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Leadership and Change in US Dental Education: A Characterization of Dental Deans' Self-Reported Leadership Styles
1School of Dentistry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA.
Purpose:
Despite repeated national calls for reform, US dental education has shown limited systemic change. Leadership is often cited as a critical lever for transformation, yet empirical descriptions of leadership styles among dental school deans remain sparse. This study characterized the self-reported leadership styles of US dental school deans and examined whether gender identity and deanship tenure were associated with leadership style.
Methods:
A quantitative, non-experimental correlational study used the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ 5X-Short Form). All deans of accredited US dental schools who were members of the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) were invited to participate. Descriptive statistics summarized leadership style profiles, and inferential analyses examined associations between leadership style and selected demographic variables.
Results:
Twenty-six deans completed the MLQ. Respondents overwhelmingly self-identified with transformational leadership styles (mean composite score = 3.43). No statistically significant differences in leadership style were observed by gender identity, deanship length, or race/ethnicity. Scores for transactional and passive-avoidant leadership were relatively low.
Conclusion:
US dental school deans report strong tendencies toward transformational leadership across demographic characteristics. However, structural inertia in dental education persists, suggesting that leadership self-perception alone is insufficient to drive systemic reform. Translating transformational intent into sustained change likely requires organizational mechanisms, leadership pipelines, and institutional infrastructure that support adaptive change.
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