AN EXAMINATION OF LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT AND OTHER EXPERIENTIAL ACTIVITIES ON STUDENT RESILIENCE AND LEADERSHIP EFFICACY Open Access

Leadership development programs have become widespread in higher education; over 1500 different programs had been registered with the International Leadership Association as of 2012 (Owen, 2012). Given the prevalence of these programs and the substantial institutional investments they require, examination of their purported impacts is a valid area of investigation. Using the used Multi-Institute Study of Leadership, the current study explored the impact of experiential development programming on two of the instrument’s key outcome variables, resilience and self-efficacy. Results found a significant positive relationship between leadership development programs and self-efficacy, but not for resilience. Additional analyses found that other experiential activities (e.g., on-campus jobs, study abroad, etc.) had essentially the same (significant) impact on self-efficacy as did intentionally leadership development ones. Interpretations and implications are discussed.