Leadership influences teachers‘ job satisfaction; however, criteria such as leadership style
are only considered important if a specific style can be shown to improve student
achievement. The purpose of this quantitative, descriptive pilot study was to examine if a
descriptive relationship existed between authentic leadership and college performance at
accredited two-year, for-profit career colleges in the United States. The theoretical
framework of authentic leadership informed this study. The measurements that were used
to collect data were the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ) and archival data for
2012-2013 college performance as measured by student retention and graduate
employment rates. The sample consisted of 24 campus managers (n=24) from accredited
two-year, for-profit colleges in United States.