This study identified emergent themes from the interview data of at-risk-for-completion doctoral candidates ( N = 13; 59%), from a diverse demographic, who participated in a successful dissertation completion intervention program. The findings revealed four major themes including extrinsic factors, socioemotional, formal structures of the program, and personal development. The findings highlight the need for conscious processes used by vital leaders to develop program design in four key areas of leadership within a framework of open vital systems. Vital leadership acts as proxy agents to influence development of formal structures in the university leading to equity in educational opportunity for all students. Conclusions and parsimonious explicit implications are provided for doctoral program redesign focused on improving graduate student retention and completion rates for diverse student populations.
This quantitative pilot-study empirically tested the factor structure and reliability of the newly developed Graphical Inventory of Ethical Leadership (GIEL) scale, a Likert-style scale for quantifying key concepts related to ethical leadership. Correlations and principal components analyses were performed using pre-existing data as self-reports from a sample including 103 graduate students, within a Scholarship for Teaching and Learning project design, in an administrator preparation program at a private university located in a large southwestern state of the U.S. Face and content validity were demonstrated and empirical analyses revealed a three-factor structure for a unidimensional construct of ethical leadership. Internal reliability was above the pre-determined indices of Cronbach's alpha > .60 considered acceptable for scales in a pilot study. Potential uses of the GIEL include; as a baseline for setting and monitoring professional development goals, as evidence for recommending certification in administrator preparation programs, and as part of a 360-degree evaluation process.
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