Date of Conferral

2017

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Public Policy and Administration

Advisor

Gloria Billingsley

Abstract

Correctional leadership, especially by women, has been under examined by researchers and scholars. Some researchers have suggested that women may be more likely to exhibit transformational leadership styles, which may be effective for addressing the uniquely stressful corrections work environment and improving working conditions, yet women in corrections have remained relatively excluded from correctional leadership. Increasing women's participation in correctional leadership may involve transformational leadership and training in leadership skills, as well as gender bias relating to the correctional profession. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationship between transformational leadership, leadership training, and traditional gender biases and the position held by women. Interpreted through gender bias and gender-leadership theory, the central research questions involved the relationships among transformational leadership, leadership training, and traditional gender biases and the position held by women in corrections. Utilizing an online survey, a random sample was collected of 71 female members of the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice and the Federal Prisons Retiree Association. A multinomial logistic regression was used to determine that transformational leadership (p = .001) was a significant predictor of job positions held by women in corrections, but leadership training (p = .065) and gender biases (p = .087) were not significant predictors. This study may lead to positive social change by providing women in corrections an avenue for increasing their job positions in corrections through cultivation of transformational leadership style.

Download

Included in

Public Policy Commons

Share

 
COinS