Degree Discipline

Authentic Transformational Leadership and Implicit Leadership Theories. (open access)

Authentic Transformational Leadership and Implicit Leadership Theories.

Transformational leadership describes a leader who motivates followers to performance beyond expectations, but it has often been attacked for its potential to be abused. A newer form of leadership has been proposed, that of authentic leadership. Authentic leadership is an over-arching concept that proposes to include transformational leadership and all positive forms of leadership. At the heart of authentic leadership is the concept of ethicality. The concept of authenticity may contribute to the transformational leadership paradigm, producing an ideal form of leadership. Authentic leadership may not be an over-arching form of leadership, but one suited particularly to transformational leadership. I propose that authentic transformational leadership resides in leaders' and followers' implicit leadership theories. This experiment addresses authentic transformational leadership and the role of implicit leadership theories in directing leader behavior. A model is developed that outlines the relationship between authentic transformational leadership and implicit leadership theories, including the separate implicit theories of leader and follower, leader-member exchange (LMX), and leader effectiveness. Hypotheses concerning these relationships are developed. The study is experimental, using WebCT as a delivery tool. Scenario-based surveys were developed to collect data, using both known measures and measures developed specifically for this experiment. Two pilot studies were conducted …
Date: August 2008
Creator: Nichols, Thomas W.
System: The UNT Digital Library

An investigation of the relationships between job characteristics, satisfaction, and team commitment as influenced by organization-based self-esteem within a team-based environment

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Team-based management is a popular contemporary method of redesigning jobs in order to more effectively utilize the human potential of employees. The use of such management techniques should result in increased satisfaction and team commitment; however, many research studies have failed to demonstrate increases in affective outcomes on the part of the employee. The research question examined in this study is, "What specific job dimensions and situational factors result in higher levels of satisfaction and team commitment?" The Job Characteristics Model (Hackman & Oldham, 1975) provided a basis for this study. The model was designed for individual contributors and has not been extensively used in team research. As expected it was found that within a team-based environment higher levels of the five core job dimensions of skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and job feedback were associated with increased satisfaction and team commitment. Organization-based self-esteem was found to mediate the relationship between the five core job dimensions and the affective outcome variables. Contrary to expectations, however, it was found that consultative team members experienced higher levels of satisfaction and commitment than substantive team members. In addition, consultative team members reported higher levels of two core job dimensions, skill variety …
Date: August 2000
Creator: Abbott, John B.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Interorganizational Relationships: The Effects of Organizational Efficacy on Member Firm Performance

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Relationships between the collective actors within interorganizational relationships are a growing area of research in management. Interorganizational networks continue to be a popular mechanism used by organizations to achieve greater performance. Organizations develop competencies to work with other organizations, but the confidence of these organizations to use these strengths for a competitive advantage has yet to be empirically examined. The purpose of this study is to examine organizational efficacy, how competencies may related to that efficacy, and the relationship of efficacy with performance. The goal of this study is to observe the relationship among trust, dependence, information quality, continuous quality improvement, and supplier flexibility with organizational efficacy. In addition, the relationship between organizational efficacy and performance is also observed. There are two primary research questions driving this study. First, what is the relationship between trust, dependence, information quality, continuous quality improvement, supplier flexibility and organizational efficacy? Second, what is the relationship between organizational efficacy and performance? The theories supporting the hypotheses generated from these questions include theories such as social cognitive theory, quality improvement, and path-goal theory. Data collected from the suppliers of a large university support the hypotheses. Regression analysis and structure coefficients were used to analyze the data. …
Date: August 2006
Creator: McDowell, William C.
System: The UNT Digital Library