Doctorate of Business Administration (D.B.A.)
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Item A Qualitative Study on The Leadership Traits Most Common Among Pastors of Growing Churches in Central Ky(ProQuest, 2020-11-18) Sergent, Brandon ChoeThis study used a qualitative research methodology to explore what leadership characteristics are present among pastors of numerically growing churches. The research question asked: What leadership traits are most common among pastors of growing churches in Central Ky? The research setting was focused on the geographic area of Central, Ky. The research analyzed 15 pastors that were leading growing churches. The research utilized the qualitative method design. The data was collected using semi-structured interviews. Thematic coding was utilized to categorize the themes of the findings. The leadership of the pastors was examined and through this exploration it revealed the framework of the four elements of transformational leadership; individualized consideration, idealized influence, inspirational motivation, and intellectual stimulation. The researcher discovered that all four elements of transformational leadership were practiced by the pastors. However, the surprise unintended finding was that all the pastors shared an additional leadership characteristic in common; determination, also referred to as perseverance. This study was limited in scope to the geographic region of Central, Ky and needs further research in expanded locations. Furthermore, a quantitative study is needed to determine statistical significance. Specifically, a regression model would denote the impact of each independent variable of leadership characteristics on church growth. By discovering what leadership traits were present among pastors of numerically growing churches the positive implications come with utilizing the knowledge to enable more churches to experience numerical growth. This would be accomplished by developing leadership training that focuses on the key leadership characteristics found among pastors of numerically growing churches.Item Quantitative Analysis of Factors Affecting International Student Success Among Graduate Students From India(ProQuest, 2020-11-17) Cecil, Rebecca J.This study uses Astin’s I-E-O Model to analyze the relationship between the admissions criteria and student success among graduate level international students from India studying Information Technology at a small, private U.S. university. This is a unique opportunity to study a homogeneous student population, as most international student populations are geographically and culturally diverse. Student success is measured by GPA and graduation rate. Criteria analyzed are Indian Bachelor’s degree merit rank, three-year vs. four-year Bachelor’s degree, previous U.S. Master’s degree GPA, and previous U.S. university accreditation. In this non-experimental quantitative analysis, secondary data from the university admissions and transcript databases were analyzed via ANOVA and other statistical tools. Results showed that students with a three-year Bachelor’s degree performed as well as those with a four-year Bachelor’s degree. This finding has important implications for accepting international students into Master’s programs. Results also showed that while top students seem to perform well in any environment, there is some correlation between previous and current academic performance among the lower performers. This finding provides opportunity for proactive intervention. In addition, results showed that students with prior education at regionally accredited institutions outperformed students with prior education at nationally accredited institutions. This finding supports the importance and rigor of regional accreditation. Other results showed that for students who meet the minimum admissions criteria, there is little ability to use these metrics to determine the likelihood of future success, which points to more subjective factors. These factors are discussed and suggestions for further research are presented.