In the last few decades, the world has witnessed an unparalleled increase in human longevity, accompanied by more years of employment and declining birth rates. These unusual events have dramatically raised the portion of older employees who are still active in the global labor force. Scholars have recognized that, along with the overall aging of the workforce, older individuals will increasingly occupy leadership positions. Since the current knowledge economy promotes a globalized, competitive, and rapidly evolving educational and business environment, organizational leaders are increasingly facing challenges to keep their leadership knowledge base current. Organizational leaders must attract and retain the best human capital, competent individuals who can act strategically to move their organizations forward. Consequently, it is prudent to believe that, in order to face the new challenges of an aging work force, organizations will require exceptional leaders to maintain a cohesive organizational system in which diverse generational cohorts may interact and work together efficiently and effectively. Using leadership identity theory, dynamic capabilities, and the leadership trait approach as the conceptual framework, this study assessed intergenerational perceptions of the importance of seven leadership traits: intelligence, decisiveness, compassion, innovation, organization, ambition, and honesty using a national sample of almost two thousand adults in the United States representing four generational cohorts: Millennials, Generation X, Baby Boomers, and the Silent generation. This quasi-experimental quantitative study sought to identify the differences in perception of the importance of leadership traits that each of these generational cohorts may have and the interaction that gender and educational level may have on generational cohort perceptions of the importance of leadership traits. Descriptive statistical analysis and comparative analyses including one-way and two-way ANOVA were conducted to determine any statistically significant differences in means among the differences in means of the perception of the importance of leadership traits among generational cohorts moderated by gender and educational level. Statistically significant findings for some, but not all, of the seven leadership traits included in this study were found by generational cohort and these differences were moderated by gender and educational level. Implications and recommendations for policy, practice, and future research are offered. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The purpose of this research was to explore the social interactions among baccalaureate nursing students in a cooperative group learning environment. The following research questions were formulated to guide the research: (1) In a cooperative group learning environment, how do the social interactions among baccalaureate nursing students influence their course content learning? (2) In a cooperative group learning environment, how do the social interactions among baccalaureate nursing students influence their professional development? Students enrolled in an upper division nursing program were selected for this study. Age, gender, and ethnicity were considered in placing students in five groups. Data included student journals, interviews, and observations using protocols to form a case study database. Using grounded theory, data were analyzed using Lincoln and Guba's (1985) constant comparative method and Spradley's (1980) componential analysis method. Using Moreno's (1934/1953) network analyses, sociometric indices were done on the social interactions. The mean numerical final exam scores for each group were used to triangulate data quantitatively. Sociometric indices revealed that social interactions of students working in groups have a moderate to high influence on learning of the course content and a moderate influence on professional development. Themes influencing students' learning of the course content related to shared knowledge, teamwork, group structure, and group activity. Themes impeding students' learning related to student relationships, ineffective group activities, and lack of student involvement. Themes influencing professional development related to role development, interpersonal relationship skills, teamwork, and shared knowledge. Themes hindering professional development related to ineffective group activities, inappropriate interpersonal relationship skills, and lack of student involvement. Final course grades were not significantly different. Results of this study indicate some students' professional development is promoted by working in groups. Future studies focusing on the outcome measurements of knowledge development and professional socialization from other learning theories, such as problem-based learning and web-based learning, are recommended.

This case study explored the administrators' goals of a service learning program at a Research I university. This research was aimed at discovering administrators' goals and determining whether or not these goals were achieved, as perceived by students, administrators, community service agency directors, and faculty members. A structured, tape-recorded interview was used to gather data from participants in all groups. Barriers to implementation of service learning by faculty, students, and administrators included time constraints, lack of institutional support and lack of clarity as to what constituted service learning. University engagement in service learning was defined as the process by which a university embraces service learning wholeheartedly. The engagement may take place through redesigned curriculum and teaching methodology. This study's findings reveal that administrators' goals related to university engagement in service learning. Furthermore, the administrators' goals showed that the students were supplementing their academic experience with service to the community. This dissertation suggests that service learning can be mutually beneficial to all partners. Further, for a service learning program to flourish, all participants must have a role in defining its goals and clarifying its purposes.

