Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

First Advisor

Jeffery Moore, PhD

Abstract

Higher education institutions face growing pressures related to affordability, accessibility, and trust. In this environment, leadership communication, especially symbolic language that frames transformation as mission-aligned, plays a central role in shaping organizational change. This qualitative single-case study examined how leaders at a private Christian liberal arts college used metaphors, narratives, and values-based discourse to communicate an innovative tuition model and how this language influenced stakeholder perceptions, engagement, and resistance. Data included 26 leadership communication documents, a metaphor-based faculty and staff survey, and eight semi-structured interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis and metaphorical analysis were used to interpret symbolic language, meaning-making processes, and stakeholder responses. Findings identified six themes in leadership communication: ethical stewardship, generosity and gratitude, biblical narrative, covenant relationships, metaphors of transformation, and accessibility as a moral imperative. Stakeholders responded with both affirmation and skepticism, expressing metaphors ranging from inspiration (“blooming flowers”) to dissonance (“a shirt that doesn’t quite fit”). Leadership interviews revealed intentional framing strategies alongside recognition of cognitive dissonance when rhetoric and institutional realities diverged. The study introduces the Transformative Leadership Communication Model (TLCM), integrating symbolic visioning, stakeholder interpretation, resistance navigation, sensemaking alignment, institutional transformation, and an ethical leadership core, with dialogic engagement operating across components. The TLCM positions communication as the mechanism through which leaders and stakeholders negotiate shared meaning and co-create organizational change. Implications include integrating symbolic and pragmatic communication, creating reciprocal dialogue, and using symbolic dissonance as a diagnostic tool. Future researchers should explore additional contexts and the longitudinal effects of symbolic framing in higher education.

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