Abstract

This study examines the differences among students in terms of self-reported leadership characteristics. It was conducted among all three programs and four generations of undergraduates at RIT Croatia. The goal of this study is to determine the differences among students who report being more and less leadership prone (Potential Future Leaders and Followers, respectively) with regard to demographic characteristics, reported self reliance socialization pattern, college level and program choice, career focus attainment and development, and reported attitudes regarding the importance of specific personality traits in leadership, the importance of specific career development factors and success indicators. Research showed that generation and college program are not related to student reported leadership proneness, suggesting that college education’s impact on leadership traits is not significant. Only one socio-demographic factor considered was significantly different between clusters; namely, the respondents who had moved once were significantly more represented in the Potential Future Leaders cluster, suggesting that study-abroad programs might play a role in leadership development. In terms of ranking career development factors, success indicators, the importance of emotional stability and openness to experience as a specific leadership trait, Potential Future Leaders reported higher scores in comparison with Followers cluster, potentially resulting from their forwardlooking, goal-oriented attitude.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Publication Date

2017

Document Type

Article

Department, Program, or Center

Office of Graduate Studies

Campus

RIT Croatia

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