| The U.S. nonprofit sector is in need of reforms to restore public trust after several highly publicized scandals resulting from mismanagement and leadership failures undermined the reputation of the sector. Selecting transformational leaders who can bring positive, values-based change to the nonprofit industry represents a significant challenge and an opportunity. Understanding the relationship between values and leadership styles of nonprofit leaders can assure nonprofit boards that transformational leaders have strong values systems and can also assist nonprofit boards in the leadership assessment and selection process. The goal of this quantitative, correlational research study was to measure the relationship between the leadership styles (transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire) and values (personal, social, morality-based, and competency-based) of nonprofit leaders in Essex County, Massachusetts. One hundred forty-three survey responses were collected from a population of 988 nonprofit leaders. The data were subjected to statistical analysis through descriptive statistics and regression analysis to determine the relationship between leadership style indices and values scores. The results suggest a moderate, yet significant positive correlation between transformational leadership style indices and values scores for all four types of values. A significant correlation exists between transactional leadership style indices and values scores, with the exception of personal and morality-based values. Additionally, the results suggest a low, yet significant negative correlation between laissez-faire leadership style indices and all four types of values. A low percentage of the proportion of the total variation in leadership style indices can be explained by the variation in the values scores of the respondents. |
