International Journal of Adolescence and Youth

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Developing leadership skills among adolescents

and young adults: a review of leadership
programmes

Despoina Karagianni & Anthony Jude Montgomery

To cite this article: Despoina Karagianni & Anthony Jude Montgomery (2018) Developing
leadership skills among adolescents and young adults: a review of leadership
programmes, International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 23:1, 86-98, DOI:
10.1080/02673843.2017.1292928

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International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 2018
VOL. 23, NO. 1, 86–98
https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2017.1292928

OPEN ACCESS

Developing leadership skills among adolescents and young

adults: a review of leadership programmes
Despoina Karagianni and Anthony Jude Montgomery
Educational and Social Policy, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Our understanding of leadership is skewed towards the adult experience Received 9 December 2016
of leadership. There is a gap in the literature with regard to the experience Accepted 6 February 2017
of leadership among school children and young adults. Young people
KEYWORDS
experience their first formal organization at school and models of leadership Leadership; programme;
are developed from this critical period. The present review identified studies review; skills; students;
on leadership development programmes for young adults from 2003 to 2015 young adults
via electronic databases: Scopus, PubMed and Science direct. Nine studies
met all the inclusion criteria and were analysed with regard to; selection,
content, outcomes and theoretical background. Considerable heterogeneity
in the methods used was observed. The review presents key research
questions that need to be addressed in future studies.

Introduction
The term ‘leadership’ has different meanings among scholars. Approaches can differ in terms of their
emphasis on personality characteristics, relational influence, cognitive and/or emotional abilities, char-
acter in relation to group orientation, and appeal to self versus collective interests. Definitions also vary
in whether they are primarily descriptive or normative as well as in their relative emphasis on behavioural
styles (Den Hartog & Koopamn, 2001). Leadership is regarded in many cases as a complex, multicom-
ponent advanced competency rather than a fixed personality trait. Within this definition leadership is
regarded as a dynamic procedure, which can be developed by means of appropriate interventions (Sisk,
1993). However, our academic discourses about leadership and leadership behaviours are informed by
and skewed towards the adult experience of leadership.

Why should we examine leadership among young adults?

Children of all ages can take leadership roles. However, research concerning leadership development
has focused almost exclusively on adult leadership and there is gap in the literature with regard to how
we should develop young leaders. Historically, organizations such as the Scouts/Girl Guide movement
and sports clubs have provided restricted opportunities for young adults to experience themselves in
a leadership role. School is the first formal organization that the majority of individuals experience. As
noted by Montgomery and Kehoe (2015), school is our primary organizational experience in childhood
and adolescence and it is communicated to children as being their most important organizational
experience throughout childhood. On this basis they suggest that it is reasonable to assume that our

CONTACT Despoina Karagianni [email protected]

© 2017 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENCE AND YOUTH 87

primary learning about organizational culture and organizational roles begins there. Children spend
(on average) a remarkable 12 years (or 15,000 hours) of the most formative years of their lives in school
as an organization (Murphy, 2012). Thus, it’s reasonable to hypothesize that our adult organizational
behaviours are rooted in how we experience school.
Wingenbach and Kahler (1997) suggest that secondary school students have the ability to develop
leadership skills via decision-making, getting along with others, learning the organization of self,
self-awareness, and working with groups through taking part in many youth leadership organizations
in school and/or community activities.
Today, promoting and understanding leadership among young people is attracting more attention
as the lines between the ‘teen’ years and young adulthood becomes blurred. Indeed, improved tech-
nology and greater mobility has ‘shortened’ the distance between countries and as a result, leadership
is about the local and the global (Lee & Olszewski-Kubilius, 2014). Not surprisingly, younger adults are
taking the lead with regard to use and adaptation of social media and new technologies.
It is useful to examine leadership during childhood and adolescence as what occurs during the
developmental years can have an impact on the leadership behaviours exhibited later in the workplace
as an adult. Thus, studying adolescent displays of leadership should further our understanding of adult
leaders (Schneider, Paul, White, & Holcombe, 1999). Cooper, Healy, and Simpson (1994) reported that
students who possess leadership positions in student organization achieve better than non-leaders
on scales such as educational participation, career development, involvement in cultural and standard
of living planning.
Adolescent leaders are more likely to take up managerial positions as adults, and leadership skills
developed early on can have a positive impact on future wages (Kuhn & Weinberger, 2005). For exam-
ple, in the Project TALENT male students were surveyed during high school in 1960 and were followed
longitudinally for 11 years after high school. Men who were either team captains or club presidents (but
not both) between 1958 and 1960 earned 3.0–4.3% higher wages 11 years after high school graduation,
comparative to men who were only members of teams and/or clubs. Men who were both a captain
and a president earned 6.9% more than those who participated in both teams and clubs but did not
hold any leadership position.
Adolescence is an important time for leadership growth. Increasing leadership in adolescence can
reinforce self-esteem and be a catalyst for flourishing adulthood. Yet many adolescents are never offered
the chance to act as leaders, and adult leadership models are often inappropriate for teens that have
unique developmental needs (Linden & Fertman, 1998).

