Corporate American Employees Prefer Transformational Leaders with Integrity and Trust

Abstract

Understanding what leadership styles of corporate American leaders display integrity and trust is essential to organizational stakeholders, stockholders, the American public, and the business world. The study focused on why some corporate American leadership lacked integrity and trust from 2000-to 2012 which resulted in organizational failures. A quantitative research was developed from the theoretical framework of leadership styles and their respective associations with integrity and trust, organizational performance, and the impact of leadership behaviors on employees and the public. A correlational design was employed using transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire validated leadership frameworks and their respective subscales. The study examined the relationships between leadership styles of corporate American leaders, integrity, and trust. Participants in the eastern United States completed the internet administered survey questionnaire and Spearman’s Rho Correlation Coefficient. Analyses of data revealed statistical significance of both positive and negative relationships between different leadership styles, integrity, and trust as hypothesized from the two researched questions. Recommendations are made from the various themes of resulted from the relationship in leadership styles that positively correlate with integrity and trust. One such recommendation from the study results and findings showed transformational leadership style most positively correlated with integrity and confidence as the preferred leadership style of corporate American employees.