Discovering the Meaning of Leadership: A First Nations Exploration

• Main Author: Stonefish, Twiladawn
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of Windsor 2013
• Subjects: Psychology; Acculturation; Cross-cultural; First nations; Implicit leadership; Servantleadership; Values; First Nations
• Online Access: https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/4999; https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/context/etd/article/5998/viewcontent/Stonefish_T.pdf

This study examined the relationship among implicit leadership preferences, values, and acculturation (heritage/mainstream) from a Native Canadian perspective (N = 103), testing the following hypotheses: Worldviews will predict degree of acculturation; degree of acculturation will correlate with a preference for leadership styles; worldviews will predict leadership preference; and acculturation mediates the relationship between values and leadership preferences. The results revealed that this sample strongly endorses heritage culture, but also maintains strong connections to mainstream society; however, cultural associations were predicted by different values. A preliminary examination of the value structure and acculturative strategies of this sample provides insight into Native worldviews beyond anecdotes and speculation. These findings support implicit leadership theory showing that implicit ideas of leadership can vary in different contexts, in addition to supporting bidimensional models of acculturation. Implications, limitations and future research directions are discussed.