Leadership theories and youth development

The three main theories of leadership (the path goal theory, the contingency theory and the transfor-
mational/transactional theory) have not adequately accounted for how youths develop as leaders and
there is no literature on how these theories apply to young adults and children.
Despite ever increasing attention being paid to transformational leadership in the literature and
its wide theoretical (Bass, 1998) and practical acceptance (Avolio, 1998), the development of transfor-
mational leadership behaviours has rarely been examined and remains little understood especially
among young people.
Bass (1960) initially speculated about family factors that would promote the development of lead-
ership in children. He suggested that leadership potential is greatest among the youngest siblings of
the family, for children in families of four or five children, and for those children whose parents provide
stimulating environments, opportunities for decision-making, encouragement, and acceptance. Instead,
if indeed leadership behaviours are relatively stable (Krosnick & Alwin, 1989), then the transformational
leadership behaviours that exist during adolescence may have critical implications for later leadership.
88 D. KARAGIANNI AND A. J. MONTGOMERY

Leadership programs for young adults

During the last 10–20 years developing leaders at earlier ages has gained traction and is evidenced by
the introduction of leadership programmes for undergraduate university students (Oakland, Falkenberg,
& Oakland, 1996). Moreover, leadership training for secondary school adolescents have gained increased
acceptance as a priority area for research and development (Barker, 1997).
The development of college students as leaders has long been a goal of higher education (Boatman,
1999; Brungardt, 1997; Cress, Astin, Zimmerman-Oster, & Burkhardt, 2001) and a growing number of
leadership programmes have emerged at institutions across the USA (Astin & Astin, 2000; Zimmerman-
Oster, 2003). Student leadership programmes take many forms, from one-day workshops to stand-alone
extracurricular programmes to full degree granting programmes (Micari, Gould, & Lainez, 2010). If our
aim is to understand leadership development among young adults, examining the programmes that
purport to do this is a good starting place.

Aims and objectives

The field of leadership has been dominated by a focus on adult leaders. There is a significant gap in
the literature concerning the development of leadership among young adults and the factors that
contribute to leadership in young adults have not been systematically assessed. Despite the large body
of research on leadership and leadership behaviours, it is noteworthy that little research exists with
regard to the experience of developing young adults to be leaders.
The aim of this review was to identify the literature concerning young adults as leaders and exam-
ine the evidence base for the benefits associated with leadership programmes with young adults.
Specifically, we will examine the content and process issues concerning leadership development pro-
grammes for young adults.

Method
The review covers published articles from 2003 to 2015 and is restricted to studies published in the
English language. The following electronic databases were searched: Scopus, PubMed and Science
direct. The search terms were: (‘leadership program’ OR ‘leadership training AND (child* OR student
OR adolescen* OR teen* OR young OR high school OR university OR college) AND (intervention OR
development OR skills OR mentor*OR education).
For inclusion the articles had to fulfil the following criteria: first, the article had to be original research
that reported on an actual leadership programme aimed at young adults. Literature such as letters,
editorials, and book reviews and theoretical papers were excluded. Second, the abstract was reviewed
to determine whether leadership training was the primary, rather than peripheral focus of the article.
Furthermore, articles had to be published in English and be peer reviewed. Specifically, we included
studies that discussed the content, components, processes, goals, and duration of the programme.
We initially aimed to include only secondary school children both in school and outdoor education,
but we expanded our criteria to include university students as there was limited research on school
children.

