| Economic development in the 21st century depends greatly on the leadership personnel with the economic development organizations. This dissertation examines the role of leadership style in relation to success as a Certified Economic Developer in terms of jobs brought to his or her geographical area during the specific tenure of 2009 through 2011. To explore the role of leadership in regards to economic success, this dissertation utilizes the MLQ to categorize leadership style from the following three options: transformational, transactional, and passive-avoidant. Then, these leadership styles are compared to the total number of projected jobs brought to each geographical area. While 96% of the study respondents were categorized as transformational leaders, there was not enough evidence to hypothesize that one type of leadership made a greater impact than the other leadership styles in terms of jobs brought the specified economic region. In the future, economic development organizations may be able to utilize this information to align leadership styles with the type of leader they bring to their organization, thus enhancing chances for future success within their defined economic development regions. |
