BUS620 - Guidelines for Submission of the
Master of Business Research Thesis
The following guidelines are recommended for the structure of the Master of Business Research
thesis document. Please note that each individual research project may have different section
headers and will have unique elements that may differ from the following recommended guideline.
However, i
espective of the individual sections in your thesis each of the points identified need to
e addressed within the thesis.
The recommended format for the Master of Business Research thesis is a five-chapter model
comprising the sections listed below.
Front pages
• Title Page (Title of thesis should be short 12 – 15 words maximum with keys words aligned
to search algorithm metrics). Centre title, author name and qualifications, date of
submission and the name of the award. Please see the mockup title page at the end of this
document.
• Statement of Authorship
• Dedication and Acknowledgements
• Table of Contents
• List of Tables
• List of Figures
• List of A
eviations
• Abstract
1 Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Overview to the research
1.2 Research problem statement or research proposition
1.3 Justification for the research
1.4 Research methodology
1.5 Outline of the research
1.6 Summary of findings
1.7 Definitions and key terms
1.8 Assumptions, delimitations and justification for scope of the research
1.9 Conclusion
2 Chapter 2: Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Critical review of primary literature theory and evidence
2.3 Critical review of the secondary literature theory and evidence
2.4 Research problem theory and synthesis
2.5 Development and justification of the research theoretical framework
2.6 Research problem gap
2.7 Conclusion
3 Chapter 3: Research Methodology
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Justification for the research methodology and research paradigm
3.3 Research design
3.4 Research procedures (participants, measures, procedures and data analysis)
3.5 Test of validity and reliability
3.6 Ethical considerations
3.7 Conclusions
4 Chapter 4: Evidence and Data Analysis
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Overview of data sample
4.3 Descriptive, Empirical or Qualitative Analysis
4.4 Testing the theoretical framework
4.5 Results from the evidence for each research question
4.6 Conclusions
5 Chapter 5: Conclusions, Findings, Implications and Contribution
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Conclusions and findings relating to each research question, issue, hypothesis or proposition
5.3 Implication of the research for theory
5.4 Implications of the research for methodology
5.5 Implications of the research for leadership and management practice
5.6 Implications of the research for public policy
5.7 Contribution of the research to the field of leadership and management
5.8 Limitations of the research
5.9 Future research directions arising from the research
5.10 General conclusions from the research
Bibliography
Appendices
Appendix 1: Ethics Application and Approval
Appendix 2: Research Questionnaire
Other appendices as appropriate for the research project
Professor Ian Eddie
9 September 2020
MOCKUP TITLE PAGE
An Empirical Study of Leadership and
Management Research in Australian
University Colleges
Ian Eddie, BEc(Hons), MEc, PhD, FCPA
31 August 2020
A thesis submitted for partial fulfillment for the requirements of the degree of Master of Business
(Research), Excelsia College, Macquarie Park, NSW 2113, Australia
2 | Page
School of Business
Master of Business (Research)
Research Proposal
Day Month 2020
Research Project Title: Servant Leadership and Employee
Retention: A Quantitative Study of Australian Hospitality Industry
Research Cluster: Leadership and Management of Tourism and Hospitality
Organizations
Student Name: Sujata Sherchan Bhattachan
Student ID: XXXXXXXXXX
Principle Supervisor: Dr. Rocky Mehera
Co-Supervisor: Dr. Somi Alizadeh
Executive Summary of the Research Project
The main purpose of this research is to investigatie the relation between servant leadersip and employee retention and to examine the mediating role of intrinsic motivation in between servant leadership and employee retention in the context of Australian Hospitality Industry. For this research, some hotels and restaurants of Sydney is chosen to collect the data. In addition, this research will be survey-based quantitaive approach to meet the research objectives and questions. The findings of this reserch project will help to use effective leadership for improving employee retention in Australian hospitality industry.
Table on Contents
1. Introduction
2. Justification of Research
3. Review of Literature
4. Identification and Definition of Key Terms
5. Evaluation of Cu
ent Theory and Practice
6. Research Objectives
7. Research Questions
8. Statement of the Research Problem
9. Statement of Proposed Research Methodology
10. Statement of Data Sources and Data Collection Methods
11. Evaluation of all Ethical Considerations
12. Statement of Expected Research Contribution
13. Research Timeline
14. Bibliography
1. Introduction
Many studies have confirmed that long term health and success of any organization depends on retention of its valuable employees particularly in the face of globalization and technological advancement (Das & Baruah, 2013; Tamunomiebi & Okwakpam, XXXXXXXXXXTherefore, the topic of employee retention has increasingly become important to today’s organizations due to development of knowledge as a key corporate asset (Bairi, Manohar, & Kundu, XXXXXXXXXXPrior studies have discussed influencing factors of employee retention or turnover intention from the aspect of leadership styles and behaviours (Mwita, Mwakasangula, & Tefurkwa, 2018).