Identification of the studies

The process of the literature review is shown in Figure 1. The combination of keywords yielded 413
potentially relevant articles in 3 different databases, 187 in Pub Med, 166 in Scopus and 60 in Science
Direct. Fifty-four articles were excluded due to duplication across the 3 different databases resulting in
359 articles. After reviewing the titles and abstracts of the articles, 307 of them were excluded. Fifty-two
full text articles were studied and 43 were excluded for not meeting one or more of the inclusion criteria.
The most common reasons for exclusion were that they were leadership programmes among adults
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENCE AND YOUTH 89

413 potentially related articles identified

187 in Pub Med
166 in Scopus
60 in Science Direct

307 articles excluded

based on review of title
and abstracts
54 articles excluded
due to duplication

52 full text articles

reviewed

43 articles excluded
for not meeting
inclusion criteria

9 articles included in the

review

Figure 1. Flowchart of data screening.

and/or they did not provide much information about the content of the programme and outcomes.
Finally, nine were selected for the present review as they meet all the inclusion criteria.

Results
Nine articles were selected for the present review. Detailed information regarding their content, objec-
tives, duration, participants and outcomes is presented in Table 1. The results indicate considerable
heterogeneity among the programmes used in terms of duration, objectives, methods and outcomes.
Overall, the studies were characterized by two macro objectives; to evaluate the effectiveness of the
programme and to enhance participants’ leadership skills.
In terms of geographical spread three studies were conducted in Australia, two in Hong Kong, one
in the USA, one in Malaysia, one in Israel and one in Taiwan. The duration of the leadership programmes
ranged from 1 day (Chen, Chou, & Lee, 2009) to one year (Cohen, Chang, Hendricks, Cope, & Harman,
2011). In two studies the duration was not specified (Gregoric & Owens, 2008; Hendricks, Cope, & Harris,
2010;). The number of participants ranged from 10 (Hendricks et al., 2010; Hoyt & Kennedy, 2008) to 242
(Said, Lee, Pemberton, & Ahmad, 2013). Roughly two-thirds of the participants were students attending
high school and the remainder were university undergraduate students. Consequently, 5 out of 9 studies
involved high school students and 4 out of 9 studies involved undergraduates. In 5 out of 9 studies the
age of the participants is not reported.
The majority of the studies did not have a control group. Only three studies used a control group
(Chan, 2003; Cohen, Roth, York, & Neikrug, 2012; Wong, Lau, & Lee, 2012). In Chan (2003) the control
group had the same selection criteria as the research group but the control group participated in a
programme that had no similarity to the leadership programme of the intervention group. In Wong
et al. (2012) and Cohen et al. (2012) students were randomly allocated to an intervention group and a
control group and the control groups did not participate in any programme.
The studies included in the review were heterogeneous with regard to their objectives and the way of
reporting the findings. In order to evaluate the studies in a coherent way, the studies have been analysed
 90

Table 1. Study Characteristics.

Age of partici-
Study Sample pants Objectives Measures Duration Measurement Results
Chan (2003) 43 men-73 wom- M = 15.74 SD = .96 Evaluate the effective- Leadership Five days Pre & post question- Students gained confidence as
en high school ness of the leader- characteristics naires 6 weeks leaders, especially in skill areas of
students (Hong ship programme (communication Control group communication and public speak-
Kong) skills, creative& ing, in regulating emotions and
divergent thinking, generating alternatives in social
problem solving) problem solving
Gregoric & Owens 14 men-14 wom- Range = 16–17 Evaluate the relation- Social skills Two days Pre and post The training had a positive impact
(2012) en high school ship between a peer questionnaire on participants’ overall social skills,
students (South support leadership quantitative cooperation, decision-making, con-
Australia) training programme and qualitative flict resolution and self esteem but
and the develop- method limited improvement in belonging
ment of peer leaders’ Ten weeks later to the community.
social skills
D. KARAGIANNI AND A. J. MONTGOMERY

