Exploring the relationship between Authentic Leadership and Project Outcomes and Job Satisfaction with Information Technology Professionals by Mark A. Fischer 1

Background 2

(DeLone & McLean, 1992; Petter et al., 2008) Background Measuring Information Technology (IT) project success has been a long-term problem The approach to measuring IT project success in empirical studies has seen little improvement The existence of valid and reliable measure has yet to be developed and consistently applied (DeLone & McLean, 1992; Petter et al., 2008) 3

Background IT project success benchmarks over the years Year Success Challenged Failed 2000 28% 49% 23% 2004 29% 53% 18% 2006 35% 46% 19% 2009 32% 44% 24% (Lin et al., 2013) 4

(Woolley, Caza, & Levy, 2011; Avolio & Gardner, 2005; George, 2003) Background There is a widespread perception that leadership has reached a state of crisis Leadership has always been more difficult in challenging times Popular leadership authors have called for a new type of genuine and values based leadership - authentic leadership (Woolley, Caza, & Levy, 2011; Avolio & Gardner, 2005; George, 2003) 5

(Kutsch, 2007; Müller & Turner, 2007) Background Most literature suggests that projects succeed or fail by the measure of a project manager’s ability to meet cost, quality and time objectives The literature has largely ignored the impact of the project manager, and his/her leadership style and competence, on project success (Kutsch, 2007; Müller & Turner, 2007) 6

(Avolio & Gardner, 2005; Walumbwa et al., 2007; Tonkin, 2013) Background Theory suggests that authentic leadership should be positively related to job satisfaction Literature suggests there is a positive relationship between authentic leadership and job satisfaction Recent findings suggest authentic leadership has a positive effect on job satisfaction (Avolio & Gardner, 2005; Walumbwa et al., 2007; Tonkin, 2013) 7

Statement of the Problem The construct of authentic leadership is relatively new and a limited number of empirical studies are available Studies on the relationship between authentic leadership and IT project outcomes are rare Job satisfaction has been widely studied, but not in the context of authentic leadership and IT project outcomes 8

Purpose of the Study The purpose of the study is to identify the relationship between technology professionals’ perception of authentic leadership of their leaders, as measured by the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ), technology professionals Job Satisfaction, as measured by the Abridged Job Descriptive Index & Job In General Questionnaire (aJDI/aJIG), and Project Outcomes, as measured by the Project Outcomes Assessment Questionnaire (POAQ) from the perspective of the technology professional 9

Two Areas of Research Research Area 1 IT Project Outcomes Quality Fit for Use Benefit Research Area 2 Job Satisfaction People on Present Job Work on Present Job Pay Opportunities for Promotion Supervision Job in General 10

IT Project Outcomes Research Question (RQ1) Is there a relationship between the perceived authentic leadership style (self awareness, rationalized transparency, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective) of information technology leaders and the quality outcome of technology projects when considering gender, age, management of others, tenure, education, and telecommuting 11

IT Project Outcomes Research Question (RQ2) Is there a relationship between the perceived authentic leadership style (self awareness, rationalized transparency, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective) of information technology leaders and the fit for use outcome of technology projects when considering gender, age, management of others, tenure, education, and telecommuting 12

IT Project Outcomes Research Question (RQ3) Is there a relationship between the perceived authentic leadership style (self awareness, rationalized transparency, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective) of information technology leaders and the benefit outcome of technology projects when considering gender, age, management of others, tenure, education, and telecommuting 13

Job Satisfaction Research Question (RQ4) Is there a relationship between the perceived authentic leadership style (self awareness, rationalized transparency, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective) of information technology leaders and employee job satisfaction with people on present job when considering gender, age, management of others, tenure, education, and telecommuting 14

Job Satisfaction Research Question (RQ5) Is there a relationship between the perceived authentic leadership style (self awareness, rationalized transparency, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective) of information technology leaders and employee job satisfaction with work on present job when considering gender, age, management of others, tenure, education, and telecommuting 15

Job Satisfaction Research Question (RQ6) Is there a relationship between the perceived authentic leadership style (self awareness, rationalized transparency, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective) of information technology leaders and employee job satisfaction with pay on present job when considering gender, age, management of others, tenure, education, and telecommuting 16

Job Satisfaction Research Question (RQ7) Is there a relationship between the perceived authentic leadership style (self awareness, rationalized transparency, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective) of information technology leaders and employee job satisfaction with opportunities for promotion when considering gender, age, management of others, tenure, education, and telecommuting 17

