Effects of the Virtual Environment on Online Faculty Perceptions of Leadership: A Grounded Theory Study

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how faculty members, teaching in the virtual environment of higher education, perceived the effectiveness of leader actions to understand how principles of existing leadership theory in critical areas such as communication effectiveness, development of trust, and ability to motivate faculty members is effected by teaching in a virtual environment. The proliferation of computer access allows more individuals to access online classes, when other obligations would prevent attendance of classes in the traditional college classroom. While the online environment creates increased opportunities for non-traditional students, professors teaching these classes often find themselves mostly if not entirely working in a virtual educational environment. Theories developed entirely in a face-to-face environment still form the foundation of leadership principles exercised in this new virtual world. This study examined faculty perceptions of leader actions associated with communication, motivation, and trust from professors, who have experience teaching college level courses in both traditional face-to-face classes and asynchronous online classes to determine the effect of operating in a virtual environment of higher education. Data collected from in-depth interviews using open-ended interview protocol provided greater insight into the professor's perspective of leader actions to determine how the environment affected leader effectiveness. Results of this study confirmed that leadership theory is applicable in a virtual environment; however, the ability of leaders to implement the principles of leadership theory can be limited by conditions of the environment. The application of study findings enable educational leaders to manage members of their faculty more effectively, potentially increasing job satisfaction levels, while reducing turnover.