Hendricks et al. 10 women NR Train nurses to Leadership charac- Six months Pre and post ques- Participants increased their ability to
(2010) undergraduates improve their leader- teristics (commu- tionnaire influence, persuade and motivate
(Australia) ship capabilities nication, goal set, others; to effectively communicate;
positive to change, to team build and work collab-
confidence) oratively; to develop problem
solving and perseverance skills to
overcome obstacles & to serve as
agents for positive change.
Hoyt and Kennedy 10 women high M = 15.9 To promote leadership Views on leadership Six weeks Pre and post inter- The girls felt empowered to lead in
(2008) school students among participants views diverse ways, claim their identities
as leaders. There were distinct the-
matic changes with respect to how
participants viewed leadership.
Wong et al. (2012) 180 high school M = 15.18 SD = .62 Evaluate the effec- Self-esteem and Six months Pre and post ques- The overall self-esteem and self-ef-
students (Hong tiveness of the Self-efficacy tionnaire ficacy scores increased after the
Kong) leadership training Control group programme.
programme on
self- esteem and self
–efficacy
Cohen et al. (2011) 30 undergradu- NR Improve leadership Leadership knowl- Twelve months Pre and post ques- Students reported increased skill
ates (Australia) knowledge and en- edge and skills tionnaire development and enhanced em-
hance the leadership ployment prospects. They practised
skills their skills, gained confidence and
improved their communicational
skills.
(Continued)
Table 1. (Continued)

Age of partici-
Study Sample pants Objectives Measures Duration Measurement Results
Said et al. (2013) 111 men-112 NR Evaluate the effec- Effectiveness of the Three to five Pre and post The participants increased and
women tiveness of the programme days questionnaire and enhanced their knowledge of
undergraduates leadership training focus groups sev- leadership.
(Malaysia) programme en months later
Cohen et al. (2012) 35 men-129 NR Study the relationship Attitudes towards 167 h 4.5 h/once Pre and post ques- Positive change in attitudes towards
women junior between partici- people with disa- a week tionnaire, eight people with disabilities but the
high school stu- pation in the pro- bilities months later programme was not shown to
dents (Israel) gramme, changes Control group influence the self-image of the
in attitudes toward participants.
people with disabili-
ties & self image
Chen et al. (2009) 114 vocational NR Explore the effect of Leadership abilities 1 day (leadership Post questionnaire, Participants reflected on personal
high school stu- leadership training camp) teachers’ reflec- growth in problem solving skill and
dents (Taiwan) of group activities tion & students’ leadership
self-report
4 weeks later
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENCE AND YOUTH
91
92 D. KARAGIANNI AND A. J. MONTGOMERY

via the four phases of the leadership programmes: Selection Criteria for the Students, Theoretical
Background to the Programmes, Content of the Programmes, and Outcomes of the Programmes.

Selection criteria for the students

There was considerable variation with regard to the selection criteria used. Selection criteria were
reported in all studies except one (Chen et al., 2009) where the participants came from four vocational
high schools but did not report how the schools were selected.
In two studies students were selected by their teachers (Chan, 2003; Cohen et al., 2012). The students
were nominated by their school on the basis that they were considered to either have a high IQ score
or to be academically gifted or if they had shown specific talents in the areas of creativity or leadership
and their desire for social involvement and selection.
In three studies (Cohen et al., 2011; Hendricks et al., 2010; Hoyt & Kennedy, 2008) students volun-
teered and then were chosen by the researchers and their selection was based on some form of stand-
ardized assessment procedure. As a selection tool they used both written essays and interviews and
participants were selected on the basis that they were both willing and could complete the programme.
Hoyt and Kennedy (2008) selected applicants that did not regard themselves to be qualified as ‘lead-
ers’ to participate. They were selected using a written essay and interview to identify individuals who
expressed the commitment to examine and develop their own leadership and the leadership of others.
In three studies (Gregoric & Owens, 2008; Said et al., 2013; Wong et al., 2012) students volunteered
to participate within the context of their school that took part in the study. In the study of Gregoric
and Owens (2008) participants came from a public high school in a low socio-economic area. Overall,
the majority of the studies targeted people who expressed an interest in developing leadership skills
and who held a belief that the programme was going to be useful to them.

