Date

4-29-2026

Department

School of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD)

Chair

Rachel Piferi

Keywords

Leadership, Religious Beliefs, Age Groups, Well-being, Work Motivation

Disciplines

Psychology

Abstract

Leadership is a well-researched topic that shows that leaders have a significant impact on employees’ perspectives of work motivation and well-being factors. There are gaps in research on older generations and the impacts of leadership since there has been such a heavy focus on research learning about the incoming work force. Other studies have found that strong religious beliefs help build better leadership skills. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine how leadership behavior and religious beliefs impact employee work motivation and well-being in older adults. In this qualitative study, interviews were conducted to understand older adults’ experiences with how leaders’ behaviors impact work motivation and well-being. This study also explored how religious beliefs can impact work motivation and well-being. Participants included 17 older adults between 50 and 70 years old, who were currently employed. Data was analyzed to find structural and textual descriptions, as well as common themes to fully capture the essence of these participants’ experiences. Results indicated that leadership and religious beliefs have both positive and negative impacts on older employees’ well-being. Other key themes included how participants’ work motivation is impacted by leaders’ counterproductive and positive reinforcement behaviors. Results from this study show the significance of older aged employees being impacted by leadership behavior. This study’s findings show that work motivation and well-being are impacted by both leadership behavior and religious beliefs. These findings could help leaders improve turnover rates, job performance, and even job satisfaction, which are all influenced by job motivation and well-being.

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