The role of collaborative leadership in Arizona's subsidized child care stakeholder network

This research project provides a unique perspective of the role of the concept of collaborative leadership between the Arizona Subsidized Child Care Program and its key stakeholder network. The process involved was to frame the research and its findings using the Team Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire's (TMLQ's) Assessment Scales. The research project sought to explore whether collaborative leadership in the policy-making process between the Arizona Subsidized Child Care Program and its key stakeholders actually does exist and, if so, to what extent. The research questions for the dissertation are, as follows: (1) What leadership styles does the Arizona Subsidized Child Care Program, through its various managers, exhibit and are these styles truly collaborative?; and (2) Are the leadership relationships between the key child care stakeholder groups and the Arizona Subsidized Child Care Program actually collaborative? The study employed a mixed-method approach (both quantitative and qualitative research methods) by means of an online survey, interviews, and document analysis. ii Based on this study's findings, the program exhibits collaborative leadership concepts with its stakeholder network. In addition, a positive correlation between the use of collaborative leadership concepts and participant perceptions of satisfaction, extra effort, and effectiveness was documented.