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the influence of selected personal and institutional demographic characteristics on the alcohol consumption of students enrolled in a research extensive university in the southern portion of the United States who were members of a social fraternity. The two main goals of this study were: 1) to determine if a relationship existed between the level of alcohol consumption and the perceptions of the effectiveness of the current organizational leadership among students who were members of social fraternities at a research extensive university in the southern portion of the United States and 2) to determine if a model existed that explained a significant portion of the variance in the current level of alcohol consumption from selected demographic characteristics and perceptual and experiential factors among students who were members of social fraternities at a research extensive university in the southern portion of the United States. The target population for this study was defined as all students enrolled in colleges and universities who were members of social fraternities. The accessible population was defined as students currently enrolled in one research extensive university located in the southern portion of the United States who were members of social fraternities. The sample consisted of all students who were active members of six social fraternities selected through a stratified, cluster random sampling procedure. The instrument utilized in this study consisted of three parts: 1) the Alcohol Use and Drinking Behavior Survey, a researcher designed instrument developed to measure alcohol consumption patterns and perceptions of selected alcohol related issues and effects using a combination of questions emerging from the current literature and from the Core Alcohol and Drug Survey (1994a); 2) the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ), used to measure specific aspects of the leader behavior of presidents of social fraternities as perceived by the membership of that fraternity; and 3) the Leadership Effectiveness Instrument (LEI), a researcher developed scale, designed to measure perceived leader effectiveness. One finding resulting from this study was that chapter presidents of social fraternities consumed substantially less alcohol than other members of those same social fraternities.

Over the past decade calls for reform in higher education have emphasized that education should become less instructor centered with students taking a more active role in their learning. Moreover, there is increasing pressure on university professors to implement student centered teaching strategies that negate time and place restrictions of the classroom by integrating technologies that support the active engagement of students through Internet based applications. The goal of this study was to gain insights into the interactions that occur in online communications in a project-based learning activity. Twenty-one undergraduate students participated in the study while completing a component of a course that incorporated a collaborative project as part of the requirements for completion. A multi-case study was conducted on six collaborative groups, focusing on the types and frequencies of interactions that occurred within each group and the perceptions that students had of their experiences in this type of learning environment. It was found that the interactions that occurred online closely followed established steps in the problem solving process. There were also indications that the type of system used for online communications (asynchronous and synchronous) is an important factor in task appropriateness. The findings of this study also revealed that high and low achieving groups differ in frequency and temporal aspects of their online interactions. Students also differentiated between asynchronous and synchronous systems as to the type of tasks that are best suited for each. Their was a general consensus that asynchronous systems are best for tasks that require reflection time and deeper thought and synchronous systems are best for brainstorming and as a forum for the free flow of ideas. The latter also seems to be more conducive to situations that require solidarity building and group social connection. The findings of this study provide valuable information that contributes to the body of literature in online learning, provided practitioners with insights into the importance of the interactions that occur, and provides researchers with possible future studies that are relevant to this immerging field of education.

Very little research has been conducted to assess the effects of sorority membership on undergraduate sorority women. While there have been numerous studies conducted concerning fraternity men, there has been limited research concerning sorority women only and no studies that explore the effects of ritual on the sorority experience. Does ritual have an impact on the values and behavior of contemporary sorority women? Addressing this question requires an in-depth understanding of the role of the sorority experience and examination of the experience to determine if it provides to its membership what it is intended to provide. Based on research conducted through in-depth interviews, this study examined the effects of sorority ritual on the values and behavior of contemporary sorority women. Women's development theory guided this research. Undergraduate sorority women's perceptions of the ritual on the sorority experience were explored through an analysis of their thoughts and feelings about ritual. The voices of the sorority women reveal that ritual is not something that is understood by all of the members of the sorority. Many of the participants in the study indicated that the sorority did not define their values, however, they did seek the sorority that seem to reflect their value system. A number of recommendations are offered to improve how the role of ritual can improve the sorority experience.

