Using Involvement Theory to Examine the Relationship between Undergraduate Participation in Extracurricular Activities and Leadership Development

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between extracurricular involvement and leadership outcomes among traditional-age college seniors in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State University. Authors collected data related to quantitative and qualitative aspects of involvement in extracurricular organizations. Further, they measured leadership, as an outcome, using the individual values scale of the Socially Responsible Leadership Scale (SRLS-R2). The number of clubs in which a student participated and served as an officer was associated with higher leadership scores. Findings identified a threshold of involvement that suggests the optimum number of clubs or organizations to be actively involved in is three to four. Disciplines Agricultural Education | Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research | Educational Leadership | Educational Methods CommentsThis article is from Journal of Leadership Education 12 (2013) AbstractThis study examined the relationship between extracurricular involvement and leadership outcomes among traditional-age college seniors in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State University. We collected data related to quantitative (i.e., how much time a student spends on an activity) and qualitative (i.e., how focused the student is on the activity) aspects of involvement in extracurricular organizations. We measured leadership, as an outcome, using the individual values scale of the Socially Responsible Leadership Scale (SRLS-R2). The number of clubs in which a student participated and served as an officer was associated with higher leadership scores. We identified a threshold of involvement that suggests the optimum number of clubs or organizations to be actively involved in is three to four.

Exploring the Leadership Skills of Pre-Service Social Work Students: Implications for Social Work Education

“…They have found out that in general, the impact of both was positive, with the latter being more significant even though extensive off-campus work simultaneously undercut the effect of co-curricular involvement on leadership. Finally, a significantly higher level of leadership skills among students involved in cocurricular activities on all scales of the SLOI seems quite logical and consistent with findings of other studies (Foreman & Retallick, 2013;Haber, 2011;Hall, Forrester, & Borsz, 2008), revealing such positive outcomes of co-curricular participation for students' leadership capacities as development of attitudes, values, and aspirations, personal empowerment and growth, collaboration, educational development.…”

The Association between Social Capital and Membership of Organisations amongst Polish Students

“…Putnam et al (1994) see organisation membership as a key component of social capital in developing generalized trust. Roszkowska (2014) notes that 32% of those surveyed were organisation members, which is low compared to the USA and Western Europe (Foreman and Retallick, 2013;d'Hombres et al, 2010). Growiec (2011) considers social capital in the form of social relationships.…”

“…There is a clear association between organisation membership and voluntary work (Fisher's exact test, p< 0.001, see Table 2 based on the 1525 individuals who answered both questions). Compared to the USA and Western Europe, the percentage of students active in an organisation is low (Foreman and Retallick, 2013;d'Hombres et al, 2010). From Roszkowska (2014), some of the reasons Polish youths are not members of organisations are as follows: the Facebook culture, laziness, a lack of organisations, youths do not want to take responsibility, wish to do their own thing and organisations are seen as being irrelevant.…”

Developing Low Carbon Schools Model through Students Involvement in Sustainability Activities

“…Involvement is also seen as being able to enhance the leadership potential of individual students (Elizabeth and Michael, 2013). If looked at within the environmental context, the involvement of students in hands-on activities and activities outside of the classroom can enhance the knowledge and practices of the students.…”