Abstract:
This paper investigated whether teaching student leaders about the Meaning-
Centred Leadership Model results in a significant improvement in their leadership
potentials. The participants were two groups of student leaders (N=18) from a
satellite campus of a university of technology in South Africa. The paper utilised
both quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data was collected
using Purpose in Life Test (PIL) and Youth Leadership Test (YLT). In addition,
qualitative data was collected on the participants’ subjective experience of
development in leadership potential. A non-equivalent control group design
was employed. A ‘repeated measures’ t-test was used. The qualitative data
was analysed by means of themes. The findings from this paper indicate that
a meaning-centred leadership model can be used to inspire young people in
their leadership development. The levels of meaning of student leaders in the
experimental group were significantly better after the intervention than before.
In addition, there was a significant increase in the leadership aptitude of student
leaders in the experimental group after the meaning-centred leadership model.
Notable differences were also observed between the two groups, in the sense
that the Purpose in Life and Youth Leadership Test scores of participants in the
experimental group was significantly better after the intervention than before.
The findings indicate that it is possible to inspire youth leaders in their leadership
development for meaning by means of a meaning-centred leadership model,
and that this helps in their transformational self-knowledge.
