Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Organizational Leadership

First Advisor

Bendta Friesen

Second Advisor

Marylou Wilson

Third Advisor

Timothy McCarty

Abstract

Purpose: This phenomenological study explored mid-level managers’ perceptions of the impact of organizational environments fostering recognition, empowerment practices, and psychological safety on sustaining their organizational commitment when economic instability impeded leadership succession planning, employee upskilling, and staff retention. Additionally, the study identified sustainable, nonfinancial organizational practices that influenced participants’ decisions to remain with their organizations during periods of economic instability.

Methodology: Grounded in Organizational Support Theory and Organizational Commitment Theory, the study included eight mid-level managers representing public, private, nonprofit, and educational organizations. Data were collected through demographic questionnaires, field notes, and semi structured interviews. Data analysis followed Moustakas’s (1994) descriptive phenomenological procedures, including horizonalization, identification of invariant meaning units, clustering of meaning units into themes, and development of textural and structural descriptions.

Findings: Five themes emerged from the analysis. Recognition fostered organizational commitment through trust and meaningful responsibility. Empowerment strengthened leadership capacity through autonomy, professional growth, and shared decision-making. Psychological safety encouraged open communication, continuous learning, collaboration, and organizational resilience. Recognition, empowerment, and psychological safety were experienced as interconnected relational leadership practices rather than isolated organizational behaviors. Sustainable, nonfinancial organizational practices, including meaningful work, supportive leadership relationships, organizational trust, flexibility, collaboration, and continued professional growth, reinforced participants’ decisions to remain during economic instability.

Conclusions: Trust connected participants’ experiences of recognition, empowerment, and psychological safety. Economic instability constrained traditional advancement opportunities while leadership development continued through experiential learning, expanded responsibilities, and multi-directional movement resembling a career lattice. Retention reflected both commitment and constraint, as meaningful work and supportive relationships strengthened participants’ commitment while limited mobility and organizational dependence contributed to reciprocal job hugging and the mid-level squeeze. Some participants’ decisions to remain also appeared to extend beyond personal career outcomes to include responsibility for colleagues, organizational missions, and communities.

Recommendations: Organizations should strengthen leadership continuity and retention by cultivating relational environments that support trust, meaningful contribution, professional growth, and psychological safety. Leadership practices should include transparent succession communication, intentional career-lattice opportunities, meaningful recognition, workload boundaries, and continued discussion of future advancement.

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