The Influence of Student Organizational Involvement on the

Development of Leadership Traits

While higher education aids students to hone their critical and analytical skills to improve their academic
outcomes, organizational involvement provides opportunities to acquire and develop valued
communication skills as well as their sense of duty by offering additional highly valuable leadership
development opportunities.

Leadership is a way to improve an individual’s personal, social and professional life. It is now a highly
valued commodity (Northouse, 2018). In today’s demands, corporations seek those who can lead, in
hopes that bringing their special abilities and assets can aid the organization’s growth and improve the
bottom line. That is why integrating leadership development in high education through participation and
membership in university-sponsored activities student involvement is vital, as it enhances the student’s
intellectual and personal improvement (Montelongo, 2002). By participating in student organizations,
students are able to create and maintain relationships with their fellow members who have similar
interests; develop firm mentoring relationships with their mentors; improve their critical thinking, plan
efficiently and make decisions (Hall, 2012). The more the students participate in student organizational
endeavors, the more they are likely to enhance essential abilities that they might need in the real word
setting (Patterson, 2012).

According to Hall (2012), student organization kindles various learning experiences that can be rarely
found inside the classroom curriculum. Most high education institutions aim to produce future leaders but
studies show that defining, teaching, and assessing leadership is difficult and sometimes ambiguous
(Smith and Chenoweth, 2015). Leadership can be measured in many different ways. Some measure
leadership by asking students to evaluate their own abilities and characteristics (Northhouse, 2010), using
intensive role-play simulators (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, n.d.), or by evaluating field
performance and practice drills (Department of the Army, 2006). Another method of measuring
leadership traits is by asking students to write papers to provide reflections of themselves or conducting
in-depth personal interviews (Logue, Hutchens & Hector, 2005; Petriglieri, G., Wood, & Petriglieri, J.,
2011). Others include service learning activities for students to reflect on the learnings they’ve acquired
in those activities (Caro, Lirette and Yest, 2013). Educators may use any provided methods in measuring
leadership capabilities, but the results will vary depending on their abilities to give guidelines as to how
those tested actually learned to be leaders (Smith and Chenoweth, 2015). In addition, according to Jago
(1982), “good leaders develop through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and
experience.
There are yet to be an adequate number of studies concerning the role and effect of student organizations
in the improvement of the development of knowledge, skill and competencies in university students.
Which is why further research on this topic is indeed required, as it provides understanding on how
students are being prepared for the workforce (Ebede, 2015).