Leadership represents a diverse and dynamic area of study, occupying a
vast area in sociological literature. However, the nonprofit sector is somewhat
neglected in literature that examines leadership as a performance. Heightened
demand for accountability, funding shortages and other challenges in the
nonprofit sector have spurred recent trends such as coalition-building and
business-like practices. Nonprofit leaders must satisfy multiple internal and
external stakeholders with opposing values and expectations. This creates a rich
and yet incomplete area in which to study impression management.
This thesis employs an interpretivist perspective, specifically utilizing
symbolic interactionism to understand how the participants create and maintain
impressions. By employing Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical metaphors, this
thesis addresses how the participants use symbolic representations of leadership
in order to create desired impressions. It also explores the strategies used by the
participants in order to present a front of competent leadership during the
interviews. Lastly, the research asks the participants to reflect on their
impression management activities. To address these questions, 19 leaders were
interviewed at 11 different nonprofits in Canada and in Egypt for approximately
one hour each, using face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Simple
observation was also applied. A combination of purposive, snowball and
convenience sampling was used to select the organizations.
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The research offers a number of significant findings. First, the manner
and appearances of the leaders and the design of their office space provides
avenues in which to convey leadership, financial and organizational messages,
as well as information about the leaders’ roles and statuses. For example, visual
cues may be used to express their participative approach to leadership, convey
organizational frugality or success and create a corporate culture.
Second, the participants commonly self-identified as benevolent and
humble “servant leaders” by attempting to appear as mentors. They downplayed
their authority and claimed to integrate staff feedback into the organization.
They also claimed to employ a benevolent form of discipline that focuses on
learning. When discussing mistakes, the participants claimed to respond in an
ideal way, by apologizing and learning from their errors. However, they
claimed to, at times, act authoritatively and convey “professionalism.” The
leaders displayed their authority during the course of the interview and laid
claim to qualifications that made them especially suited for the job. These kinds
of inconsistencies suggest that impression management is not static or flawless,
but rather a series of performances fraught with contradiction and tension.
Third, about half of the participants admitted to consciously changing their
behaviour, language and appearances in situations in order to build trust with
stakeholders. This involves at times appearing “professional” while at other
times self-humbling in order to build a shared-identity with others. The
participants struggle to appear sincere, but recognize that their impressions are
sometimes met with suspicion.
There are limitations to the sampling technique and research design. A
larger sample that interviewed a group of leaders from one region would be
preferable to this small, cross-national one. In this thesis it is impossible to
know whether the participants’ claims are warranted. Longitudinal participant
observation would enable the researcher to see inconsistencies and also to
understand how others interpret the leaders’ impression management attempts.
However, the research has many benefits; in addition to contributing to the
literature and providing examples of Goffman’s dramaturgical metaphors in the
context of nonprofit leadership, this thesis may assist leaders in their goals.
This thesis could lead to increased self-reflexivity or sharing of impression
management techniques and could potentially assist nonprofit leaders with their
tenuous missions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:WATERLOO/oai:uwspace.uwaterloo.ca:10012/3459 |
| Date | 07 November 2007 |
| Creators | DePutter, Megan |
| Source Sets | University of Waterloo Electronic Theses Repository |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
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