Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2023, Organizational Behavior

“What is the process by which individuals transcend their lifeworld to create transformative change in their field?” This dissertation proposes a dynamic model outlining the phenomenological pathways that enabled nineteen individuals to transcend their lifeworld, step away from the status quo, and socially construct a new paradigm within their field. To isolate the phenomenon, I explore in detail the distinctions between excellence – doing what everyone else does, but doing it better, and extraordinary (my phenomenon of interest) – deviating from the norm and creating new paradigms which change the way we view the world or what we think is possible. In doing so, I contribute a new level of conceptual precision about excellence and the extraordinary to bring to Positive Organizational Scholarship, and research on positive deviance. I applied a descriptive phenomenological lens to a grounded theory approach, with an additional iterative layer of thematic narrative analysis. My participants' stories revealed a dynamic model, beginning with a generative ground of outsider independence, alienation and/or a prospective mindset, usually passing through some kind of dissonance, whether intellectual, emotional or existential, which triggered them to enter discovery mode – openness to discovery, releasing assumptions, transformational learning, and seeing new possibilities, at which point they were compelled to find a new way. They got on with it, pathfinding, slogging it out, resisting naysayers, and attracted others, sharing the exploration, and co-creating to establish a new paradigm in their field. This model contributes to our understanding of the outer edge of radical innovation: paradigm creation. The turn into the 21st century has seen an upsurge of scholarship of the positive and the good. The field of organizational scholarship is ripe for the next surge – In Search of Extraordinary. This dissertation aims to operationalize what a new Science of the Extraordin (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: David Cooperrider (Committee Chair); Melvin Smith (Committee Member); John Paul Stephens (Committee Member); Youngjin Yoo (Committee Member) Subjects: Organizational Behavior

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2016, Leadership and Change

Climate change is one of the most significant dynamics of our time. The predominant contributor to climate change is combustion of fossil fuels by humans. This study deepened understanding of organizational leaders' role in enacting one approach to addressing climate change: institutional fossil fuel divestment. The study used a qualitative research design to explore U.S.-based foundation leaders' readiness to pursue fossil fuel divestment by their institutions. The study examined leaders' motivations and actions in pursuing divestment, while simultaneously exercising their fiduciary duty to steward institutional assets. Research questions focused on the divestment behavior change process and the outcomes of divestment on leaders and their organizations. Data collection and analysis were derived from two datasets: 34 foundation divestment commitment statements and semi-structured interviews with 18 foundation leaders. The study highlighted leaders' intentional actions, outside the norms of the philanthropic sector and corporate governance, to enact their values and beliefs through divestment, as a form of socially responsible investing. Leaders' pursuit of divestment constituted mission-aligned positive deviance. Findings suggested that leaders of mission-driven institutions can benefit by taking more direct responsibility for institutional investing in ways that are consistent with institutional mission. Doing so, they may unleash new energy that enhances the well-being of the organization and its members and sparks innovation in the financial services sector. They may also experience higher levels of satisfaction, pride, happiness, and engagement with their organizational roles. This study extends scholarship on divestment, foundations as change agents, leadership and positive deviance, psychology of climate change, pro-environmental behavior (PEB), socially responsible investing, and the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change (TTM). Implications fo (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Laura Morgan Roberts Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Carol Baron Ph.D. (Committee Member); Niki Harre Ph.D. (Committee Member); James Prochaska Ph.D. (Other) Subjects: Alternative Energy; Behavioral Psychology; Behavioral Sciences; Climate Change; Environmental Studies; Ethics; Petroleum Production; Social Research

