Leadership Studies Ed.D. Dissertations

Leadership Education Reconsidered: Examining Self-Perceived Leadership Styles and Motivation Sources Among Undergraduate Leaders

Date of Award

2010

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Department

Leadership Studies

First Advisor

Mark Earley

Second Advisor

William Arnold (Committee Member)

Third Advisor

Judith Jackson May (Committee Member)

Fourth Advisor

Dafina Lazarus Stewart (Committee Member)

Abstract

This study examined the relationships between undergraduate leaders’ self-perceptions of their transformational and transactional leadership behaviors and their sources of work motivation. The sample was comprised of 145 elected and appointed leaders at a mid-west university. The survey included both the Motivation Sources Inventory and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Other survey items collected demographic and leadership-experience data. Participants overall scored higher for transformational self-perceived behaviors than for transactional, and higher for intrinsic motivation than extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation related positively to transformational self-perceived behaviors, and extrinsic motivation related positively to transactional self-perceived behaviors. By understanding undergraduates’ self-perceptions of their leadership behaviors and motivation, models and methods can be developed to foster and strengthen perspectives that embrace situational application of transformational and transactional behaviors.

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