Date of Award
May 2020
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Educational Leadership - Higher Education
Committee Member
Tony Cawthon
Committee Member
Michelle Boettcher
Committee Member
Matthew Boyer
Committee Member
Rachel Wagner
Abstract
According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), career readiness “has been undefined, making it difficult for leaders in higher education, workforce development, and public policy to work together effectively to ensure the career readiness of today’s graduates” (2016, p. 1). Students rate themselves high for each of the career competencies and believe they are ready for the workforce. Employers disagree and state that students need more competency development during college. Exploring the misconceptions and miscommunications about the leadership competency could be a first step in closing the gap for all of the career readiness competencies.
By determining what leadership type best aligns with internship experiences from a college student’s perspective and an employer’s perspective could help in developing more productive and intentional learning opportunities. In this study, I compare the transactional leadership, transformational leadership, and servant leadership types as they relate to the internship experience. I find that students frequently describe leadership experiences using language aligning with transactional and transformational leadership, while mentors use language that does not align with any of the leadership types chosen. As Strong et al. (2013) point out in their encouragement for more leadership-oriented research, “faculty would gain a better understanding of their students and may better understand the leadership experience” (p. 182). As next steps, further research should be completed to see if other leadership types better align with the mentor comments.
Recommended Citation
Nunamaker, Troy Dean, "An Exploration Using Narrative Analysis of How Employers and College Student Interns View and Explain the Development of the Career Readiness Competency, Leadership" (2020). All Dissertations. 2575.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/2575