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Engineering Education

Formal incorporation of engineering education into K-12 education has been a new focus in the last decade to answer national calls for increased diversity and talent within the discipline. Although national level efforts to integrate engineering standards into K-12 curricula are an important step toward early exposure to engineering and an increase in student interest, teachers are becoming engineering teachers without formal engineering education training, especially at the elementary level. This manuscript-style dissertation seeks to provide insights into engineering teacher professional identity development through the study of positive deviant, or superstar, K-5 engineering teachers' engineering teaching journey. Participants for this dissertation were recruited through a national survey that asked K-5 engineering teachers to self-identify as superstars. From that survey, nine participants completed narrative-style, one-on-one interviews. One participant's data was used to perform a qualitative analysis methods comparison of the Listening Guide and Critical Incident Technique (CIT). This comparison showcased what each analysis method afforded with respect to teacher identity development, specifically that both methods can be used to answer research questions regarding identity development. These results informed the research design of the larger study of engineering teacher professional identity development in superstars. The larger study of engineering teacher professional identity leveraged the experiences of superstar K-5 engineering educators and the Listening Guide analysis method. Data analysis indicated that each superstar had unique experiences and dispositions that were integral to their individual engineering teacher professional identity development. While superstars had unique narratives around their engineering teaching journey, themes across the narratives were also found related to the effect of personal experiences, professional contexts, and (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Rachel Kajfez (Advisor); Theodore Chao (Committee Member); Emily Dringenberg (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Engineering

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2022, Higher Education (Education)

Rural students, especially rural Appalachian students, remain underrepresented in higher education (ARC, n.d.). Enrollment declines continue to exist at a majority of institution types across the country as traditional sources of students continue to dry up. Universities and colleges are rediscovering rural areas in order to try to bridge gaps in enrollment goals (Gettinger, 2019). Increasing the number of college graduates from rural Appalachia can be important to the prosperity of the region and the nation. Research suggests that individuals from rural areas are twice more likely to feel marginalized and powerless than those in suburbs and cities, and lower levels of education in the area correlates to higher levels of alienation (Hunter & Bowman, 2016). As more students from rural Appalachia gain access to higher education, it will be important for universities and colleges to understand what Appalachian assets and institutional factors Appalachian students rely on to successfully navigate college so they can create structures and programs to fully support Appalachian student success. This study utilized Shaun Harper's (2012) anti-deficit achievement framework to study Appalachian student success. This framework is appropriate since like other marginalized groups, Appalachians continue to fall below general society on a number of key performance indicators and are “othered” by mainstream media. The findings of this study show that participants from rural Appalachia relied on the Appalachian assets of familyism, self-reliance, community, independence, hard work, and neighborliness to successfully access and graduate from college. All participants were able to identify interpersonal relationships they formed on campus that were important to their ability to successfully navigate the culture of higher education. A number of institution types in higher education have disinvested in human capital as they have faced budget challenges associated with enrollment (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Laura Harrison (Advisor); Andy Szolosi (Committee Member); Dave Nguyen (Committee Member); Pete Mather (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Theory; Higher Education; Higher Education Administration

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2021, Leadership and Change

Capacity building for globally competent educators is a 21st Century imperative to address contemporary complex and constantly changing challenges. This action research project is grounded in positive psychology, positive organizational scholarship, relational cultural theory, and relational leadership practices. It sought to identify adaptive challenges educators face as they try to integrate globally competent teaching practices into their curricula, demonstrate learning and growth experienced by the educators in this project, and provide guidance and solutions to the challenges globally competent educators face. Six educators participated in this three-phase project, which included focus groups, reflective journal entries, and an exit interview. Data were collected, grouped into emergent themes, and organized into cohesive categories. The data from this project supported the creation of two foundational models for educating for global competence. The first is pedagogical and the other, coaching. Both models are in developing stages and are grounded in key theoretical frameworks and the data shared by the participants. Globally competent and globally responsive pedagogy tasks educators with examining their practice through a global and cultural prism to gain clarity of perspective, build social capital, improve relationships, and meet ever-changing local and global challenges. The approaches honor and respect diversity so as to dismantle systems of oppression and fight policies and social norms rooted in cognitive biases. The model integrates theory and key findings from this study to support educators to integrate and implement global competence. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA, https://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/etd.

