The social phenomenon of transformational leadership among clergy

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between leadership behavior and effectiveness among African American and European American clergy leaders across denominational lines. This study also sought to compare the attributes of these two groups of leaders in the congregation and the community. The central research question addressed by the study is whether it can be demonstrated that African American clergy leaders exhibit a positive and significant relationship between leadership and perceived effectiveness that extends beyond the congregational arena into the community arena. The three main hypothesis statements for this study were as follows: (a) there is a significant positive relationship between leadership and effectiveness that will be identified when comparing African American clergy in both congregation and community leadership, (b) there is a positive significant relationship between leadership and effectiveness among European American clergy in the congregation, no significant relationship between leadership and effectiveness among European American clergy in the community, and a significant difference in the relationship between leadership and effectiveness among European American clergy in the congregation and community arenas, and (c) there is a significant difference between leadership and effectiveness for European American and African American clergy in community leadership. Quantitative data were collected and analyzed using a blended research design method. The Leadership Profile (TLP) and the Ministerial Effectiveness Inventory (MEI) were distributed to leaders and their followers for the collection of quantitative data. Correlational analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between the TLP scales and MEI scales. In addition, t tests were performed to determine differences of means between groups of the religious leaders' followers in the community and congregational environments. Qualitative data were collected by way of interviews, which were also conducted with nine of the leaders and followers previously mentioned to gain greater insight into the results of the quantitative analysis. The Demographic Information Sheet (DIS) was developed as a mechanism to categorize data before they were analyzed. Results from the analysis indicate that there are many similarities among the clergy leaders in both arenas. However, the results from the t tests show that there is a statistically significant difference between African American and European American behavior regarding follower-centered leadership in the community arena. The follower-centered leadership scale indicated that African American clergy leaders had a higher mean than their European American counterparts.