Abstract
Purpose. This study assesses the effects of gender and ethnicity on leader attribute score, self-rated leadership ability and citizen leader potential and the relationships among leader attribute score, self-rated leadership ability, and citizen leader potential. Theory. Social Identity Theory, Leader Categorization Theory, and the Theory of Self-Efficacy are used to explain the relationships among the variables. Methodology. Secondary data analysis was conducted on data from the Higher Education Research Institute's national survey of college freshman. T-Tests, ANOVA, and Partial Correlations were used to test the hypotheses. Multiple Regression analyses were used to determine the relative predictive power of the independent variables. Path analysis was conducted to assess the level of direct and indirect effects of minority status on citizen leader potential. Findings. Minority group members rated their own personal leader attributes and citizen leader potential higher than majority group members but rated their own leadership abilities lower than majority group members. African Americans rated their own leader attributes, leadership ability and citizen leader potential higher than Latinos and Asian Americans. Females rated their own leader attributes and leadership abilities lower than males did; however, there were no gender differences in citizen leader potential. There was a strong relationship between leader attribute score and self-rated leadership ability and only a moderate relationship between the self-rated leadership and citizen leader potential. Implications. The results of this study reveal a disconnect between leadership and citizenship. There are also significant gender and ethnic differences in leadership beliefs and behaviors, which has implications for leadership education and training.