dc.contributor.author	Willis, Danielle L.
dc.coverage.spatial	United States	en_US
dc.date.accessioned	2022-11-28T21:25:32Z
dc.date.available	2022-11-28T21:25:32Z
dc.date.issued	2022-12
dc.identifier.other	2EB0B274-4475-D995-4148-AFAE1739AC68	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10428/6279
dc.description.abstract	The perception of toxic leadership or a toxic work environment in a military organization can negatively impact the unit's health and the organization’s ability to carry out military operations. While much of the literature on toxic leadership explores its impact on employees and organizations, little attention has been paid to the decision making processes followers use to evaluate toxic behaviors. This study hypothesized that introducing a force field analysis to explain the relationship between leadership, followership, and the environment could help identify and ameliorate the perception of toxic or destructive leadership in U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force organizations. This project used exploratory, sequential mixed-methods with qualitative and quantitative phases to test an intervention tool designed to identify the factors leading to the perception of toxic leadership. The quantitative phase was a single-factor design, group comparison using a pretest-posttest of current and former Department of the Air Force personnel who self-identified as having experienced toxic leadership. The data were interpreted using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The study also explored whether demographic differences exist in those perceived as toxic leaders. The study found that using a force field analysis of an organizational system allowed participants to identify the factors that impact toxic leadership and changed their perception of negative influences on followership and the environment. Further, the study found that racial-ethnic and female leaders were disproportionately perceived as toxic compared to their representation in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force. Keywords: toxic leadership, toxic triangle, toxic environment, followership, human reasoning, perception, military	en_US
dc.description.tableofcontents	I. Introduction 1 -- Problem Statement 4 -- Definitions 5 -- Theoretical Foundation 6 -- Study Description 6 -- Research Questions and Hypotheses 9 -- Assumptions, Limitations, and Delimitations 11 -- II. Literature Review 13 -- Theories of Human Reasoning 13 -- Leadership 17 -- Negative Leadership 17 -- Toxic Leadership 20 -- Toxic Leadership Definition for this Study 57 -- The Force Field Analysis Model 58 -- Summary of Literature Review 60 -- III. Methodology 61 -- Participants 61 -- Instrumentation 71 -- Procedures 76 -- Data Analysis Methodologies 82 -- Assumptions 84 -- Validity 85 -- Ethical Considerations 86 -- Summary 87 -- IV. RESULTS 88 -- Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and Toxic Leadership Perceptions 90 -- Relationship Between Previous Supervisors and Perceived Toxic Leaders 97 -- Effectiveness of the Intervention in Changing Toxic Leadership Perceptions 100 Effectiveness of the Intervention on Toxic Leadership Perceptions 103 -- Summary 107 -- V. DISCUSSION 109 -- Statement of the Problem 109 -- Purpose of the Study 110 -- Review of the Methodology 111 -- Discussion of the Findings 113 -- Limitations of the Study 127 -- Implications for Current Theory 130 -- Implications for Practitioners and Applied Settings 132 -- Recommendations for Future Research 135 -- Conclusion 136 -- References 138	en_US
dc.format.extent	1 electronic document and derivatives, 235 pages. 3988405 bytes.	en_US
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf	en_US
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US
dc.rights	This dissertation is protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States (Public Law 94-553, revised in 1976). Consistent with fair use as defined in the Copyright Laws, brief quotations from this material are allowed with proper acknowledgement. Use of the materials for financial gain with the author's expressed written permissions is not allowed.	en_US
dc.subject	Armed Forces	en_US
dc.subject	Command of troops	en_US
dc.subject	Dissertations, Academic--United States	en_US
dc.subject	Leadership--Evaluation	en_US
dc.subject	Leadership	en_US
dc.subject	Military studies	en_US
dc.subject	Organizational behavior	en_US
dc.subject	Public administration	en_US
dc.subject	United States. Air Force	en_US
dc.subject	Work environment	en_US
dc.title	Development and Evaluation of a Model to Identify Perceptions of Toxic Leadership	en_US
dc.type	Dissertation	en_US
dc.contributor.department	Department of Political Science	en_US
dc.description.advisor	Merwin, Gerald A.
dc.description.committee	Krispin, Jonathan V.
dc.description.committee	Weeks, Samantha A.
dc.description.degree	D.P.A.	en_US
dc.description.major	Public Administration	en_US