Campus Location
Dallas Campus (Online)
Date of Award
11-2025
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0009-0000-2610-3487
Document Type
Dissertation
Department
Organizational Leadership
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Kristin Koetting O'Byrne
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Heather Rasmussen
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Bill Hunt
Abstract
Positive leadership, an approach to leading individuals to the point of flourishing, has been studied in corporate contexts. While the student-to-instructor relationships only distantly compare to the employee-to-supervisor dynamics, the relationships and power differential have similarities, making the pillars of positive leadership relevant in the context of higher education. Given the critical nature of student success to stakeholders in higher education and the students themselves, discovering instructor strategies that enhance student success can demonstrate an upward spiral of positivity that extends from the student, to the instructor, to the college, and ultimately to the community. Framed by leader-member exchange (LMX) theory and Kim Cameron’s positive leadership approach, this study was situated at the intersection of leadership, the student–instructor relationship, and the outcomes of instructors’ use of positive strategies. Through qualitative, descriptive research, this study sought to understand how students experience their instructors’ strategies in relation to the four pillars of positive leadership, positive communication, positive climate, positive meaning, and positive relationships, and how students perceive these strategies as impacting their success. A sample of 2,847 students met the inclusion criteria at a medium-sized community college in Central Texas. Four focus groups were conducted with a sample of 26 participants in total, each group comprising between four and eight students. Student participants provided rich descriptions of their community college instructors’ use of positive leadership strategies. They characterized their instructors as leaders who went beyond delivering course content to provide encouragement, guidance, and genuine care, transforming the student experience through expressions of gratitude and encouragement. Participants associated their experience with their instructors’ positive leadership practices with their perceptions of increased motivation, confidence, persistence, and a stronger sense of belonging. The study extends the application of LMX and Kim Cameron’s positive leadership to the U.S. community college context, addressing a gap in the research. Findings emphasize the pivotal role of instructors in fostering classroom environments where students not only learn but also thrive. The results carry significant implications for faculty development, institutional practice, and future research aimed at deepening the understanding of positive leadership in higher education.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Morrison, Mandy, "Leading Beyond the Lecture: A Case Study Exploring How Community College Students Experience Their Instructors’ Positive Leadership Strategies" (2025). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 965.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/965