Self-perception and the leadership aspirations of creative arts students

A significant proportion of creative arts students would like to take on a leadership role at some point in their career, but they may need more support to positively define and articulate these aspirations

Researchers at the University of Northampton - funded by the Jisc careers research grant - investigated whether creative arts students want to be leaders, how they think about leadership, and what skills they believe they need to achieve that goal.

Key findings 

• Over 70% of respondents in this study were female, and more than half of respondents identified male leaders as someone they admire. This reflects the overrepresentation of males within the sector and a lack of female role models.
• When asked to identify a leader they admire, only 48% specified a leader from the creative industries. When participants were asked more specifically to name a creative leader they admire, over 70% said they could. This suggests that students are finding their leadership models from across society through personal, social and media related connections such as family and Instagram.
• When asked what the university is doing to support them to become a leader there was high reporting of group work and presentations but there was no mention of guest speakers or talks from industry professionals as role models.
• The majority of respondents identified at present they do not perceive themselves as a 'good' leader, yet over 50% of respondents felt the university was doing enough to prepare them for leadership.
• Participants highlighted group work and events as the key skills they need to develop leadership. There was a lack of graduate-level language however such as 'collaboration', 'innovation', 'complexity' and 'diversity'. More support could be provided to enable students to positively define and articulate their own futures while at university.
• Participants further provided natural responses to their future career aims which is in line with the Jisc survey of 2021 that reported that students did not feel positively about their future career.
• However, over 70% of respondents cited they wanted a leadership role at some point in their future career. So, while students are not overly positive about their current career aims, they do have high aspirations, but express this in a limited capacity.

About the report 

This research investigates whether students from creative programs identify leadership qualities through self-perceived definitions and where these perceptions have come from. Additionally, it examines whether these students see themselves as leaders based on their skills and career aspirations.

The research questions for this project are:

1. Can students identify and articulate leadership definitions, and where have these self-perceived ideas come from?
2. Do students aspire to hold leadership roles?

This research was funded by the Jisc careers research grant. If you're a careers professional planning to undertake research, you may be eligible for funding of up to £5,000.