Date of Award

Spring 2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Organizational Leadership

First Advisor

Dr. Joshua D. Henson

Second Advisor

Dr. Jennifer L. Carter

Third Advisor

Dr. Kevin Weaver

Abstract

Organizational commitment is an important component within Christian higher education, impacted by the words and actions of authentic leaders and followers. In a time when more people left their jobs or looked for new employment than ever before, it was necessary to identify contributing factors that built and detracted from organizational commitment within this context. In this study, the researcher explored the relationships between organizational commitment and authentic leadership and authentic followership from the perspective of followers within five institutions in the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU). The findings provided important context for current levels of connection between followers’ perceptions of their leader’s authentic behaviors and self-reflection of their own authenticity. Further, the researcher identified the correlations between each independent variable and the dependent variable, providing significant effects and potential causation within the follower’s perception of leader and the follower actions. The data for this quantitative study were collected through a survey completed by 213 participants among the staff, faculty, and administration located at five different within CCCU institutions in the United States. This study contributed to the overall body of research by showing statistically significant relationships between organizational commitment and authentic leadership (selfawareness, balanced processing, internalized moral perspective, and relational transparency), and organizational commitment and authentic followership (selfawareness, relational transparency, internalized moral perspective, and psychological ownership) among respondents at the participating institutions.

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