The purpose of this study was to seek a greater understanding of the female doctoral student experience. In particular, the emphasis of this study is on exploring the dynamics and consequences of the advisor/advisee relationships that female doctoral students experience. This study was designed to address the role of ethnicity and gender in: (a) the selection of an advisor; (b) the quality and characteristics of the advisor/advisee relationship; (c) the impact of the advisor/advisee relationships on program satisfaction; and (d) the impact of external factors on the advisor/advisee relationship and academic experience of female doctoral students. To accomplish this goal, qualitative methods were utilized to study the advisor/advisee relationship experiences of six doctoral students. Results of this study suggest female doctoral students may become disillusioned with their progress or feel the weight of external factors bearing down on their progress. Students managing effective relationships with theirs advisors shared these feelings with their advisors. It appears open communication can make a tremendous difference in the type of advisement experience a female doctoral student shares with her advisor The participants of this study suggest graduate advisors should expect the most from female doctoral students, but refrain from exerting their values and beliefs academically, professionally, or personally upon them. These female doctoral student participants hold their advisors in high esteem and regard. All study participants seem to subscribe to the belief that advisors can make or break them. This study suggests the ultimate advisement goal these female doctoral student participants have with regard to their advisee/advisee relationship is that their advisors not break them, while they are making them or help to put them back together if they do break their spirits during the doctoral process. This study also suggests that graduate school and academic departmental administrators have a unique responsibility with regard to doctoral student advisement. Participants suggest it would be beneficial to have a systematic opportunity for doctoral students to acquire an appropriate advisor. These experiences though singularly unique are collectively powerful in providing an increased understanding of the shared essence of female doctoral students existing within academia today.

This study is aimed at determining the impact of Louisianas School and District Accountability System on students performance on the state mandated criterion-referenced test (LEAP 21). The study was designed to determine the extent to which teachers in Title I schools in a large urban district in southwest Louisiana have turned to instructionally unsound practices in response to a high-stakes accountability system. The specific objectives addressed in this study were to: 1) Explore if test scores have changed beyond what would be expected given the cohort design of the accountability model. 2) Explore if test scores have changed and determine why? 3) Determine where there has been improved learning and identify those practices teachers use to obtain the positive results. For the qualitative analyses, data were collected from interviews, surveys and observations with 4th grade teachers and principals in the selected school district. Specifically, this study attempted to determine if a measurable increase in student performance on the state-mandated test in grade 4 and determine to what sources the positive change could be attributed. The results of this study indicated that Louisianas accountability system has impacted each Title I school in various ways. There was not only a variation in how these schools perceived accountability, but also a variation in the perceptions of teachers and principals with regard to strategies that are being used to prepare students for high stakes testing.

This study explored relationships between Self-Efficacy, Motivation, and Outcome Expectations and Intention Certainty. Intention Certainty is a new variable created for this study and comprised of existing conceptions of intention and decision certainty. The purpose of this study was fourfold. This study attempted to expand our understanding of the college retention dropout issue by exploring relationships between psychologically rich variables. Second, this study provided information considered useful for framing future research on retention from a different perspective that focuses on characteristics of individuals who stay, rather than those who leave higher education with the consideration of psychological constructs. Further, this research expanded the Tinto model to examine psychological variables believed to influence intention to remain enrolled as opposed to demographic variables associated with student dropouts. Finally, because the sample was extended to include all subsets of the student population, broader practical applications were obtained resulting in greater generalizability of the results. The study sample consisted of 441 undergraduate students attending the University of Louisiana at Lafayette during the summer 2001 session. Four measures were used for data collection: College Student Self-Efficacy Scale (CSSES), Student Motivation Scale (SMS), Student Outcome Expectation Scale (SOES), and the Student Intention Certainty Scale (SICS). All measures were created specifically for this study. Major findings include: a) the measures developed specifically for the study are of reasonable quality, b) the hypothesized relationships between the independent variables and dependent variable were corroborated contrary to findings from prior research, c) there is little relationship between the presage variables and the psychological variables studied, d) positive outcome expectations and, to a lesser degree, students self-efficacy beliefs, make the strongest contribution to students intentions to remain enrolled in college and to persist in obtaining a college degree, and e) importantly, the psychological variables utilized in the study appear to be more powerful predictors of college students intentions to remain enrolled than previously studied demographic and presage variables.

Over the last forty years, there has been ample research examining general leadership development and the characteristics of followers and leaders (Day, 2001). However, although recognized as important for leader development and leadership effectiveness, there is still much to understand about leader identity (Epitropaki et al., 2017). The focus on identity literature has been disproportionately focused on follower identity rather than leader identity (Epitropaki et al., 2017; Johnson et al., 2012). This shortage is unfortunate due to leader identity’s capabilities in developing leaders and effective leader behaviors (Miscenko et al., 2017; Johnson et al., 2012). Due to this deficiency, I focus my dissertation on leader identity and attempt to better grasp the development of one’s leader identity. In line with recent conceptual literature, I examine the four dimensions of leader identity and patterns of development to better understand the development of leader identity. Through the two papers in this dissertation, I aim to enhance our current understanding of leader identity. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection