Investigating the development of university students' leadership skills self-efficacy beliefs during collaborative learning

Abstract

Transferable skills are non-discipline specific skills and abilities that can be applied across a broad range of situations and are crucial for students to face the challenges of an increasingly complex and globalised world. One such skill is that of leadership, which incorporates social awareness, self-reliance, adept problem-solving skills, and strong teamwork. As a skill, scholars have argued that leadership can be utilised by anyone, regardless of their designated role or level of authority.

Like other transferable skills, the development of leadership occurs over time through regular practice and feedback. One factor that may influence students’ engagement in and pursuit of opportunities for development is self-efficacy, a construct coined and defined by Albert Bandura as the “beliefs in one’s capabilities to organise and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments” (1997, p. 3) where an individual’s self-efficacy beliefs impacts motivation, persistence, resilience, and effort towards a task, and in turn, potentially also learning outcomes achieved.

While they complement each other well, the self-efficacy construct has seldom been applied to transferable skills research. To thus explore the role of self-efficacy in students’ leadership skills development, while also laying the groundwork to introduce Bandura’s construct into skills development research, this study sought to investigate how students’ self-efficacy beliefs about their leadership abilities are impacted and formed. Furthermore, with leadership skills being inherently rooted in interpersonal and group-based contexts, the key research question (KRQ) was further specified to be, “in the context of collaborative learning activities (i.e., group work), how are students’ leadership skills self-efficacy beliefs developed?”

A mixed-methods convergent design was used to address the KRQ, collecting both quantitative (survey items) and qualitative (open-ended survey questions, reflective journal prompts, individual interviews) data and consolidating the findings to answer the key and guiding research questions. Data was collected in two phases: the student survey was conducted in Phase 1 (n = 304) and those who agreed to continue onto Phase 2 (n = 11) further completing the reflective journals and individual interviews.

Bandura’s work on self-efficacy was used to guide the exploration of the development of leadership skills self-efficacy (LSSE) beliefs among business and engineering students at a university in Hong Kong. In the findings, all four self-efficacy sources were evidenced, with students perceiving mastery experiences as having the greatest impact, though vicarious experiences, social persuasions, and physiological sources also play a role and have implications for effective peer feedback, students’ preparedness and sense of responsibility during collaborative work, and group project dynamics. Other elements including like students’ leadership understanding and values, comfort zones, opportunities to overcome challenges, influences from peers, and cultural perceptions and dynamics, were also examined.

Finally, Chan and Yeung’s (2019) Holistic Competencies Development Framework is referenced to reflect upon the role of LSSE beliefs on students’ leadership skills development and practices. Recommendations for educators and institutions with regard to providing greater comprehensive support to students for their transferable skills development, fostering of their resilience, and additional suggestions for future research are presented.