Date

6-17-2026

Department

School of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD)

Chair

Nathan J. Borrett

Keywords

transformational leadership, transactional leadership; remote teams, trust, team cohesion, phenomenology

Disciplines

Psychology

Abstract

This qualitative phenomenological study explored how leadership approaches affected the development of trust and team cohesion within remote teams in the post-pandemic workplace. The pandemic transformed daily work interactions so that relationship focused leadership has become essential for distributed employees. This study examined how employees experience leader behaviors that either supported or hindered unity and trust through the lens of Leader-Member Exchange and transformational/transactional leadership theories. Through purposive sampling, nine adults who have spent at least one year working remotely in team-based roles in the United States were recruited for semi-structured interviews lasting approximately 45-60 minutes. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed word for word while removing all identifying information then returned to the participants for member checking to boost credibility. A six-phase thematic analysis was used to analyze the data and identified reoccurring patterns between participant experiences. Phenomenology was well suited for this study because it focused on understanding what participants meant and what they shared in common about this specific phenomenon. The findings indicated that leadership behaviors played an important role in shaping trust and cohesion in remote work environments.

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