Servant leadership emphasizes service and gives main concern to satisfaction of employees’ needs (Van Dierendonck, 2011; Hoch, Bommer, Dulebohn, & Wu, XXXXXXXXXXSome of the researches argues that servant leadership have negative impact on turnover intention and helps to reduce employees’ turnover intention in organization (Dutta & Khatri, 2017; Jang & Kandampully, XXXXXXXXXXSimilarly, the findings of Kashyap and Rangnekar XXXXXXXXXXstudy suggested that servant leadership not only improve employee retention but also enhance employees’ job performance and their contribution for organization. Hence, it can be argued that servant leadership is likely to have significant positive impact on employee retention and negative impact on turnover intention.
2. Justification for research
This study is intended to justify some distinct reasons for conducting the research. Firstly, study of servant leadership is under researched topic in hospitality literature (Brownell, 2010; Wu, Eliza, Pingping, Kwan, & Jun, XXXXXXXXXXLapointe and Vandenberghe XXXXXXXXXXfound that servant leaders impact the relational bond between employees and their firm, creating a positive environment that builds a sense of obligation by the employee to the firm and a keen understanding of the costs of quitting the job. Hence, Australian hospitality industry can employ servant leadership principles in their operations to gain competitive advantage of retaining valuable employees and reduce direct and indirect cost of employee turnover.
Second, there is very limited study of motivational practices as a mediator in between servant leadership and employee retention. Hence, a research proposition is suggested; motivational practice act as mediator between servant leadership and employee retention (Chon & Zoltan, XXXXXXXXXXTo fill this research gap intrinsic motivation is presented as mediator in between servant leadership and employee retention.
3. Review of Literature
3.1 Servant Leadership
The idea of servant leadership was first introduced by Robert K. Greenleaf in the article “The servant as leaders” where he posited that leader must see himself/herself as servant at first (Greenleaf, XXXXXXXXXXHence, the essential reason for servant leadership should be the aspiration to serve others. Many related attributes of servant leadership were identified by different scholars and researchers (Spears, 1995; Russell & Stone, 2002; Patterson, 2003; Dennis & Bocarnea, XXXXXXXXXXSome of the scholars (Sendjaya, Sa
os, & Santora, 2008) presented the six attributes of servant leadership which are voluntary subordination, authentic self, covenantal relationship, responsible morality, transcendental spirituality, and transforming influence.
3.2 Employee Retention
The concept of employee retention started in 1970’s and early 1980’s as dramatic change in job mobility and voluntary job changes lead to the problem situation of employee turnover for organizations (McKeown, XXXXXXXXXXIn Human Resource Management literature the concept of employee retention has been discussed a lot and now its importance has been highly increased in organizational context due to growth of knowledge as a key corporate asset (Horn & Griffeth, 1995; Bairi, et al., XXXXXXXXXXEmployee retention has a long-term positive impact on organization whereas failure to retain employees leads to the situation of negative impact on organization.
3.3 Intrinsic Motivation
The theoretical framework of Deci and Ryan’s (1985), Self Determination Theory (SDT) profoundly explained the concept of intrinsic motivation. The theory is concerned with the beneficial impact of intrinsic motivation through the means of inherent satisfaction. SDT emphasises intrinsic motivation practices which relies on three psychological needs, that are autonomy, competence, and relatedness.
3.4 Relationship Between Servant Leadership and Employee Retention
Authors Nwokocha & Iheriohanma, XXXXXXXXXXand Wakabi XXXXXXXXXXhave indicated leaders are furtive weapon of employee retention and assured that co
ect leadership approach leads to its improvement. Numerous scholars support that role of leadership holds prominence in lessening intention of employee turnover within organisation (Oh & Oh 2017; Asiedu et al., 2017; Ausar et al., XXXXXXXXXXAmid various leadership approaches, the servant leadership perceive to focus on staffs’ essentialities and extend their caring philosophy towards the whole community (Chon & Zoltan, XXXXXXXXXXThe people-oriented approach tied with philanthropic component makes servant leadership the most favoured approach to infuse positive behaviour amongst employees (Dutta & Khatri, XXXXXXXXXXVarious studies have found to have servant leadership positively impact the employees’ intent to stay in organisations (Jang & Kandampully, 2018; Thacker et al., 2019; Amah & Oyetuunde, 2020; Huning et al., 2020; Carino, 2019).
3.5 Relationship Between Servant Leadership and Intrinsic Motivation
In contrast to transformational leadership, van Dierendonck, Stam, Boersma, De Windt, & Alkema XXXXXXXXXXconfirmed that servant leadership is extremely focused on psychological necessities of subordinates as prior goal within itself while transformational leadership positions such necessities as secondary to organisational goals. According to Amabile et al. (1996), even though intrinsic motivation outcomes from positive responds of employees to their job itself, empirical verification affirmed that supportive leadership may boost up intrinsic motivation of employees like transformational leadership (Minh-Duc &Huu-Lam, 2019; Azis et al., 2019), authentic leadership (Shu, 2015) and ethical leadership (Raad & Atan, 2019; Feng et al., XXXXXXXXXXConsidering cognitive evaluation theory, leaders that deliver non-controlling optimistic feedback, promote