Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Dissertation - NSU Access Only

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice

Advisor

David B. Ross

Committee Member

Katrina Pann

Committee Member

Kimberly Durham

Keywords

Narcissism, Power, Toxic Culture, Mixed Methods, Toxic Leadership, Organizational Climate

Abstract

The applied dissertation was designed to explore how narcissistic characteristics of leaders, toxic leadership characteristics, and power are related to the climate of an organization. This mixed methods study utilized an embedded-correlational approach, where two self-administered surveys were used to collect data, of which one was The Survey on Toxic Leadership and the other the Eight Climate Questions: Importance and Satisfaction. Due to the sensitive nature of the study, the researcher did not have a study site, therefore the surveys were administered online, where participants had access to a web link to complete the survey. In order to attain participants the researcher relied on snowball sampling. The exclusion criteria included individuals who were under the age of 18 and those who did not have at least an associate’s degree. A total of 87 participants took part in the study.

Once the data was attained, the quantitative data was analyzed by conducting nonparametric statistics, and more specifically by utilizing the Spearman rho test. The researcher then carefully analyzed the survey’s qualitative portion to create themes based on the participants’ answers. The qualitative data was then analyzed, where the researcher discovered themes based on the participants answers. The results of the quantitative analysis revealed that of the nine findings, two were weak and four were very weak, with the remaining ranging from moderate to strong, in which some were statistically significant and others were not. A total of 35 themes were discovered from the qualitative analysis, and the top themes that were pertinent to the study were (a) unrealistic demands and expectations of the leader, (b) lack of or no motivation of the employees, (c) employees being kept in the dark, (d) the leader causes stress, (e) the leader lacks comprehension of individual and team dynamics, (f) the leader is ineffective at creating a conducive environment for communication and collaboration, and (g) the leader’s gender. When analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data, it was revealed that qualitative data supported the quantitative data, as participants illustrated both positive and negative feelings about their leader and their organizations climate.

The results of this study illustrated that when pertaining to participants’ satisfaction and importance of the organizational climate throughout the results, that satisfaction is higher correlated than importance. It was further revealed that in reference to narcissistic characteristics, toxic characteristics, and elements of power, perceived quality was significant, however the correlations varied for both narcissistic and toxic characteristics as well as elements of power. Of the nine quantitative findings, narcissistic and toxic leadership as well as elements of power indicated a weak correlation with importance. However, satisfaction indicated a stronger correlation with narcissistic and toxic leadership in addition to elements of power. To conclude, recommendations for future viii research on the topic of narcissism and leadership are provided.

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