Theoretical background to the programmes

Overall, the reviewed studies made distal references to theory. Gregoric and Owens (2008) emphasized
social development and social skills development as a significant factor for the transition from ­childhood
to adolescence. In Hendricks et al. (2010), the leadership programme that they implemented was based
on the work of Bennis (2003) where he distinguished six personal qualities of leadership which are:
­integrity, dedication, magnanimity, humility, openness and creativity. According to this approach
­leadership was regarded as involving self-awareness and communicating it to others, building trust
among others and taking effective action to realize one’s personal leadership potential.
In Hoyt and Kennedy (2008), a distinction was made between transactional and transformational
leadership. The authors grounded their approach on the leadership development during adolescence
where they indicated that participation in community service and civic engagement plays a major role
in the personality of the future adult. In Wong et al. (2012), the programme was founded on the ‘Service
Learning Approach’ where learning happens through a cycle of action and reflection when students
cooperate with others putting in action what they have learnt and reflecting upon their experience.
In Cohen et al. (2011) the programme was developed to reflect trait theories which proposed that
leadership characteristics are rooted in the personalities of leaders. They utilized the work of Bennis
and considered leadership to comprise personal characteristics such as self awareness, developing trust
when cooperating with others, being able to communicate in an effective way your vision to others and
being conscious of one’s leadership strengths. Chen et al. (2009) based their approach upon cooperative
learning which is the instructional use of small groups in order for students to work together and make
the best of each student’s learning.
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENCE AND YOUTH 93

The content of the programmes

The content of the programmes was reported in all studies (except Said et al., 2013). In the Chan (2003),
the programme had five modules of five full-day sessions of training, which included communication
skills, public speaking, creative thinking, problem solving, leadership skills and group dynamics, and
peer support and organizing school activities. Following on from the course, students were selected
to take up leadership roles in student activities in their respective schools. Gregoric and Owens (2008)
used a two-day training workshop that was conducted by a coordinating teacher in order to facilitate
students to become peer leader. The activities involved warm up activities, cooperation, communica-
tion, emotions and feelings, relationships, friendship, rules, group dynamics, decision-making, problem
solving and self-awareness.
In Hendricks et al. (2010), the programme studied three components: leadership knowledge, lead-
ership skills and leadership inaction. Sessions were separated into leadership knowledge that involved
a one-day Leadership Retreat, a foundation leadership session for half a day and six 2-h sessions over a
period of 6 months. Participants then participated in a leadership in-action project where they worked
in a leadership capacity with a leader mentor from a local health care organization to provide strategic
leadership in a negotiated community development project and they completed a minimum of 30 h of
work on their respective projects. In Hoyt and Kennedy (2008), the intervention consisted of a six-week
curriculum that focused on leadership exploration through education, observation and action. This
programme included rigorous coursework, multi-generational mentoring, and service/experimental
learning in many forms, including independent youth-designed activism projects to be implemented
within the participants’ communities after programme completion.
In Wong et al. (2012), the programme included leadership activities, volunteer services and school-
based moral educational programmes. Students could offer their services for children with disabilities
and people living in underprivileged areas. The activities were designed to enhance students’ organ-
izational capabilities, problem-solving skills, team building techniques, fostering of care and concern
towards others, sharing of successful experiences and build up expertise on activity design among
the programme participants. In Cohen et al. (2011) the programme offered both theoretical sessions
and practical experience where they included workshops and seminars that entailed three curricular
components: leadership knowledge, leadership skills and leadership in action. The curriculum included
coming to terms with the theoretical knowledge and students were then given the chance to practise
their leadership skills by taking part in a series of expert-driven seminars, via role-playing, perspective
taking and management of groups. Furthermore, students cooperated with local industry-leaders in
order to offer strategic leadership in developing and implementing a community project.
In the Cohen et al. (2012) study, participants took part in workshops from the beginning of the
programme that presented information about disabilities. Later, they began volunteer projects that
offered services to people with disabilities within various frameworks and had active participation in
various interest groups such as music, art, cooking and sports. At the same time the programme advisor
continued to meet with the members once a week. In Chen et al. (2009) the leadership training camp
was based on an approach towards leadership development via the use of fables/ stories. The courses
adopted the methods of competitive team activities, story-telling and questioning, story building up
and enacting and experiences sharing. However, it is noteworthy that the description of the actions
undertaken during the action phase was not always described in enough detail.

