摘要：This study examined the incoming leadership-oriented differences between students (N=166) enrolled in either an elective leadership studies course (n=50) or an elective team-based engineering projects course (n=116) to determine significant predictors of transformational leadership behavior. Participants completed measures of leadership-oriented behaviors, self-efficacy, and motivation. Students enrolled in the leadership studies course scored higher on measures of both transformational and transactional leadership behaviors, as well as motivation to lead based on affective identity and social-normative motivation. For students in the leadership course, the only significant predictor of transformational leadership was leadership-self-efficacy score. For students interested in team-based projects, the significant predictors included affective-identity and social-normative motivation to lead, as well as leadership self-efficacy. While women displayed higher motivation to lead across all motivation categories, neither race nor gender emerged as a significant predictor of leadership behaviors. These findings suggest the importance of self-efficacy in predicting behavior and the need to attend to students' internal and external motivations in creating pathways to leadership practices. var currentpos,timer; function initialize() { timer=setInterval("scrollwindow()",10);} function sc(){clearInterval(timer); }function scrollwindow() { currentpos=document.body.scrollTop; window.scroll(0,++currentpos); if (currentpos != document.body.scrollTop) sc();} document.onmousedown=scdocument.ondblclick=initializeJournal of Leadership Education Volume 12, Issue 2 ¨C Summer 2013 104 Introduction Formal leadership education programs represent a growing academic field (Dugan & Komives, 2007) reflecting the shift in mission and objectives of higher education to train responsible, team-based leaders (Spralls, Garver, Divine, & Trotz, 2010). In fact, a recent study (Riggio, Ciulla, & Sorensen, 2003) determined that more than 1,000 higher education institutions offer leadership education programs of some sort, while many of these take the form of for-credit academic courses (Sessa, Matos, & Hopkins, 2009). Although the evaluation of success of these programs is often justifiably focused on pedagogical methods (Eich, 2008; Moore, 2010; Spires & Hervey, 2011) or on the leadership paradigms utilized (Owen, 2012; Posner, 2009), very little focus has been afforded to the incoming attributes of students who enroll within these courses. Given that many programs continue to be elective in nature (Owen, 2012), a better understanding of students who elect to participate in the broad portfolio of leadership development courses is necessary to more fully understand the effects of particular aspects of leadership education on student development of their leadership skills. Presumably, the more educators can understand about the types of students who elect to participate within their courses, the better they will be able to help them learn. Understanding the pathways to effective leadership for all students is necessary for educators to expand their influence to broader populations of students than those currently being reached. Past research indicates that students may be in different stages of identifying and engaging in the leadership process. Although some students may be aware of surrounding leadership practices they may not be confident enough to explore and engage in the process (Komives, Longerbeam, Owen, Mainella, & Osteen, 2006). Shertzer and Schuh (2004) found that students who occupy formal positions of influence within student groups possess higher self-esteem and consider themselves leaders among their peers to a greater extent than students without such formal positions. Others reveal that student positional leaders are more committed to tasks (Ricketts, Bruce, & Ewing, 2008) and the individualized responsibilities of the leader (Stedman, Rutherford, & Roberts, 2006). However, this line of research has not yet been extended to include a more nuanced study that examines the practice of leadership beyond assigned positions. Our research focused on two different types of students ¨C those who elect to take academic courses in leadership education and those more interested in developing skills for team success, where leadership is not a specific focus within the curriculum. Such an examination on these two groups of students is aligned with an emerging emphasis in leadership education in understanding the differences between leader development and leadership development programs (Day, 2001). Do students who can choose between courses focused on these two concepts differ in their capacity, self-efficacy, and motivation to lead. Moreover, do they differ in the factors that predict their capacity as a leader.
