Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item LEADERSHIP AS A CATALYST FOR HEALTH EQUITY: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF STRATEGIES AND INSIGHTS FOR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IN HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATIONS(2024) Howard, Christopher Norman; Thomas, Stephen B; White-Whilby, Kellee W; Health Services Administration; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Health equity is a growing field of study and evidence-based practice among healthcare providers. Two essential influencers of this dynamic paradigm are equity-centered leadership and quality improvement strategies. The acclaimed Malcolm Baldrige Framework was selected as the impetus for exploring the conceptual relationship between health equity competence and leader driven quality improvement. Investigating the importance of integrating critical elements of theseinfluencers to achieve equitable outcomes in patient care, workforce diversity, and organizational culture is the focus of this research. A comprehensive review of the literature, supported by a thorough scoping review of eighteen established framework methodologies, developed for health equity aims and primary qualitative data gathered through survey and semi-structured interviews provided useful concepts to guide the process of examining the health equity knowledge base of senior healthcare leaders affiliated with acute care hospitals located in the Washington, D.C. area, and their perceptions of how equity, as a value, is actualized within their healthcare organizations. Study results revealed the lack of systemic integration in the practices of organizational leadership, quality improvement implementations and health equity measures. Also, the study results showed a need for increasing investments in health equity education and training at all levels and classifications of the healthcare professional workforce.Item A Theory of Leadership and Its Applications(2023) Schwab, Leisa Elizabeth; Horty, John F; Philosophy; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)No system of laws and political institutions is without gaps, and leaders are required—often in the face of uncertainty and under a heavy burden of risk—to fill them. This project adopts a view of individual leadership that finds its roots in the ancient world with Plato, but which speaks to modern problems like the role of appointed administrative officials in a complex democracy and the problems of autonomous weapons. It is composed of a series of papers exploring this gap-filling leadership activity in a modern democratic state from both normative and descriptive perspectives. The first paper, “Making Ourselves Accountable: An Ethics for the Administrative State” addresses the discretionary decision making by un-elected officials through which many of our society’s important leadership decisions are made. It argues for the necessity of these leaders and recommends criteria to guide their decision making in conformity with contemporary democratic ideals. The second paper, “Seeking Standards for Leadership Reasoning in the Executive Branch by Analogy to Representation and Judicial Reasoning,” looks deeper into the work of such leaders to better understand the place of their role in shaping the law alongside legislative representation and judicial discretion. The third paper, “A Different Kind of Responsibility Gap: Trust and the Burden of Risk as a Limit on Military Automation” considers the problem of autonomous weapons in the context of this theory of the individual leader as a necessary component within the legal and institutional system. Inspired by ancient notions of the activity of governing as an activity fundamentally about leaders before it is about laws, it argues that even fallible human leaders who fall short of the ideal remain necessary no matter how sophisticated or accurate an automated system we may devise.Item Stepping into the Breach: Followers Reclaiming Leadership from Formal Leaders(2023) Butler, Alexander I; Hanges, Paul; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Recently, DeRue (2011) reconceptualized leadership as a dynamic process in which individuals engage in interdependent and interlocking acts of leading and following called “double interacts.” The behaviors that take place in double interacts are categorized as claims and grants, and they signify the assertion or bestowment of status as leader or follower in interpersonal exchanges. The present study (N = 367) builds upon DeRue’s theoretical model by testing antecedents to claiming and granting. Results show that leader behavior predicts followers’ decisions to claim or grant leader status. Furthermore, followers’ trust perceptions mediate the relationship between leader behavior and claiming and granting, and leader identity magnitude moderates the mediating effect of trust. This study has implications for understanding leader influence, claiming and granting, trust, and leader identity construction.Item A STUDY OF GENDER DIVERSITY IN U.S. ARCHITECTURE, ENGINEERING, AND CONSTRUCTION (AEC) INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP(2023) Hickey, Paul Joseph; Cui, Qingbin; Civil Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Anecdotally, men dominate the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) field. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by quantifying the gender composition of the c-suite, identifying differences in career paths between women and men, and gathering in-depth information on women engineering executives’ professional stories. Using the industry recognized Engineering News Record (ENR) Top 400 largest companies, initial phase of this research found women filled 3.9% of engineering executive positions in 2019, reducing to 3.5% in 2021. However, certain sub-segments, highlighted by firms with a public commitment to diversity, ENR Top 100 Green companies, and larger organizations, offer more opportunities to women. Exploring further into individual and collective career paths, researchers applied web scraping algorithms to extract LinkedIn data for 2,857 industry leaders. Data found that women work for more companies (+56%), hold more positions (+19%), earn more advanced degrees (53.9% to 31.2%), assemble larger professional networks (+14%), yet remain significantly underrepresented (-83%). Confirming a difference between the career paths of women and men, Machine Learning (ML) modeling predicted profile genders with 98.95% training sample and 89.53% testing sample accuracy. Final stage of research incorporates interviews with women engineering executives, seeking to learn about pathways and barriers in their respective and collective professional journeys and test the findings from the initial two phases of this study. An overriding theme throughout the progressive study, recommendations for increasing women’s representation include directed Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) scholarships for young girls, targeted recruiting of women, establishing mentoring relationships, and creating nurturing cultures to retain early and mid-career women.Item Lifted Up or Feet on the Ground? How Leader Emotional Balancing Moderates the Effect of Developmental Feedback on Employee Learning(2022) Guo, Siyan; Seo, Myeong-Gu; Business and Management: Management & Organization; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Leaders expect their developmental feedback to help employees develop skills and improve performance, yet the effect of developmental feedback on learning remains unclear. In this dissertation, the concept of developmental feedback (DFB) is extended to include two dimensions, gap identification and gap elimination. I focus on the affective mechanisms underlying the DFB – learning relationship and identify trade-offs in each of the DFB dimensions. I argue that while gap elimination elicits employee positive affect (PA) that facilitates learning via increased learning self-efficacy, it undermines learning via PA and decreased learning need recognition. In addition, gap identification induces employee negative affect (NA) that works in the opposite way. Emotional balancing, or leaders’ dynamic engagement in both affect improving and affect worsening behaviors, is proposed to attenuate the negative mechanisms. I conducted a pilot study in the field to develop measures for the two DFB dimensions, followed by a three-wave, multisource field study to test my theoretical model at the between-person level, and a daily dairy field study to test the model at the within-person level. The findings largely support my proposed model. The results indicate that gap identification positively predicts employee NA, while gap elimination predicts PA. Gap identification is positively associated with learning via employee learning need recognition, but negatively predicts learning via employee NA and learning self-efficacy. I also find that gap elimination positively predicts learning through PA and improved employee self-efficacy in learning. Importantly, the results demonstrate the beneficial effects of emotional balancing, which significantly moderates the effects of PA and NA. Taken together, these findings indicate that receiving DFB is a highly emotional experience that creates a tension between feeling uplifted and keeping feet on the ground, and leaders can use emotional balancing to manage employee affect to achieve better learning outcomes.Item In Pursuit of the Academic Deanship: Women's Considerations, Choice Environments, and Career Paths(2021) Templeton, Lindsey Lee; O'Meara, KerryAnn; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Fewer women than men hold leadership roles in many fields, including higher education (Johnson, 2016). Despite changes in the demographics of college students (Lumina Foundation, 2015) and the traditional definitions of leadership (Kezar et al., 2006), the number of women declines as rank increases, starting at the role of full professor (Dominici et al., 2009; Johnson, 2016). The traditional path to the pinnacle of academic leadership – the role of the academic president – typically flows from faculty to department chair, dean to provost to president (Moore et al., 1983). Based on this pathway, the academic deanship is frequently viewed as a critical point in the path to academic leadership (Moore et al., 1983; Thrash, 2012; Wolverton & Gonzales, 2000). Yet little research actually examines individuals’ reasons for pursuing the deanship and women lack representation at this critical point in the pipeline (Almanac of Higher Education, 2014; Behr & Schneider, 2015). The purpose of this study is to understand how and why senior women faculty decide to pursue the academic deanship. Using a qualitative, collective case study and awareness of different aspects of identity, this study examines the choice processes for 12 women serving as deans at research-intensive institutions as they reflect on their decision to pursue the academic deanship. This research is framed by Social Cognitive Career Theory (Lent et al., 1984), choice architecture (Thaler & Sunstein, 2008), and decision-making theories (March, 1994). Data collection included a two-step interview process and analysis of participant-generated narratives and visual depictions. Key findings suggest: 1) women choose to pursue the academic deanship in order to make an impact on their college, institution, or discipline; 2) the decision-making processes of women in pursuit of the academic deanship are shaped by their local choice environments, individual ambition, and prevailing assumptions; and 3) previous leadership experience is a critical component in women’s decisions to pursue the role of dean. Implications for research and practice are provided, including a need to systemically challenge the traditional path to academic leadership and to create space for women to lead at their home institution.Item Abusive and Supportive Leadership Effects on Masculinity & Aggression towards Women(2020) Epistola, Jordan; Hanges, Paul J; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Masculinity is a highly-valued but elusive status in society. This is due to its socially conferred nature. While masculinity is associated with good traits, it is also associated with negative traits such as aggression against others. Negative masculine traits occur when males lose masculine status and seek to reestablish it. While research has identified contexts that elicit masculinity loss, research to date has not focused on the role leaders play in shaping followers’ interpretations of such contexts. The present study sought to address this by examining the effect of supportive versus abusive leadership on followers’ experience of masculinity in potentially threatening contexts. Dahl, Vesio & Weaver’s (2015) research method for threatening masculinity was expanded upon to test this. Results revealed significant differences in public discomfort and anger between supportive and abusive leadership. Leadership also impacted followers’ hostility towards women through changes in masculinity loss stress. Surprisingly, Dahl et al.’s (2015) method for threatening masculinity could not be replicated. Potential explanations, as well as theoretical and empirical implications are discussed.Item Why are Leaders Perceived as Abusive: Evaluating the Definition of Abusive Leadership with an Experimental Examination Comparing Harmful Leader Intentions, Behaviors, and the Frequency of Leader Actions(2020) Levine, Benjamin Ryan; Grand, James A; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Abusive leadership, subordinates’ perceptions of the extent to which supervisors engage in systematic and repeated hostile behaviors that violate the interests of the organization, subordinates, or both, is a widespread issue with far reaching consequences. It is consequently vital for organizations to monitor and neutralize these behaviors, to improve the lives of individual employees and their overall company performance. Unfortunately, research on abusive leadership is muddled as many researchers have coined their own terms for similar behaviors and phenomena. The lack of clarity and agreement on the definition is a continual source of friction in this research area, and it presents a roadblock for practitioners seeking to reduce abusive leadership. The current research leveraged an experimental methodology to critically examine and refine the definition of abusive leadership through testing its three core assumptions. Drawn from the three core assumptions, three factors, leader intentions, the frequency of exposure to leader behavior, and the harm caused by leader behavior, were included to provide the first experimental test of the influence of each factor on perceptions of abusive leadership. A longitudinal design was utilized to model the influence of frequency of exposure, and leader intentions and the harm of leader behaviors were specifically manipulated in the study. Across five trials, 208 participants completed tasks and interacted with videos of a confederate leader. After each trial, participants provided ratings of their perceptions of the leader’s abusiveness. Results from a repeated measures ANOVA and an HLM growth model suggested strong support for the influence of leader intentions, harm of leader behaviors and frequency of exposure on perceptions of abusive leadership. Guidance for updating the definition of abusive leadership, theoretical and practical implications of the study, as well as future directions are also discussedItem THE PRINCIPAL’S ROLE AND IMPACT ON TEACHER ATTRITION IN AN URBAN SCHOOL DISTRICT: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE VANDERBILT ASSESSMENT OF LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION (VAL-ED) RATINGS AND TEACHER ATTRITION.