Committee: Lize Booysen DBL (Committee Chair); Jon Wergin PhD (Committee Member); Emily Schell EdD (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; Bilingual Education; Black Studies; Community College Education; Continuing Education; Curricula; Curriculum Development; Education; Education Philosophy; Education Policy; Educational Leadership; Educational Psychology; Educational Sociology; English As A Second Language; Environmental Education; Ethnic Studies; Families and Family Life; Foreign Language; Gender Studies; Higher Education; Hispanic American Studies; Instructional Design; International Relations; Language; Language Arts; Middle Eastern History; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Modern Language; Multicultural Education; Multilingual Education; Native American Studies; Pedagogy; Psychology; Social Psychology; Social Structure; Social Studies Education; Sustainability; Teacher Education; Teaching

Doctor of Management, Case Western Reserve University, 2010, Weatherhead School of Management

When tough issues, defined as problems that remain uncomfortably unspoken, are championed at the board or in the executive suite, the question is: who does it, why and with what results? Three separate studies were carried out to investigate the championing phenomenon. First, an initial conceptual framework was built using grounded theory from five senior female director interviews and a review of the literature. I learned that certain conditions prompted the championing and determined the positive outcomes for the team and the champion. These initial findings supported the design of the next qualitative study involving 22 directors - 11 men and 11 women. The study identified similarities and differences among men and women relating to the preconditions to champion and the engagement tactics employed by each group. Consistent with the literature, women championed twice the tough issues as the men, but both men and women championed very tough issues, mostly relating to problems with the CEO. The benefits to the board and the champion did outweigh the difficulties of the championing process. The third study included a quantitative study involving over 400 senior executives and it investigated tough issues from the opposite side of the board table – the senior management team. The study identified the effects of six key antecedents increasing the propensity to tackle the tough issue and four mediating tactics that were used to engage the team on the issue. The results confirm some qualitative findings – women were the more likely champion and used different championing tactics. Payoffs from the championing process were consistent with previous findings.

Committee: Diana Bilimoria, Ph.D. (Advisor); Paul Salipante, Ph.D. (Advisor) Subjects: Management; Womens Studies

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2014, Leadership and Change

This dissertation uses Positive Deviance (PD) to understand child marriage by abduction in a community in the Sidama Zone of Ethiopia. Marriage by abduction occurs among the poorest 10% of the Sidama population and entails the kidnapping of girls between the ages of 10 and 14 for forced genital circumcision, rape and marriage. PD is a problem solving approach that mobilizes a community to uncover existing yet unrecognized solutions to solve the specific problem. This study, which entailed an examination of the evolution of marriage norms among the Sidama as well as an analysis of the underpinnings of marriage by abduction, discovered that some community members practice behaviors and strategies that can prevent child marriage by abduction. The results support PD application to this specific form of child marriage as well as the practice as a whole, offering an alternative to traditional behavior change methodology. The electronic version of this Dissertation is at OhioLink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu/etd

Committee: Alan Guskin PhD (Committee Chair); Jon Wergin PhD (Committee Member); Lize Booysen DBL (Committee Member); Monique Sternin MA (Committee Member); Sandra Cheldelin PhD (Other) Subjects: African Studies; Behavioral Psychology; Developmental Psychology; Families and Family Life; Gender Studies; Social Psychology

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2012, Leadership and Change

The purpose of this study was to explore how restorative practices could help increase the social fabric within communities in order to help solve complex community problems. Although literature on restorative practices is bountiful for the purposes of restorative justice and restorative practices in schools, there is little literature on how to use restorative practices to create more restorative communities or neighborhoods. For the purpose of this study I looked at the issue of violence and safety within a particular community and implemented a framework of restorative practices that focused on asset based community development and building healthier relationships. I utilized action research to conduct intentional gatherings of communicative space that were supported by a study circle framework and collected data in ways that included interviews, pre-post surveys, and mapping documents, as well as documentation of all observed outcomes in relation to the study circles. The findings proposed that when communities are given the opportunity to intentionally gather to communicate in a restorative context, citizens learn about new opportunities or assets, and relationships spill over from study circles processes causing actions to occur directly and also on a "second degree level." These new actions can assist communities in rationing together better ways of solving complex community problems. The electronic version of the Dissertation is accessible in the open-access Ohiolink ETD Center http://etd.ohiolink.edu.

Committee: Lize Booysen DBL (Committee Chair); Jon Wergin PhD (Committee Member); Patricia Jameson PhD (Committee Member); Al Condeluci PhD (Other) Subjects: Business Community; Communication; Criminology; Economics; Public Health Education; Social Psychology; Social Research; Urban Planning