| This study identified leadership behaviors exhibited by undergraduate students enrolled in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) at the University of Florida in Gainesville. The study also examined the relationship between the current and previous leadership experiences of the students and their current leadership behavior. The study included 1,156 current undergraduate students randomly selected from a total population of 3,429 undergraduate CALS students. This population represented 26 majors from 35 student organizations in CALS.;A quantitative descriptive design was used to describe CALS students in terms of their personal characteristics, academic leadership experiences, student leadership experiences, and community leadership experiences. Study respondents completed an online survey that assessed their self-perceived leadership practices, as measured by the Student Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) (Kouzes & Posner, 1998). The LPI, developed by Kouzes and Posner (1998), measured the participants’ perceived importance of and proficiency in five leadership behaviors (practices): challenging the process, enabling others to act, inspiring a shared vision, encouraging the heart, and modeling the way. This study examined CALS students’ past and present leadership experiences and personal characteristics as predictors for leadership behavior. Using the LPI, the CALS students at the University of Florida exhibited the following leadership behaviors most often: Enabling Others to Act, Encourage the Heart and Modeling the Way. The CALS students, however, did not self-rate as high on leadership behaviors of Inspiring a Shared Vision and Challenge the Process.;The results are consistent with previous research of undergraduate students, where students often consider do not see themselves as trendsetters and visionaries. On average, CALS students self-rated themselves “fairly often” as defined by the LPI scoring scale. The CALS students may have inflated self-perceptions of their leadership behavior when compared to normative data for undergraduate college students in other fields. Other findings indicate that CALS students have been active in past community service opportunities and student clubs and organizations. The CALS students are very active in service and participate as officers and on the state/regional levels of their respective organizations. In various leadership experiences, CALS students are developing their leadership behaviors; conversely, they are not developing leadership behaviors through formal leadership course or leadership training at the same frequency. Overall, the study indicates that CALS students are highly motivated and exhibit high scores on the LPI leadership behavior index. |
