The nature of leadership within rural communities: A grounded theory

Abstract

Reciprocating transformational leadership has its roots in the human concept of community. The purpose of this study was to present a grounded theory on rural community leadership development. The theory was developed from observation and interviews of rural community citizens participating in a leadership development program in six southeast Nebraska counties. The reciprocating transformational leadership theory was generated by the construction of a three-dimensional model using the four components discovered through interviews, surveys, and observation. Leaders, leadership, relationships, and citizenship represent observable activities within the community. They manifest themselves in the form of product, process, possibilities, and participation. Each alone can lead to a form of community improvement, however if they can be unified through a commonality of purpose extraordinary events emerge. Reciprocating transformational leadership is an attempt to examine the nature of leadership holistically. Leadership is a dynamic and synergistic relationship leading to an environment of human interaction which contributes to the creation of opportunities used to address commonalities of purpose.