The Impact of a Leadership Development Program on Saudi University Students’ Perception of Leadership Skills

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine whether a leadership training program increases university students' perception of leadership skills. Female students, like their male counterparts, have to play a central role in the economy of the country, regardless of the existing social constraints. Therefore, they need to be equipped with leadership skills in order to ensure that they are capable of making authentic changes in society. The survey included 42 components with seven subscales that were used to measure the following leadership skills: communication, planning, teamwork, decision-making, controlling, motivation and evaluation. The sample consisted of 36 female students who were randomly selected to participate in a two-day leadership training program at the University of Dammam. A questionnaire was distributed at the end of the program. This questionnaire was applied with the objective of estimating the students' perception of the importance of leadership-related skills. The results demonstrate that this program significantly develops participants' perceptions of leadership skills, as t(35) = 7.81, p < 0.05, regardless of their area of academic specialization, their history of participation in organized social activities, any previous leadership roles that they may have held, and any previous leadership training that they may have received. The authors recommend that this study be replicated on a larger sample.

Lesson learned from the pandemic for learning physics

“…Female students' superior overall performance outcomes (as measured by GPA) have been reported in pre‐pandemic studies (Alghamdi & Al‐Hattami, 2014; El‐Moussa et al, 2021), and have been generally attributed to females' interest in solidifying their recently acquired status as equals to men (Barry, 2019). Yet, gender differences existed in the particular activities of the physics course selected for our study.…”

“…The only exception to this pattern was the final test for which males always yielded higher performance than females both online and face-to-face. To wit, males appeared better able to deal with the restricted timeframe of the final examination, a finding that mirrors evidence of males' higher scores on standardized tests used for admission around the world (Akpotor & Egbule, 2020;Hedges & Nowell, 1995) but that contradicts findings specific to KSA where females tend to outperform males on standardized tests and global academic measures, such as GPA (Alghamdi & Al-Hattami, 2014;El-Moussa et al, 2021). Of course, the available evidence pertains to face-to-face ecosystems.…”

“…Furthermore, curricula and views of pedagogy had been reshaped across the board to replicate Western models of instruction and assessment (Allmnakrah & Evers, 2020; Tayan, 2017). In this changing environment, female college students had been found to outperform male students in a variety of subjects (Alghamdi & Al‐Hattami, 2014; El‐Moussa et al, 2021), an outcome often attributed to their eagerness to solidify their recently acquired status. Nevertheless, attracting females to STEM programs and professions had remained challenging due to persisting gender stereotypes (i.e., remnants of patriarchal traditions and customs; Kayan‐Fadlelmula et al, 2022; Labib et al, 2021; Pilotti, 2021).…”

Variables Contributing to Academic Success among College Students in Saudi Arabia

“…However, they have encouraged higher education institutions to reexamine their practices and institute changes endorsing fairness, such as optional test score submission, and holistic review of students' pre-college records. In the Middle East, notwithstanding controversies, the assumed informational value of cognitive measures has generally remained high, even in the face of scarce or incomplete evidence regarding their ability to predict college success (Alghamdi and Al-Hattami, 2014;Alnahdi, 2015;Sulphey, et al, 2018). Doubts have emerged though.…”

“…Furthermore, individual differences, whose relevance may not be universal, but rather unique to the population that a specific institution or program of study serves, are often overlooked. Differences may pertain to demographic factors, such as college major (Alghamdi and Al-Hattami, 2014) and gender, or motivational factors, such as self-efficacy (Bussey and Bandura, 1999;Kitsantas, et al, 2008), self-determination, engagement, and selfregulation (Gregg, 2009;Kappe and Van Der Flier, 2012;Richman, et al, 2014;Zepke and Leach, 2010), which are related to exerted effort and persistence. For instance, consider that in the Western world, standardized tests and school marks exhibit non-overlapping gender differences.…”