from historically marginalized groups, such as women, minorities, and LGBTQ+ employees. The method used to collect and analyze the data is based on one-to-one audio-recorded interviews of purposeful participants who provided salient details and descriptions of their perspectives relative to the question: How does a sense of belonging shape the perspective of women, minorities, and LGBTQ+ employees regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in corporate culture? In vivo coding allows the data to be collected verbatim to ensure its originality, accuracy, and authenticity. Leadership plays a vital role in creating the corporate culture with either congruency or discrepancy with the intent of DEI initiatives and programs designed to create opportunity for all employees in a fair, balanced, and equitable manner, regardless of gender, race, or sexual orientation. The research showed how beneficial and challenging DEI implementation, cultivation, and sustainability can be based on leadership’s level of support and commitment to its core values and corporate performance objectives. The study also showed from a Christian leadership perspective that sense of belonging, as it relates to DEI, is the essence of how God designed humanity to “love thy neighbor,” and He commanded us to interrelate with one another within the tapestry of DEI without marginalization, discrimination, persecution, or condemnation.

Keywords: belonging, diversity, equity, inclusion, leadership, organizational culture

The Influence of Moral Potency to Deviant Workplace Behaviors While Controlling for Generational Affiliation

The Influence of Moral Potency to Deviant Workplace Behaviors While Controlling for Generational Affiliation

Demetry Phanis Spiropoulos | 2025

Abstract

Leaders and followers make ethical judgments based on personal moral beliefs in dynamic organizations. However, when ethical codes contradict moral beliefs, individuals may succumb to organizational and individual deviant workplace behaviors (George & Gergen, 2015). The study conducted a hierarchical regression analysis to assess the predictability of moral courage, ownership, and efficacy for interpersonal and organizational deviance while controlling generational cohorts. A stratified cross-sectional survey screened for full-time, small business employees within the United States. Two hundred five valid responses were collected consisting of 109 participants for Generational Cohort 1 and 96 participants for Generational Cohort 2. Hypotheses were assessed for model fit (R2) and directionality of fit (β) using a 95% confidence interval (p value ≤ 0.05). Independent t tests were performed to confirm the null hypothesis that the mean scores between the groups were not significantly different μ1= μ2 at 95% confidence intervals. The findings were not significant for moral courage, ownership, or efficacy’s ability to predict interpersonal deviance but were significant for moral efficacy’s ability to predict organizational deviance while controlling for generational cohorts. The findings suggest that demographic control variables, along with moral courage, ownership, and efficacy, are weak predictors for interpersonal and organizational deviance. Additionally, right-skewed means for interpersonal and organizational deviation may have been influenced by participants’ social desirability bias and the use of formative and reflective instruments. Future research should compare and contrast the predictability of moral potency in workplace deviance between organizational structures and cultures of small, medium, and large corporations.

Keywords: Data Transformation, Followership, Leadership, Linear Regression, Organizational Theory