Outcomes of the programmes

The outcomes of the programmes were highlighted by all studies. Eight of the nine studies were based
on quantitative methods with questionnaires except for one that used a qualitative approach with
interviews (Hoyt & Kennedy, 2008). Three studies used both methods (Gregoric & Owens, 2008; Said
et al., 2013; Chen et al., 2009). All of the studies made a pre and post measurement except for one that
94 D. KARAGIANNI AND A. J. MONTGOMERY

made only a post measurement (Chen et al., 2009). In the majority of the studies there was a generally
positive evaluation of the effectiveness of the programme with regard to the initial objectives.
Chan (2003) conducted a within subject analysis and also a comparison analysis between the research
and the control group. The results showed that there were no significant differences between the
control and the research group on creativity and leadership measures before the training but they did
not include post training results for the control group. Within subject results indicated that there was
improvement in divergent thinking, in communication and public speaking. Gregoric and Owens (2008)
used both questionnaires and case studies. The results indicated the helpful impact on the effective-
ness, cooperation, communication, empathy, belonging to school, relationships at home, friendships,
decision-making, conflict resolution and confidence. There was less impact on the sense of belonging to
the community. In Hendricks et al. (2010), the participants reported that the programme was beneficial
to them in terms of the transfer of knowledge, attitudes and skills. They became more confident and
positive to confront the challenges they face and met their personal goals through the ability to manage
conflict and negotiate. They found a statistically significant change in leadership skills and behaviour.
In Hoyt and Kennedy (2008), the participants reported that they became more aware of the ways
to overcome barriers and felt the strength to lead in various ways and became more confident to
lead. The interviewer had prior association with this leadership programme as a tutor of the course.
Additionally, a focus group was conducted with the participants. In Wong et al. (2012), the intervention
group was found to have improvements of both self-esteem and self-efficacy scores while the control
group showed a decrease in both scores. However, the differences in these changes were not found
to be statistically significant.
In Cohen et al. (2011) participants reported the change in their leadership knowledge and skills.
As the results indicated, prior to the programme students were not aware of leadership knowledge
or the required skills to be an effective leader. After the programme participants reported increased
skill development, greater application of their leadership skills in everyday life and the development
of confidence and improved employment prospects. In Said et al. (2013) the participants replied to a
survey instrument and some focus groups were used as an additional resource. Participants reported
that they benefited from the programme and they learned practical knowledge and skills and were
able to apply these skills at their training sites.
In Cohen et al. (2012) the attitudes of the research group towards people with disabilities at the
end of the programme were significantly more positive than their attitudes at the beginning of the
programme. On the other hand, in the control group no significant differences were found. In Chen
et al. (2009) the participants reported more confidence in themselves, more confidence to interact with
others and more willingness to find solutions to problems.

Discussion
Overall, the studies reviewed were heterogeneous and lacked methodological rigour. There are a number
of fundamental methodological issues common to many of the studies that need to be acknowledged
before we reach conclusions. On the one hand, there is some evidence that young people experienced
the programmes positively and that improvements were noted on a range of psychological outcomes
such as self-esteem and their general awareness about possibilities to experience leadership roles.
However, the studies have significant problems regarding selection effects and programme content. It’s
difficult to discern the degree to which teachers were either directly or indirectly influencing selection,
and the degree to which selected schools were representative of the wider population. Additionally,
the content of the programmes were weakly tied to the reported outcomes and lacked any rigorous
theoretical foundations guiding their design. Thus, developing a synthesis of the different studies is
problematic. The review presents more questions than answers. For example, more detailed information
on the epistemological roots of the programmes would allow us to ascertain whether they were adults
programmes designed for young people, or bespoke programmes that were evolved specifically to
address the perspective of a young adult.
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENCE AND YOUTH 95

Interestingly, none of the studies reviewed examined the influence of parenting behaviour on the
leadership abilities of the children. For example Zacharatos, Barling, and Kelloway (2000) examined
the influence that parental modelling can have on the development of adolescents’ leadership. Their
research focused on a sample of 112 Canadian high school students who were members of different
sports teams. Adolescents’ perceptions that their parents demonstrated transformational leadership
behaviours were associated with a greater likelihood that these adolescents exhibited similar leadership
behaviours. Also, those adolescents who displayed transformational behaviours were rated as more sat-
isfying, effective and effort-evoking leaders by their peers and coaches in their particular team context.
Moreover, Murphy and Johnson (2011) have examined the so-called seeds of leader development that
germinate and root at various stages before adulthood. They suggested that relevant developmental
experiences may occur more readily during sensitive periods of childhood and adolescence, which
influence development during adulthood. The authors ultimately argued for additional longitudinal
examinations of leadership development over the lifespan as a means to help advance current leader
development practices.
The reviewed studies did not adequately contextualize their results with regard to the school/uni-
versity environments of the participants. Children can be capable in a wide range of activities; however,
schools by design are likely to take into consideration only one way of being intelligent. Schools have
a tendency to value critical scholastic skills and askew creativity (Sternberg, 2003). However, creative
and practical skills are quite significant for a person’s development and success and can have a positive
impact after the ending of formal schooling (Sternberg, 1999).

