Abstract:

Across the U.S. there are hundreds of graduate students, enrolled in educational leadership doctoral programs, who believe they too have finally found their calling. Will these students be able to find the meaningful employment they worked so hard to attain? This paper investigates the employability in a global economy of doctoral level graduates of recognized leadership Ed.D. programs based upon the related literature, existing course content of successful Ed.D. programs, the input of CEOs and other leaders from top 100 U.S. based companies and from leadership at top U.S. universities, and a survey of employment prospects of recent Ed.D. graduates. Thousands of graduate students are enrolled in leadership and educational doctoral programs across the U.S.

The issue investigated in this study is whether these well-educated graduate students will be able to find meaningful employment, after investing years of intensive study, thousands of dollars, and the completion of major research projects in the form of their dissertations. The research methodology incorporated two electronic surveys taken between Dec. 15, 2011 and January 31, 2012 which were confidential and where participants were not required to answer every question. Participants included current CEOs, business leaders and academic leaders and recent graduates of Ed.D. programs.

Leadership as an academic focus relates to many disciplines and its theories are rooted in fields such as psychology, management and sociology. A source often cited for the academic disciplines relating to leadership is Plato (Annas, 2009), who influenced other noted philosophers. As leadership continued to evolve over the ages, its roots can also be found in military writings (Sawyer, 1994) and in ways to attain and retain power. In the past two decades, leaders have been distinguished more through their organizations, as “transformers” or “visionaries.” The research also reviewed recent data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics on job prospects for doctoral candidate level job-seekers as well as data derived from a literature review on this topic. Work from a previous study (Schmieder, 2011) relating to the construction of a new Ed.D. paradigm utilizing Katz (1974) conceptual lens was used to further inform this research. There has been no study of this nature that seeks to look at the employment possibilities for education doctoral graduates with a focus on leadership. A study of this nature could help further define the need for this discipline in the U.S. economy and lead to additional studies.

As the study of leadership continues to evolve, a new paradigm is emerging with greater emphasis on “integrative considerations” including social network theory and where and how leaders operate within the complexity of the organizational system (Avolio, 2007; Brass, Galaskiewics, Greve & Tsai, 2004; Marion & Uhl-Bien, 2001). More than 130 articles served as the basis for this review of the literature as a part of this study.

Among the findings: approximately 81 % of the alumni surveyed indicated that attaining an Ed.D. degree helped them change their employment status and 71 % indicated that the Ed.D. program prepared them either “extremely well” or “very well” for their new professional roles. However, obtaining full-time jobs for these potential new graduates may continue to be somewhat challenging.

Keywords:

Employability, leadership, doctorate degrees, education.