Analysis of the Social Factors of College Student Cadres’ Leadership Ability: Based on the Grounded Theory Approach of NVivo

2.1. Research on the Concept of College Student Cadres’ Leadership Ability

The Constitution of the 12th Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress clearly states that “cadres are the backbone of the Party’s cause and public servants of the people” [7]. Local scholars have defined college student cadres as people with specific leadership attributes and roles appointed or elected by the university to hold certain positions, take charge of specific responsibilities, and assist the university in management [6]. In the book ‘The Student Leadership Challenge’, Kouzes et al. (2008) defined college students’ leadership ability as the capability of leaders to motivate others to volunteer for excellence in their organizations. Moreover, leadership ability is a relationship between a leader and a follower [8]. Xu expressed the connotation of college students’ leadership ability as the ability of college students to influence and change the psychology and behavior of other college students by exerting their influence and appeal in the process of communicating with others [9]. Northouse defined leadership ability as “a process of influencing others to achieve common goals”, emphasizing its social and interactive nature [10]. Based on the above findings, college student cadres’ leadership ability in this study is the capability of college student cadres to have clear value orientation and vision goals, to motivate the college students under their leadership to make outstanding achievements in the organization voluntarily and actively play their roles.

2.2. Research on the Measurement of College Student Cadres’ Leadership Ability

The measurement of college student cadres’ leadership ability has become an essential area of research in educational psychology. Accurately assessing their leadership ability is crucial for understanding their development and for designing effective leadership programs. The measuring methods of college student cadres’ leadership ability mainly involve qualitative research methods and quantitative research methods. In qualitative studies, most domestic and foreign scholars obtain participants’ subjective experiences and feelings by observing their behaviors, conducting in-depth interviews with them and journal analysis, and conducting subjective narration and qualitative evaluation on the effect of their development of leadership ability [11-17].

The questionnaire survey in the form of self-test is the most widely used quantitative research on college students’ leadership ability, which mainly includes the following: Socially Responsible Leadership Scale (SRLS) [18], Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) [19], Leadership Skills Inventory (LSI) [20] and Student Leadership Practices Inventory (SLPI) [21] and Student Leadership Behavior Scale (SLBS) [22].

To sum up, both qualitative and quantitative research methods are involved in the measurement of college students’ leadership ability, which have advantages and disadvantages in the measurement process. Considering the frequency and depth of college student cadres’ social participation varies from person to person due to academic pressure and time constraints [23], the researcher¹ used the interview method to get a deep and comprehensive understanding of the social factors influencing their leadership ability.

¹ The first author, Chen Chen was the researcher who conducted the interview of this study. The researcher is male and holds a master’s degree in applied psychology. The researcher’s occupation is college counselor with 7 years of experience in individual psychological counseling for college students at the time of the study. The researcher is highly proficient in conducting case interview research targeting college students.

2.3. Research on the Influencing Factors of College Student Cadres’ Leadership Ability

Most studies have explored the influencing factors of college student cadres’ leadership in terms of individuals, families, schools and society [24-30], but the specific influencing factors of one aspect are worthy of further in-depth analysis. This is to provide a more scientific and comprehensive reference value for relevant subjects to formulate leadership ability promotion countermeasures. However, most college student cadres actively participate in campus organization activities, club activities and volunteer services but have relatively little contact with external social organizations and enterprises [31]. Therefore, the influence of society on college student cadres’ leadership ability is weaker than other aspects (individual, family and school aspects). It is helpful to thoroughly explore their leadership ability to provide an important scientific basis for society to strengthen their leadership ability.

According to the results of previous studies, the social factors affecting college student cadres’ leadership ability were manifested in many aspects: The empirical research results of Zhang et al. indicated that social policies, traditional culture and social division of labor in the social environment had a significant impact on the leadership ability of female college students [32]. A study of the influencing factors of college students’ leadership ability showed that social responsibility and social participation have a significant positive impact on college students’ leadership ability [33]. Yang proposed the positive impact of social education on college students’ leadership ability [34]. In addition, social practice played a positive role in predicting college students’ leadership ability [35]. Although the research on the social influencing factors of college students’ leadership ability has formed some theoretical achievements, it can also be seen that these studies only analyze the influence of a specific aspect of social factors on college students’ leadership ability and the whole social factors of college students’ leadership ability and their influence degree still need further systematic verification and in-depth discussion.

