Impact of Servant Leadership on Graduate Students' Perceptions of their Preparedness to Serve Society after Graduation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46328/ijonses.6109Keywords:
Servant leadership, Greenleaf’s servant leadership theory, Graduate students, Descriptive case studyAbstract
The problem addressed in this study was the unpreparedness of students leaving Christian higher education institutions in the United States to engage, serve, and contribute to the common good of society after graduation. Student unpreparedness for life after college is now considered a significant threat to higher education enterprise in the United States. Servant leadership is gaining recognition as a viable model for addressing challenges in higher education. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive single case study was to explore graduate students' perceptions of the impact of servant leadership behaviors of the administrators, staff, and faculty at a private Christian university in the Southeastern region of the United States on their preparedness to engage, serve, and contribute to the common good of society after graduation. Greenleaf's servant leadership theory was utilized as the guiding theoretical framework for this study. Thirteen participants who met the eligibility criteria were recruited for the study through purposive sampling. The thematic analysis of the study's one-on-one interviews and focus group data, using NVivo 14, identified two themes that addressed the research question that guided the study. The study findings showed that graduate students developed servant leadership by observing and learning from campus administrators, faculty, and staff who exhibited servant leadership behaviors and offered them opportunities to practice servant leadership. Also, the findings indicated that graduate students believed their experiences with servant leadership on campus have equipped, prepared, inspired, and motivated them to contribute meaningfully to society after graduation. This qualitative descriptive single case study has contributed to the existing body of knowledge on the appropriateness, applicability, and impact of servant leadership in higher education institutions by examining and providing new insights into graduate students' perceptions of servant leadership, which has been lacking in the literature. Future studies should include quantitative analyses to evaluate the impact of servant leadership from the perspective of graduate students across various colleges and universities nationwide.
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