Community College Student Affairs Professionals’ Perceptions of Their Supervisor’s Authentic Leadership: The Influence on Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment

Employee retention is an ongoing challenge for higher education student affairs professionals, who account for the largest employee group across the higher education workforce. Job satisfaction and organizational commitment have previously been identified as correlated with college and university employees’ decision to stay or vacate their position. Authentic leadership, an evolving theory, has been associated with greater levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment in a variety of settings. However, there is a gap in the literature about the status of this relationship within community college student affairs work environments. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between community college student affairs professionals’ job satisfaction and organizational commitment and their perception of their immediate supervisor’s authentic leadership. Results indicated perceived authentic leadership significantly predicted the job satisfaction of community college student affairs professionals. Perceived authentic leadership also significantly predicted professionals’ organizational commitment. Further, there was a significant difference in the relationship between perceived authentic leadership and the organizational commitment of community college student affairs practitioners by racial and ethnic identity. It is recommended community college leaders promote the development of authentic leadership qualities among those charged to lead student affairs departments to increase practitioner satisfaction and strengthen commitment to the college.