Factors influencing socially responsible leadership development in college students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine factors impacting college student leadership development. The target population was all junior and senior students in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri during the Spring semester of 2014 (N = 1,124). One hundred seven participants completed the online instrument (37.3%). In the examination of the socially responsible leadership outcomes, the highest mean was reported for the outcome of commitment and the lowest mean was reported for the outcome of change. The organization with the highest participation was the Pre-Veterinary Medicine Club. Most students were involved with two to five different organizations. A majority (92.5%) of the students reported as having engaged in community service, although 44.9% of respondents did not participate in community service on a regular basis. Students responded as being involved in one to two short term leadership education programs, but no longterm leadership education programs. Eight separate linear regression models were analyzed to determine the impact of organizational involvement, community service participation and leadership education on the development of socially responsible leadership. Regarding the model for the outcome variable, common purpose (CP), explained 15% of the variance in common purpose and was significant at p = .003. In addition the outcome variable, citizenship (CZ), explained 13% of the variance in citizenship and was significant at p = .007. Finally, the researcher examined Group Values and found the model explained 9% of the variance in the group values and was significant at p = .05.