Date of Award:

5-2012

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Engineering Education

Committee Chair(s)

Gary Stewardson

Committee

Gary Stewardson

Committee

Jeffrey Dew

Committee

Daniel Holland

Committee

Bradley Winn

Committee

Edward Reeve

Abstract

Wholesale distribution represents an estimated 7% of our country's GDP. The industrial distribution segment of this market is nearly $400 billion, annually. The rapid change of technology, foreign imports, and societal change continues to have significant impact on the industrial distribution market. Combined with the imminent leadership gap in the industry over the next several years, and the impact of developing and understanding effective leadership at the branch levels of industrial distributors, this becomes critically important for the long-term success of the entire organization.

This study attempts to understand the impact of leadership style on the success of industrial distributors at the branch level. The research was guided by the following questions: (a) what is the relationship between transformational and transactional leadership styles and branch-level success at WinWholesale branch operations, and (b) what is the relationship between transformational and transactional leadership styles, interactive effects and branch-level success for WinWholesale distributors?

The research was funded, in part, by the Industrial Distribution program at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Data were provided by the WinWholesale Company, and by participating WinWholesale distributors throughout the western United States.

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