Implications of the review for how schools can approach leadership

Specifically, we would recommend that future research seeks to address the contribution of schools in
the development of leadership skills among students. It would also be interesting to examine whether
schools play a role in reinforcing children to believe that they lack leadership abilities, based on ethnicity,
class or gender. At a methodological level, further work should include appropriate control groups. It
is interesting to note that we did not find any training programme concerning excluded young adults
(e.g. gang members) in leadership, involving children that are marginalized and have dropped out of
school. Thus, it suggests that such leadership programmes are influenced by a selection bias.
The majority of schools involve their students in leadership roles (e.g. house captains, prefects, and
sports captains, buddy programmes between older and younger students). Therefore, they run the risk
of inserting young people in roles without the appropriate support or structure on a ‘learn-by-doing’
approach. Moreover, it’s likely that the selected individuals are those that excel scholastically and/or
whose behaviour conforms to the norms of the school communicating a broader message to the school
community as to what ‘makes’ a leader.
It is surprising that when teachers talk about the mental growth of their students they do not refer
to the development of their imagination (Gajdamaschko, 2005). On the whole schools undervalue
creativity. In many cases teachers consider creativity to be the same as intelligence or that schooling
cannot or should not assess creativity, or in other cases they are unaware of how to teach creativity
(Sternberg, 2003).

Limitations
The review was limited by the file-drawer problem, whereby it is possible that important unpublished
work may have been missed. Additionally, only articles in English were reviewed. The heterogeneous
nature of the studied reviewed was a barrier to synthesizing the results of the programs in a meaningful
way.
96 D. KARAGIANNI AND A. J. MONTGOMERY

Conclusions
There is growing evidence that we significantly underestimate the ability of children to understand
the vagaries of work and the way that work impacts on adults (Galinsky, David, & 3M Company, 2010).
Moreover, there is a contradiction in educational systems that tend to valorize conformity and rote-
learning rather than initiative taking.
Currently, society has many expectations from leaders on how to run their organizations and manage
to succeed in difficult situations. For example, Gregersen, Morrison, and Black (1998) have identified
four strategies that are particularly effective in developing global leaders: foreign travel, with involve-
ment in the country’s way of life; working closely within teams with people coming from varied back-
grounds and perspectives; training that involves classroom and action learning projects; and overseas
assignments, which serve to broaden the viewpoint of future global leaders. One could argue that the
aforementioned qualities could be imbued among young people easier than ‘experienced’ executives.
Finally, none of the evidence that we have reviewed has explored whether we can engage young people
in defining and redefining leadership. The global economic crisis that is ongoing since 2008 begs the
question of whether we need leaders with entirely different values, and younger people represent a
perfect starting point.
Finally, the degree to which adult models of leadership are appropriate for younger people is an
open question. Do we embrace a top-down approach whereby we feedback the skills and lessons of
successful leaders to a younger generation, an apprenticeship approach. Alternatively, do we support a
bottom-up approach whereby we empower younger people to rethink leadership models and provide
the opportunity for them to organically develop different models of leadership?

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors
Despoina Karagianni has studied psychology with a specialisation in educational and school psychology in the Aristotle
University of Thessaloniki, Greece. She completed her MSc in inclusive and special education in the University of Edinburgh,
UK. She is a PhD candidate in the University of Macedonia and her research involves how we can develop leadership skills
among children.
Anthony Jude Montgomery, PhD, is an associate professor in Work and Organizational Psychology, at the University of
Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece. He has held academic positions at University College Cork (Ireland) and the Royal College
of Surgeons in Ireland-Medical University of Bahrain. His areas of research interest include: job burnout, work–family
integration and leadership.

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