Connections between Leadership and Developmental Capacities in College Students
Colleges and universities have a unique opportunity to develop leaders capable of addressing the challenges of tomorrow. Critical components of such leadership include understanding oneself, being able to navigate challenges, work across difference, and understand and adopt multiple perspectives. The ability of higher education to support the development of leaders who can address challenges can have a major effect on the future of our country and our world.This longitudinal study explored connections between college student leadership and the developmental capacities necessary to engage in effective leadership. The study used the Social Change Model of Leadership (SCM) (Higher Education Research Institute, 1996) and Self-Authorship Theory (Baxter Magolda, 2001) as frameworks to explore connections between leadership and developmental capacities.I used data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education collected between 2006 and 2009 in this dissertation study. I analyzed four years of transcripts for 22 students who had high quantitative gains on the Socially Responsible Leadership Scale over a four-year period. The sample was diverse with just under half of the students identifying as students of color. I conducted the data analysis for each of the participants by: 1) coding for SCM leadership values; 2) analyzing development toward self authorship across four years; 3) and coding for patterns in development and SCM leadership value shifts across four-years.The results of this study demonstrated two major findings furthering our understanding of leadership using the SCM. The first finding highlighted the various stages students go through as they move toward effectively demonstrating SCM leadership. The second major finding was that development was connected to all of the SCM leadership values and increasing student developmental capacities is a necessary component of leadership development. This study produced major implications for those interested in promoting leadership development that guides the content and pedagogy of leadership development.
Adult Education, Developmental Psychology, Educational Leadership, Higher Education Administration, Higher Education, self authorship, self evolution, Social Change Model of Leadership Development, leadership development, adult development, college students, development, learning outcomes
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations