Abstract
Community colleges remain an important component of higher education in the United States, offering readily-accessible education and career training to a diverse array of students from different backgrounds. During the 2007-2009 economic recession, community colleges experienced enrollment increases. Simultaneously, however, community colleges experienced cuts in government funding. The aim of this dissertation was to employ a grounded theory approach to examine chief business officers’ (CBO) leadership at Iowa and Nebraska community colleges. The research question was as follows: How do community college CBOs develop and use leadership skills to navigate through disruptions in government funding? Interviews with three top administrators of 10 Iowa and Nebraska community colleges were conducted to gain an understanding of CBO leadership when faced with financial difficulties. Findings suggested that five themes emerged from the data analysis: (a) revenue difficulties required CBOs to act as leaders, (b) changes in revenue sources required leadership, (c) funding disruptions changed CBO interactions, (d) CBOs with leadership skills successfully dealt with changes, and (e) avenues by which CBOs attained leadership attributes varied. Moreover, the grounded theory model suggested that CBOs need transformational leadership skills. The proposed solution to the evidenced-based problem was the involvement of the American Association of Community Colleges in the development of a training program with a variety of tools dedicated to community college CBO leadership. CBOs must be prepared to face a continued onslaught of financial difficulties for the institutions they lead. Therefore, CBOs’ transformational leadership skills may be critical to the survival of community colleges, overall.|Keywords: Grounded theory, community college, dissertation, leadership, chief business officers, financial difficulties