Chapter 1: Understanding the Impact of Student Affairs and Student Services Directors’ Leadership Style on the Undergraduate Student Experience: An Action Research Study

Higher education in the United States is being challenged to differentiate, adapt, and revolutionize its services due to a series of external and internal variables that are systematically impacting the sector. These factors include, but are not limited to, the cost of operations, the decline of the traditionally aged college population (18–24), tuition and fee increases, technological demands, diversification, globalization, social uprisings, and the political dialogue surrounding college accessibility (DeMeyer, 2011; Jenkins, 2019; Kezar & Holocombe, 2017; Wiley Education Services, 2019). Even worldwide pandemics, like COVID-19, are shaping the way higher education operates causing unpredictable and volatile organizational climates (Burke, 2020; Crawford et al., 2020).