Job Satisfaction Research Question (RQ8) Is there a relationship between the perceived authentic leadership style (self awareness, rationalized transparency, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective) of information technology leaders and employee job satisfaction with supervision when considering gender, age, management of others, tenure, education, and telecommuting 18

Job Satisfaction Research Question (RQ9) Is there a relationship between the perceived authentic leadership style (self awareness, rationalized transparency, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective) of information technology leaders and employee job satisfaction with job in general when considering gender, age, management of others, tenure, education, and telecommuting 19

Independent Variables Demographic variables Gender Age Manage Others Tenure Education High School Associates Degree Bachelors Degree Masters Degree PhD or JD Technical or Other Telecommuter Authentic Leadership Self-awareness Rational transparency Internalized moral perspective Balanced processing (at least one day per week) 20

Dependent Variables IT Project Outcomes Job Satisfaction Quality Fit for Use Benefit Job Satisfaction People on Present Job Work on Present Job Pay Opportunities for Promotion Supervision Job in General 21

Summary of Literature Review Leadership (+) Job performance (+) Project success (+) Job satisfaction Gender Male (transactional) Female (transformational) Age Younger (transactional) Older (transformational) Education Higher (transformational) Job Performance (+ & -) Age (-) Tenure Job Satisfaction (+) Age (+ & -) Gender (+) Tenure (+ & -) Telecommute (+) Pay 22

Methodology 23

Methodology IT professionals assessed the Authentic Leadership style of their leaders Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ) IT professionals assessed their own Job Satisfaction Abridged Job Descriptive Index (aJDI) Abridged Job In General Index (aJIG) IT professionals assessed the outcomes of recent information technology projects Project Outcomes Assessment Questionnaire IT professionals answered Demographic Questionnaire 24

Sample Information technology professionals (N = 153) who work for a very large regional grocery chain were surveyed at an annual all-hands meeting Participants completed a survey instrument that consists of a demographic survey, an authentic leadership questionnaire, a job satisfaction questionnaire, and a project outcomes questionnaire 25

Instrumentation 26

Instruments Demographic Survey Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ) Abridged Job Descriptive Index & Job In General Questionnaire (aJDI/aJIG) Project Outcomes Assessment Questionnaire (POAQ) 27

Demographic Survey Instrument created by the study investigator to collect employee demographics Gender (Male or Female) Age (Years) Manage Others (Yes or No) Tenure (Years) Education (Level) Telecommuter (Yes or No) 28

Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ) Instrument for measuring authentic leadership 16 items measuring Self awareness – 4 items Rational transparency – 5 items Internalized moral perspective – 4 items Balanced processing – 3 items Internal consistency self-awareness .73 relational transparency .77 internalized moral perspective .73 balanced processing .70 Scale 0 = Not at all 1 = Once in a while 2 = Sometimes 3 = Fairly often 4 = Frequently, if not always (Walumbwa et al., 2007) 29

Abridged Job Descriptive Index & Job In General Questionnaire (aJDI/aJIG) Instrument to measure the construct of job satisfaction with Cronbach’s coefficient alpha reliability level Work - .90 Pay - .88 Promotion - .91 Supervision - .92 Coworker - .92 The JIG measure is a distinct aspect of job satisfaction Job in General - .92 Note: aJDI contains 30 items instead of 72 in the full version aJiG contains 8 items instead of 18 in the full version Scale Y for “Yes” N for “No” ? For “?” if you cannot decide (Brodke et al., 2009) 30

POAQ Survey Development Face Validity Gathered team of 10 IT experts to review models and brainstorm All experts were coworkers of the researcher Years of experience in IT range 10 to 25+ years IT disciplines: architecture, project management, software development, service management, and customer support Four sub-scales with multiple items each System Quality (31 items) Fit For Use (22 items) Overall Benefit (21 items) User Satisfaction (24 items) Face validity established through literature review and expert panel 31

POAQ Survey Development Content Validity Semi-structured interviews with 10 IT experts Items reduced Quality (17 items) Fit For Use (15 items) Benefit (15 items) Satisfaction (18 items) Content validity established through semi-structured interviews 32

POAQ Survey Development Pilot Results Piloted survey with 10 subjects Variance in responses was reviewed by researcher and committee Items further reduced Quality (10 items) Fit For Use (7 items) Benefit (9 items) Satisfaction (4 items) Note: Satisfaction removed due to low variance in responses Scale 1 = Strongly Disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly Agree 33

Research Design Two Areas or Research: Research Area 1 – IT Project Outcomes Research Area 2 – Job Satisfaction Descriptive statistics Correlation Multiple Regression t-tests ANOVA All statistics are p < .05 error rate 34