RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AUTHENTIC HAPPINESS AND SERVANT LEADERSHIP AMONG COLLEGE PROFESSORS IN A MIDWESTERN STATE by Michelle Lynn Clemons Liberty University A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Education Liberty University 2018 2  RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AUTHENTIC HAPPINESS AND SERVANT LEADERSHIP AMONG COLLEGE PROFESSORS IN A MIDWESTERN STATE by Michelle Lynn Clemons A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Education Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA 2018 APPROVED BY: Jeffrey S. Savage, Ed.D., Committee Chair Kevin Struble, Ed.D., Committee Member Carolyn McCutcheon, Ed.D., Committee Member  3  ABSTRACT The purpose of this correlational research study was to investigate the relationship between authentic happiness and servant leadership among college professors. The study sought to close a gap in the research by examining the connection between authentic happiness as a positive psychological construct and servant leadership orientation by teachers in the classroom. Participants in the study included 71 faculty in a Midwestern state. Participants completed the Authentic Happiness Inventory, the Servant Leadership Profile-Revised, and demographic information on SurveyMonkey®. The results were analyzed using SPSS and a Spearman’s rho was calculated to determine the relationship between servant leadership and authentic happiness levels. A weak to moderate statistically significant positive relationship was found between servant leadership and authentic happiness resulting in rejecting the null hypothesis. Additional information about the study including discussion, implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research is included. Keywords: servant leadership, servant teacher, authentic happiness, andragogy, college  4  Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to my best friend and Crown Hill Cemetery partner-in-death, Treg. Thank you for your support and guidance both personally and professionally over the years and for pushing me to always be the best possible version of myself. In the wise words of New Kids on the Block, “When the world looks back a hundred years from now, they'll hear the echo of our cheers. Because we spend our lives making memories, they will know that we were here.”  5  Acknowledgments Without the support of many humans, two dogs, and one God, I would not have had the motivation and energy to complete this journey: To my committee for their support and insight. I would like to thank my committee chair, Dr. Jeffrey Savage, for his ongoing encouragement and guidance. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Kevin Struble and Dr. Carolyn McCutcheon, for their insight into my drafts and Dr. Rebecca Lunde for serving as my Research Consultant. To the staff at Indiana Campus Compact for working with me on the data gathering process. Without the ongoing support of J.R. and Liza, collecting research on this topic would have been more challenging. To my students for reminding me of the value of putting followers first. To my parents, A.C. and Terri, for teaching me the importance of education and supporting my love of reading from a young age. To my best friends, Mary, Steffani, and Treg, for always believing in me and for supporting me through a very long educational journey. To my friends, family, and co-workers for checking in on me during the process and giving me the encouragement I needed to move forward when I was afraid to move forward. To Kirsten for loving and feeding of my dogs when I needed to go out of town for intensives and to my dogs for forgiving me when they did not get as many belly rubs as they desired while I was writing and researching. To my five brothers and my million sisters for the upbeat moments of pure joy you have provided me since 1986. You have taught me the true meaning of authentic happiness and because of you, I am thankful.  6  Table of Contents ABSTRACT .....................................................................................................................................3 Dedication ........................................................................................................................................4 Acknowledgments............................................................................................................................5 List of Tables ...................................................................................................................................9 List of Figures ................................................................................................................................10 List of Abbreviations .....................................................................................................................11 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................12 Overview ................................................................................................................................12 Background ............................................................................................................................12 Problem Statement ..................................................................................................................16 Purpose Statement ...................................................................................................................18 Significance of the Study ........................................................................................................18 Research Question ..................................................................................................................19 Definitions...............................................................................................................................20 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................22 Overview ................................................................................................................................22 Theoretical Framework ..........................................................................................................22 Related Literature ...................................................................................................................32 Summary .................................................................................................................................52 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................54 Overview ................................................................................................................................54 Design .....................................................................................................................................54  7  Research Question ..................................................................................................................55 Participants and Setting ..........................................................................................................55 Instrumentation .......................................................................................................................57 Procedures ..............................................................................................................................61 Data Analysis .........................................................................................................................62 CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS .....................................................................................................64 Overview .................................................................................................................................64 Research Question ..................................................................................................................64 Null Hypothesis ......................................................................................................................64 Descriptive Statistics ...............................................................................................................64 Results .....................................................................................................................................68 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................................76 Overview ................................................................................................................................76 Discussion ..............................................................................................................................76 Implications............................................................................................................................81 Limitations .............................................................................................................................84 Recommendations for Future Research .................................................................................86 REFERENCES ..............................................................................................................................88 APPENDIX A ..............................................................................................................................103 APPENDIX B ..............................................................................................................................109 APPENDIX C ..............................................................................................................................115 APPENDIX D ..............................................................................................................................129 APPENDIX E ..............................................................................................................................130  8  APPENDIX F...............................................................................................................................131  9  List of Tables Table 1. Age of Faculty Participating in the Study. ...................................................................... 65 Table 2. Institutional Support of Servant Leadership ................................................................... 66 Table 3. Descriptive Statistitics of Servant Leadership Profile-Revised and Authentic Happiness Inventory ...................................................................................................................................... 67 Table 4. Correlation Between Servant Leadership and Authentic Happiness in College Faculty 75  10  List of Figures Figure 1. Histogram of servant-leadership. .................................................................................. 69 Figure 2. Histogram of authentic happiness. ................................................................................ 69 Figure 3. Scatterplot of authentic happiness and servant leadership. .......................................... 70 Figure 4. Box and whisker plot authentic happiness. ................................................................... 71 Figure 5. Box and whisker plot servant leadership. ...................................................................... 71 Figure 6. P-P plot for authentic happiness.................................................................................... 72 Figure 7. P-P plot for servant leadership. ..................................................................................... 72 Figure 8. Scatterplot matrix of authentic happiness and servant leadership. ............................... 74 