(2018) Ashworth, Megan; Richardson, Pat; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The most significant factor that influences student achievement is the quality and commitment of the teachers who are providing rigorous instruction. As efforts to recruit more individuals into the teaching profession have been successful, determining how to keep highly qualified teachers who provide meaningful and effective instruction remains a concern. According to the U.S. Department of Education, teacher attrition is a local, state, and national problem. Principals play a key role in improving the quality of instruction in their schools through their daily instructional leadership behaviors. If teacher attrition across the United States is going to decrease, principals will be one of the key factors to making this a reality. Discovery Education recently developed the Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education (VAL-ED) tool, which holds the potential to improve academic and social learning for students as well as supporting the teachers who are providing high-quality education. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a correlation between learning-centered leadership behaviors (average score measured on the VAL-ED assessment) and the teacher attrition percentages that determine whether teachers remain in a school longer than 5 years. In addition, the researcher wanted to determine whether there was a correlation between the core components of culture of learning and professional behavior as well as connections to external communities and teacher attrition percentages in an urban school district which are both core components within the VAL-ED tool inclusive of the development of a positive school culture which supports teachers. Findings that emerged from the analysis revealed a moderately significant relationship between attrition percentages and overall scores on the VAL-ED assessment and the VAL-ED scores on the core component culture of learning and professional behavior. According to the study, higher overall effectiveness ratings on the VAL-ED tool had moderately significant associations with lower teacher turnover rates, and culture of learning and professional behavior VAL-ED scores had moderately significant associations with lower teacher turnover rates. Last, connections to external communities scores on VAL-ED had associations with lower teacher turnover rates, but the relationship was not significant.Item A Qualitative Analysis Of Middle School Principal Retention In An Urban School District(2018) Cyrus, Barry S.; Imig, David; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The issue of principal retention remains a challenge for many school districts across the United States. Several studies have revealed alarming statistics regarding principal turnover and attrition and the negative effects these issues have on schools (Browne-Ferrigno & Johnson-Fusarelli, 2005; Clark et al., 2009; Partlow & Ridenour, 2008; Stoelinga et al., 2008; Walker & Qian, 2006; Whittal, 2002). Data show that the annual financial burden principal replacement places on these school districts is enormous (School Leaders Network, 2014); not to mention the tremendous effect that principal turnover has on school operations. Consistent school leadership is essential to the successful operation of schools. Evidence indicates that principals are the most importance catalysts for change in the school building—they spark academic success among students, improve working conditions, and encourage teacher retention (Beteille et al., 2012; Burkhauser, 2015; Johnson, 2006; Leithwood et al., 2006; McIver et al., 2009). This qualitative study examined the unique sociocultural, pedagogical, and personal factors that influence middle school principals’ decision to remain within a given school. Data were gathered from interviews with ten middle school principals with an average of 7.1 years in their position at the time of the study and a range of 2-14 years of experience as school leaders. Their tenure in the principalship far exceeded that of many middle school principals today. The study revealed that the participants’ decision to remain in their positions at the same schools for a prolonged period was influenced by several factors, including the socio-economic, racial, and ethnic composition of the student bodies; positive relationships with students, parents, and direct supervisors. Contrary to findings in other studies, the principals who participated in this inquiry truly enjoyed working with traditionally underserved populations. Additionally, most respondents viewed their work through an altruistic lens; genuinely valued their relationships with students, parents, and teachers; and approached each day with the perspective that each of these groups deserved the very best that the principals had to offer. Moreover, the participants consciously viewed students and their parents as a unit, and saw the family unit as a valuable stakeholder in the school building.