Due to an impending STEM shortage facing the United States, it is critically important that students of color are recruited to scientific disciplines. This STEM shortage affects agricultural fields, as many agricultural disciplines are scientifically based. There is currently a lack of students of color within agricultural disciplines when compared to the increasingly diverse make-up of the United States. This qualitative study utilizes the path-goal theory of leadership (House, 1971) and reasoned action theory (Fishbein and Azjen, 2010) to examine the perceptions of administrators regarding the barriers that students of color face within colleges of agriculture at 1862 land-grant institutions. Another important purpose of this study is to identify strategies that department heads, deans, and administrators within colleges of agriculture can use to increase the recruitment and retention of students of color. The study utilized phenomenology, as this method focuses on participants' subjective experiences and interpretations of the world. Eighteen participants at 17 institutions were interviewed about their perceptions of diversity, the barriers that students of color face within colleges of agriculture, and strategies for success. The findings of this study reveal that (1) diversity is a multifaceted and evolving concept that varies from individual-to-individual, (2) students of color face barriers to access, (3) successful recruitment and retention strategies for students of color require investments from administrators, and (4) data validates program success. / Ph. D. / The United States is facing an impending shortage in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. There will not be enough professionals to fill various roles that impact society in a variety of important and meaningful ways. This STEM shortage affects agricultural fields, as many agricultural disciplines are scientifically based. Students of color are currently underrepresented in agricultural disciplines when examining the increasingly diverse make-up of the United States. It is essential that students of color are utilized to fill these vacancies, not only for the sake of representation and inclusion, but to ensure that the United States can remain competitive in a global market and address the various scientific challenges that the country will have to face. This study examines the perceptions of college administrators relating to recruitment and retention barriers that students of color face within colleges of agriculture. This study also examines the strategies that are used to assist students in circumventing these barriers. Eighteen participants at 17 institutions were interviewed about their perceptions of diversity, the barriers that students of color face within colleges of agriculture, and strategies for success. The findings of this study reveal that (1) diversity is a multifaceted and evolving concept that varies from individual-to-individual, (2) students of color face barriers to access, (3) successful recruitment and retention strategies for students of color require investments from administrators, and (4) data validates program success.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:26:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Arnaldo Turuo Ono.pdf: 1092381 bytes, checksum: 63271619bb6e0edcf7ecaae67f95f47b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-03-14 / House s (1971) Path-Goal Theory of Leadership, in spite of the fact that has being largely diffused mainly in USA; in Brazil, however, there is no organizational leadership researches concerning this theory. From that, a scientific investigation with the objective of testing subjacent hypotheses of House s theory was developed. Firstly, a quantitative research was done, with 226 workers, from a Brazilian auto parts company, the majority acting directly at the assembly line. A self-answered questionnaire was applied, in order to apprehend all variables of House s model. Correlation and hierarchical regression analysis were utilized to treat the data. The results demonstrated that none of the relations showed moderation effects and, only strait relations were observed, for instance, the performance variable and directive leader behavior and achievement oriented leader behavior. Subsequently, in order to deeply understand the gotten results, a qualitative research was developed. The data were obtained through deep interviews with 7 individuals of the same company at different hierarchical levels. Those data were analyzed under the light of thematic categorical content analysis technique. A content analysis was utilized to assess the qualitative data analysis. Cultural traits were identified as for instance, paternalism, spectator posture. From the analysis result of the two researches, could conclude that the Brazilian cultural traits would influence the leadership processes, in a way that leaders wouldn t show contingencial characteristics, differently of House s (1971) affirmation. Inferring, therefore, new researches must be done concerning the Brazilian cultural traits in order to validate Houses s theory in the Brazilian organizations context. / A teoria do caminho-meta de House (1971), embora tenha sido bastante difundida principalmente nos EUA, no Brasil, não se encontrou pesquisas em liderança organizacional considerando a teoria. Dessa forma, desenvolveu-se uma investigação científica com a finalidade de testar as hipóteses subjacentes à teoria de House. Inicialmente, foi realizada uma pesquisa quantitativa, com uma amostra de 226 respondentes trabalhadores de uma empresa brasileira do setor de autopeças, a maioria atuando diretamente na linha de produção. Foi aplicado um questionário autopreenchível, para apreender todas as variáveis do modelo de House. Análises de correlação e regressão hierárquica foram utilizadas para tratar os dados. Os resultados obtidos demonstraram que nenhuma relação apresentou efeitos de moderação e, somente, relações diretas foram identificadas, como por exemplo, a variável desempenho e o comportamento diretivo do líder e o comportamento orientado para o resultado do líder. Posteriormente, visando compreender mais profundamente os resultados obtidos, desenvolveu-se uma pesquisa qualitativa. Os dados foram obtidos por meio de entrevistas em profundidade com 7 sujeitos pertencentes à mesma empresa em diferentes posições hierárquicas. Esses dados foram analisados à luz da técnica de análise de conteúdo do tipo categórica temática. Para a análise dos dados qualitativos utilizou-se a técnica de análise de conteúdo. Foram identificados traços culturais, como por exemplo, o paternalismo e a postura de espectador. A partir da análise dos resultados das duas pesquisas, pode-se concluir que os traços culturais brasileiros poderiam influenciar os processos de liderança, fazendo com que os líderes não apresentem características contingenciais, diferentemente do que afirma House (1971), infere-se, portanto, que novas pesquisas devam ser realizadas considerando os traços culturais brasileiros visando validar a teoria de House para o contexto das organizações brasileiras.