University of Louisville ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository Electronic Theses and Dissertations 5-2018 Gender and leadership in animal sheltering organizations. Jennifer Blevins Sinski University of Louisville Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd Part of the Gender and Sexuality Commons Recommended Citation Sinski, Jennifer Blevins, "Gender and leadership in animal sheltering organizations." (2018). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 2969. https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/2969 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. 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GENDER AND LEADERSHIP IN ANIMAL SHELTERING ORGANIZATIONS By Jennifer Blevins Sinski B.A., Bellarmine University 2000 M.A.T., Bellarmine University, 2002 M.A. Murray State University, 2010 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Louisville in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Sociology Department of Sociology University of Louisville Louisville, Kentucky May 2018 Copyright 2018 by Jennifer Blevins Sinski All rights reserved GENDER AND LEADERSHIP IN ANIMAL SHELTERING ORGANIZATIONS By Jennifer Blevins Sinski B.A., Bellarmine University 2000 M.A.T., Bellarmine University, 2002 M.A. Murray State University, 2010 A Dissertation Approved on 4/9/18 By the following Dissertation Committee __________________________________ Dissertation Director Dr. Cynthia Negrey ____________________________________ Dr. Patricia Gagne __________________________________ Dr. David Roelfs ___________________________________ Dr. Robert Carini ___________________________________ Dr. Nancy Theriot ii DEDICATION This Dissertation is dedicated to my Husband Dr. Joseph Sinski And my Daughter Brittany Marie Williams And my furry family members – Chloe, Cuddles, Tribbles & Yoshi iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my Committee Chair, Dr. Cynthia Negrey for her infinite patience throughout this long process. I also thank my committee members, Dr. Patricia Gagne, Dr. David Roelfs, Dr. Robert M. Carini, and Dr. Nancy Theriot for their support throughout the project. Last, but not least by far, I would like to thank my family for cheering me on and encouraging me to continue. iv ABSTRACT GENDER AND LEADERSHIP IN ANIMAL SHELTERING ORGANIZATIONS Jennifer Blevins Sinski 4/9/2018 This study explores the connection between gender, leadership and implementation of best practice strategies to reduce or eliminate euthanasia of healthy, adoptable companion animals in animal sheltering organizations. The purpose of this mixed methods study utilizing an online survey and in-depth interviews is to explore the impact of gender and animal sheltering leadership on organizational policies, as well as workers’, and volunteers’ attitudes toward reducing euthanasia in sheltering organizations. It is anticipated that the knowledge generated from this research will provide new insights into animal sheltering policies and procedures and inform sheltering organizations about the connection between gendered leadership in animal sheltering organizations and euthanasia rates. In the United States we are experiencing a paradigm shift regarding animals in society culturally, scientifically and relationally. Attitudes toward animals are changing from animal as object to animal as subject. This paradigm shift converges center stage with the problem of pet overpopulation in the United States and the use of euthanasia to address that problem The findings for this dissertation are divided into three chapters, four through six. Chapter four focuses on identity issues via the ethic of care and ethic of justice v framework. Chapter five focuses on altruistic leadership, organizational learning and the impact that leadership has on the sheltering organization. Chapter six combines identity, leadership and organizational issues to examine the impact on the sheltering organization and policies. The final chapter, seven, provides analysis of the previous three chapters and the closing of the dissertation. While qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews found support for difference between gender use of ethic of care and ethic of justice, quantitative significance was not found between gender and the two scores of care and justice. A significant difference was found on ethic of care scores between former and current employees, with former employees having significantly lower ethic of care scores. Women held higher scores on a measure of altruistic leadership and several areas of organizational learning. Female leaders also have a significantly lower rate of canine euthanasia rates within the organization. A regression analysis finds that leader gender, altruistic leadership score, private organizations, fostering, and transporting significantly predict rates of canine euthanasia in sheltering organizations. Finally, leaders, workers and volunteers in sheltering organizations are strongly impacted by their work. Case studies of both a toxic environment where change was not successful and a supportive environment where change was successfully made to reduce or remove euthanasia of healthy, adoptable companion animals highlights the centrality of the work to meaning of identity for individuals. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .............................................................................v ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................vi LIST OF TABLES .........................................................................................vii CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION .............................................................1 CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................12 CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY .......................................................67 CHAPTER FOUR IDENTITY ISSUES ........................................................74 CHAPTER FIVE ORGANIZATIONAL ISSUES ........................................101 CHAPTER SIX IDENTITY AND ORGANIZATIONAL ISSUES .............128 CHAPTER SEVEN ANALYSIS ...................................................................163 REFERENCES ..............................................................................................209 APPENDICES ...............................................................................................231 CURRICULUM VITAE ................................................................................267 vii LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 1. Ethic of Justice and Care by Gender .........................................................76 2. Ethic of Justice and Care by Currently and Formerly Employed ............80 3. Crosstabulation of Gender and Animals as Central to your Identity .................83 4. Attitudes about Animal Issues by Gender ................................................85 5. Analysis Organizational Learning Scores by Altruism ............................105 6. Altruistic Leadership Score, Organization Learning Capacity Score Differences by gender ...............................................................................107 7. Crosstabulation of Leader Gender and Collaborations .............................116 8. Altruistic Leadership Scores by Organizational Type ..............................121 9. High/Low Altruism score and Leader Gender on Canine Euthanasia ......130 10. Multiple Regression Analysis .................................................................147 viii CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION This study explores the connection between gender, leadership and implementation of best practice strategies to reduce or eliminate euthanasia of healthy, adoptable companion animals in animal sheltering organizations. The purpose of this mixed methods study utilizing an online survey and in-depth interviews is to explore the impact of gender and animal sheltering leadership on organizational policies, as well as workers’, and volunteers’ attitudes toward reducing euthanasia in sheltering organizations. It is anticipated that the knowledge generated from this research will provide new insights into animal sheltering policies and procedures and inform sheltering organizations about the connection between gendered leadership in animal sheltering organizations and euthanasia rates. This research employed both quantitative and qualitative methodologies to illustrate the phenomena under examination. The participants of this study included self-selected survey respondents and volunteers for in- depth interviews chosen for analysis by their organizational position and type. Interviews were conducted with current and former shelter leaders, current and former shelter workers, current and former shelter volunteers. This chapter begins with an overview of the context and background that frames the study. Following this is the problem statement, the statement of purpose, and accompanying research questions. Also included in this chapter is a discussion regarding research approach, researcher’s perspective and researcher’s assumptions. The chapter 1 concludes with a discussion of the