The online survey responses were collected through the Qualtrics Online Survey software, which allowed an easy transfer into the Statistical Package for Social Sciences, SPSS version 24. The data were cleaned and prepared for analysis as suggested by Pallant (2016). Due to the small sample size, the data was analysed using descriptive statistics and tests suitable for small sample size, such as the the Mann Whitney U test, Wilcoxon S-R test and Kruskal- Wallis test.
Descriptive statistics were used to explain the characteristics of the sample. These included mean and standard deviation scores, ranks and frequencies.
In order to assess the extent of transformational leadership development, mean values for the items contained on the LPI scale and the composite scores for each of the five leadership behaviours (Kouzes & Posner 2007) were produced along with the standard deviations and Cronbach’s Alpha. Different empirical studies have shown that the LPI scale is credible and valid (Posner 2016). In this study, the internal consistency of the LPI scale was a Cronbach’s of 0.98 for a composite score and between 0.91 and 0.94 for each of the LPI subscales. Other empirical studies reported similar scores for the five LPI subscales, ranging between 80+ to 95+ (Posner 2016). Overall, this analysis had helped to identify the extent to which the five transformational leadership behaviours are being currently practiced by the participants in their roles, highlighting strengths and weaknesses. The produced mean values were further compared with means of other research studies, to see how leaders in Victoria’s visitor economy perform when compared to other managers and leaders in other industries (Posner 2016).
To assess what leadership skills and capabilities were perceived by the program participants as important, mean scores and standard deviations for 22 skills and capabilities were considered. Mean values were also produced for the same skills and capabilities rated on the performance scale. Using the IPA tool, the importance and performance mean scores were plotted on a scatter plot to highlight areas of least to greatest concern (Martilla & James 1977; Nale et al. 2000). In this study, no skill was rated below the adequate mean score of 2.5 (mean) on both importance and performance scores (very unimportant = 1; very important = 5). All mean scores for importance were above the mean score of 4, and the scores of the
skills and capabilities rated on the performance side were 3.5 and up. Overall, the mean scores on importance side were higher than the mean scores on the performance side, except for one item ‘management skills’ wherein the scores were the same. This was confirmed with the Wilcoxon S-R non-parametric test. The magnitude of the gap was indicated by the Z and p-value scores, where Z score referred to a greater gap. A correlation analysis was completed to test the strength of correlation of the important skills and capabilities for the current level of performance, which were all significant, except for the ‘management skills’.
Due to the explorative nature of this study, the researcher decided to group the 22 skills and capabilities into three groups (Table 3.1). The literature review pertaining to the mainstream business and tourism context and the findings from Phase I uncovered that there are several leadership skills currently not included in the recently conceptualised leadership skills sets, such as the leadership skills groupings developed by Mumford et al. (2007). According to these authors and the previous research, there are four categories of leadership skills, which include Cognitive, Interpersonal, Business and Strategic leadership skills. Over the years, these skills were related to the levels found in the organisational hierarchy, which may not relate to those businesses and organisations that are smaller and rely on the performance of smaller teams such as the tourism firms which also need to cooperate and collaborate with others within and across their industry. Increasingly, intrapersonal skills, which underpin the development of social and relational skills are emphasised in the stream of psychology (Boyatzis 2011; Goleman 2015), however not considered in current models. Skills that need further consideration include intrapersonal leadership skills and cooperative and collaborative skills. Thus, in this research the 22 skills, which were perceived as important by the program participants were grouped into three groups, where first group (Leadership base level) corresponded to the base or the foundation for the other two groups (Table 3.1). It is conceptualised that strategic skills and capabilities could be developed more effectively if one is able to master the leadership skills at the base and the advanced level.
Table 3.1 Tourism-based leadership skills and capabilities
Leadership Base Level Advance Level Skills Strategic Level Skills Leading oneself Leading others Balance conflicting demands Emotional intelligence Projecting leadership values Build and maintain
relationships
Build effective workgroups Develop others Leading the organisation Communication skills Think and act strategically Ability to think creatively Ability to collaborate Initiate and implement change Ability to cooperate Motivate others Develop collaborative network Ability to influence others
Foster innovation Make effective decisions
Develop agility
Cronbach Alpha: 0.92 Cronbach Alpha: 0.89 Cronbach Alpha: 0.93
Guided by Pallant (2016) a correlation matrix for each leadership group was generated to assess the strength of the relationships between the variables contained in each group. Pearson’s correlation coefficient showed that all items were positive and strong across the three groups. Due to the small sample size, additional testing is recommended for future research.
Other parts of the survey consisted of five-point Liker scale questions which measured the effectiveness of the program, such as the context, content and the training process, including the transfer of training. The measures included means, standard deviations, ranks and frequencies, which were used to judge the extent to which the program was effective.
Open questions, which were asked to collect evidence about the program impacts were analysed for themes and frequencies, using the Excel spreadsheet.
Overall, all survey questions contributed to the conclusion of whether the leadership program is effective.