Integrating Leadership and Research Philosophy for Coaching-Based Postgraduate Supervision: Development and Pilot of the Leadership Coaching Awareness Questionnaire (LCAQ)

Daneel van Lill ()
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Daneel van Lill: University of Johannesburg, Department of Business Management

A chapter in Embracing Technological Agility in Accounting and Business – Vol. 2, 2026, pp 153-171 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Postgraduate supervision is critical in shaping students’ research identity and methodological confidence. However, traditional directive models can limit autonomy and ontological awareness. This concept chapter presents findings from a pilot study using the Leadership Coaching Awareness Questionnaire (LCAQ), a 30-item self-assessment tool designed to align students’ research philosophies, methodologies, and leadership orientations. The LCAQ fosters self-reflection and coherence in research design through coaching-based supervision. The study involved 13 postgraduate students who completed the initial LCAQ version. Participants were clustered into epistemological profiles, “Structured Servant Leaders” and “Reflective Realists”, highlighting shared and divergent patterns across their values, methods, and philosophical stances. These findings confirm the LCAQ’s developmental value and psychometric consistency. Since the pilot, the questionnaire has been expanded to 36 items, including six new cross-functional development questions. These additional items were developed to balance the scoring matrix across five research philosophies, four methodological preferences, and five leadership styles. Participants’ feedback and a deeper theoretical framing of alignment constructs informed their inclusion. This updated version allows for enhanced psychometric balance and broader construct validity. The abstracted results from the original version remain valid and reliable, laying a solid foundation for broader implementation. The study’s implications support adaptive, value-based postgraduate education and supervision practices rooted in leadership coaching. By linking identity and research practice, the LCAQ fosters alignment between who students are and how they research.

Keywords: LCAQ; Leadership coaching; Mixed methods; Postgraduate supervision; Research philosophy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:prbchp:978-3-032-13384-7_12

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-13384-7_12

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