Rate My Professor Sean McCallaghan

Dr. Sean McCallaghan serves as Senior Warden of Colleges in the Campus and Collegiate Life Services division at the University of Otago, where he also acts as Tautiaki (Warden) of University Flats. In this capacity, he oversees all aspects of the residential community, including administration, resident welfare, pastoral care, and student support. Originally from South Africa, McCallaghan brings extensive experience from the tertiary education sector. He holds a PhD in business administration and management from North-West University (NWU), where he began as a student in 2001 and joined as staff in 2008. His career at NWU encompassed roles such as sports manager, house parent at Faranani residence, and Director for Student Life at the Vanderbijlpark Campus from March 2023 until his departure in September 2023. Throughout his tenure, he was noted for exceptional leadership, mentorship, student-centric collaboration, and contributions to campus stability.

McCallaghan's academic interests center on diversity climate, leadership styles—including servant, transformational, destructive, and creative leadership—and their effects on employee attitudes, work engagement, burnout, turnover intentions, psychological safety, organisational citizenship behaviour, and microaggressions. Affiliated with the OPTENTIA Research Focus Area at NWU, part of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, he has authored or co-authored numerous peer-reviewed publications. Key works include 'The role of supervisor support and basic psychological needs in predicting work engagement, burnout and turnover intentions in a medical contract research service setting' (2022, Journal of Psychology in Africa, with M.M. Heyns and E.H. de Wet); 'Servant leadership, diversity climate, and organisational citizenship behaviour at a selection of South African companies' (2020, Journal of Psychology in Africa, with L.T.B. Jackson and M.M. Heyns); 'Exploring organisational diversity climate with associated antecedents and employee outcomes' (2019, SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, with L. Jackson and M. Heyns); 'Examining the mediating effect of diversity climate on the relationship between destructive leadership and employee attitudes' (2019, Journal of Psychology in Africa); and 'Transformational leadership, diversity climate, and job satisfaction in selected South African companies' (2019, Journal of Psychology in Africa). His research, primarily in South African organisational contexts, has garnered over 330 citations and advanced insights into workplace diversity dynamics and leadership impacts.