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The Student Leadership Competencies Inventory consists of eight scales, each corresponding to its relevant leadership construct within the Student Leadership Competencies framework (Seemiller, 2013). Due to the increasing use of the framework and associated inventory in leadership development programs in higher education, we conducted a thorough analysis of the psychometric properties within each scale. Specifically, using a national dataset of university student responses, we analyzed internal reliability statistics, and conducted exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation and maximum likelihood confirmatory factor analysis for each of the eight scales. Our results suggested that all scales, overall, possess sufficient strength to be considered valid measures of the leadership constructs within the Inventory, with some notably high co-variances between certain sub-scale factors in several scales.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the perceived transformational leadership practices of charge and staff nurses. Transformational leadership is effective in promoting change in organisations, with the leader guiding followers towards a common vision.

A quantitative, descriptive, comparative survey design was used. All charge nurses (N = 151) and staff nurses (N = 1,950) in six health entities in Malta were included. A mixed mode survey design was used. Data were collected using the Leadership Practices Inventory and analysed using ANOVA and the Kruskal–Wallis test.

An overall response rate of 15% (n = 315) was achieved. Both staff and charge nurses perceived transformational leadership to be practiced. Charge nurses scored consistently higher than staff nurses. In long-term care environments, charge nurses are more likely to “model the way”, while in acute settings, they were more likely to “enable others to act”.

Transformational leadership appears to be applied by charge nurses in Malta. The response rate achieved was low and may limit the generalisability of the results of the study.

Nurse managers need to adapt their transformational leadership style based on the context in which they work.

Regular feedback from nursing staff should be sought for charge nurses to be aware of the extent to which they are implementing transformational leadership.

While there is evidence that team captainship in intercollegiate sports can lead to leadership development, there is little evidence about the role that task dependence may play on that effect. The individual or team nature of sports may offer different leadership experiences for team captains, leading to differential outcomes. In this exploratory study, 31 NCAA Division III team captains reported their leadership practice using Kouzes and Posner’s Student Leadership Practices Inventory (2^nd ed., 2005) at the beginning and end of one playing season. Results indicate that team captains developed their use of their leadership practices during the playing season regardless of whether they led an interdependent or independent team. The implications for leadership educators interested in the potentially unique contributions of various leadership experiences are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to determine the leadership practices needed to improve academic achievement and generate positive change in school organizations. The study was also conducted to provide insight to principal preparation programs and school districts about effective transformational leadership practices. A quantitative research method was used to achieve the survey study. Ninety-two teachers completed the Leadership Practices Inventory developed by Kouzes and Posner. Data was analyzed with the use of descriptive statistics and t- tests. The findings of the study indicate that (a) principals in high performing schools employ all leadership practices more frequently than principals in lower performing schools and (b) inspiring a shared vision and challenging the process are the two practices that have the biggest impact on student achievement. It is recommended that principal preparation programs incorporate Kouzes and Posner’s transformational leadership model into their curriculum in order to develop highly qualified school leaders.

Over a period of three years (2006-2008) students entering [university] were asked to complete the Student Leadership Practices Inventory (S-LPI), and 2,855 initial responses were received. Responding students were asked to complete the S-LPI again at the end of their first and third years of study. No significant differences were found in student use of the leadership practices based on age, geographic origin, or whether the student lived on or off campus during his or her first year. Significant differences were found based on students’ gender and program of study. Implications for leadership development programming are considered.

Leadership behaviors of undergraduates (n=1103) were examined using the Student Leadership Practice Inventory (SLPI). The practice of leadership behaviors increased significantly from freshman to juniors and from juniors to seniors. However, each class was significantly less likely to practice the Challenge the Process behavior and significantly more likely to practice the Enable Others to Act behavior. Experience with different types of leadership roles were related to higher SLPI practice scores. Age, race, transfer status and taking a freshman experience seminar did not influence SLPI scores or the number of different types of leadership roles. Unexpectedly, women had significantly higher SLPI scores than men at each class level.

For decades educators have espoused the importance of the principal as the instructional leader of the school. The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between principal leadership behaviors and teacher instructional practice descriptors. This relationship was observed among schools participating in a systemic school improvement process. The study included eight elementary, eight middle, and eight high schools in the USA. Teachers in each school were surveyed on the principal’s instructional leadership abilities. Student and teacher engagement data were collected through school‐wide observations using the instructional practices inventory. Instructional leadership dimensions were found to correlate highly with instructional practice descriptors. This study confirms the significance of instructional leadership and provides specific insight into the nature of that leadership.

This research aims to extend the generalizability of previous studies, using managerial samples, by investigating the tactics college students employ to learn and how this relates to their own behavior as leaders.

College students were surveyed regarding their typical tactics for learning, using Dalton's Learning Tactics Inventory, along with the extent to which they engaged in various leadership practices, using Kouzes and Posner's Student Leadership Practices Inventory.

Students who are more actively engaged in any of the various learning tactics (feelings, thinking, accessing others, and action), or all of them (versatility), subsequently report greater engagement across the range of leadership practices as well as transformational leadership.

The sample is drawn from college students, on a single campus, from a single discipline and in their first year of study and, while successfully holding these variables constant, may be unrepresentative of other student populations. The use of a student population may limit generalizability to managerial and/or professional populations. However, the hypotheses and methodology follow previous studies with managerial samples and serve to extend the validity of the learning and leadership relationships investigated. Future studies should add assessments of the effectiveness of leaders.

Leadership skills can be developed through a number of learning tactics and strategies, rather than from a single perspective; but the greater the range of learning strategies utilized, the more comfortable students feel engaging in various leadership behaviors. Leadership development is a learning process in itself.

Leadership educators seek to understand how they can better develop leadership among their students through formal and informal course experiences. The purpose of this study was to understand how undergraduate students perceive reasons for changes in their leadership practices, after completing a personal leadership education course. The course focused on the five exemplary practices of college students. As part of the course, students completed the Student Leadership Practices Inventory (S-LPI) as a pre and post assessment. A qualitative content analysis of 107 undergraduate student reflections from multiple sections of a leadership course was conducted to examine students’ perceptions of what influenced their change in scores on the S-LPI assessment. Students perceived that the curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular activities of the course (including the high-impact service-learning project) affected their change in score for the leadership behavior(s) they intended to focus on throughout the semester. Students whose scores did not increase for the leadership behavior they chose to focus on still experienced leadership growth and development but attributed their growth to different items: their growth was in a different leadership behavior than intended or they developed a greater understanding of the five practices which affected their self-assessed score.

The article explores the impact of culture on leadership practices in three countries in culturally and economically different regions: the United States, Slovenia, and Nigeria. It uses the visionary approach to leadership as developed by Kouzes and Posner (1987), who have identified five leadership practices (actions or behaviors) employed by effective leaders. Hypotheses about expected differences in the usage of those practices were developed on the basis of Hofstede’s (1980) country score. The Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI: Kouzes & Posner, 1993) was used to collect self‐ratings from 351 MBA students in the respective countries. Contrary to expectations, the data reveals that there are not many significant differences between the leadership practices of American, Nigerian, and Slovenian MBA students, suggesting that some charismatic leadership behaviors may be universally practiced. Some differences to occur in the leadership practices of Modeling the Way and Enabling Others Act. Culture seems to affect gender differences in leadership practices. These differences are greatest for Nigerian respondents and smallest for Slovenian MBA students.