2.4. Triadic Reciprocal Determinism

Triadic Reciprocal Determinism was proposed by American psychologist Albert Bandura, in which “Triadic” referred to an individual’s personal factors (P), environment (E), and behavior (B). This theory proposed that there were dynamic and bidirectional interactions among personal factors, behavior and environment [36]. Based on Triadic Reciprocal Determinism, this study regarded the three factors to deeply explore how the social environment influences college student cadres’ personal factors and their leadership ability.

Based on the grounded theory approach and utilizing NVivo software for data analysis, this study aims to explore the social factors influencing student cadres’ leadership ability. The systematic analysis of the main social influencing factors and their functional relationships in the leadership ability development process of college student cadres is expected to provide a profound insight into the formation mechanism of their leadership ability and provide an empirical basis for further optimizing their training strategy.

3.1. Grounded Theory Approach

Grounded Theory Approach is a qualitative research method whose main purpose is to establish theories based on empirical data. Researchers generally do not have theoretical assumptions before the start of research but directly start from actual observation, and based on systematic collection of data, find the core concepts that reflect social phenomena and then construct relevant social theories through the connections between these concepts. Among them, the step-by-step encoding of data is the most important link in the grounded theory approach, including “open coding”, “associative coding,” and “selective coding” [37]. This study adopted the grounded theory approach to explore the main social factors affecting the leadership ability of college student cadres through these three-level coding.

In a grounded theory approach, the sample size is typically determined by data saturation, not pre-determined at the beginning. Usually, the sample size should be between 25 to 30 participants [38]. Data saturation occurs when additional data collection no longer provides new insights or themes relevant to the research questions. This ensures that the findings are comprehensive and well-grounded in empirical data, allowing for a more accurate and meaningful construction of theory based on the observed social phenomena.

3.2. Interview Method

The interview method is a research method used by researchers to collect the psychological characteristics and behavioral data of the subject through oral conversations with interviewees. Depending on whether the interview content and process have uniform design requirements and certain structure, interview methods are divided into structured interviews, non-structured interviews and semi-structured interviews. The semi-structured interview is a combination of a non-structured interview and a structured interview. It is conducted according to a broad outline of the interview, but the interviewer can flexibly make necessary adjustments according to the actual situation of the interview. This kind of interview not only ensures that the interview does not deviate from the topic and needs but also leaves enough space for the interviewee to express their opinions. This flexibility allows the interviewer to make targeted inquiries based on interviewees’ answers, thereby gaining a deeper understanding of their perspectives and experiences [39]. Therefore, this study adopted semi-structured interview method based on the above advantages.

Before the interview, the researcher designed a semi-structured interview outline according to the research objectives. This process was guided by previous literature on the social factors influencing college student cadres’ leadership ability. After designing the interview outline, the researcher first conducted a pilot test with three interviewees to ensure that each interview question could guide them to comprehensively and thoroughly answer the contents related to the social influencing factors of college student cadres’ leadership ability before starting the formal interview. The interviewees were scheduled in advance to ensure sufficient time for in-depth interviews. The semi-structured interview outline contained a total of 10 open questions, and there was no right or wrong answer to each question. The purpose is to guide the interviewees to make a detailed and comprehensive statement based on their experiences. The interview questions are as follows: (1) What is your reason for applying for the position of a college student cadres in your first year of college? (2) Have you read a book or literature on the promotion of leadership ability? If you have read this kind of book, please give a short summary of the book. If you haven’t read it, please share a summary of any book you have read recently. (3) Have you attended any leadership training before? If so, in what form did the training take place? In particular, which aspect of the training has influenced you the most, and which aspect has been significantly improved after the training? If not, are you willing to participate in similar training? (4) Please describe the most successful activities you have led or organized in your daily work and study. If possible, be as specific as you can about the situation, task, behavior, and outcome of the experience. (5) Who is the leader you most admire? Talk about why you admire him/her. (6) What kind of online platform articles do you usually read? Why are you interested in this type of topic and how has it affected your growth and development? (7) Have you ever worked as an intern or part-time employee in a company or social organization? If so, did the experience contribute to your leadership ability development? (8) Do you know the current employers’ attitude towards the experience of college student cadres when recruiting fresh college graduates? (9) What factors do you think affect or hinder your leadership development? How did you overcome these disadvantages? (10) Do you think it is necessary to use social forces to help you improve your leadership ability? If necessary, what social resources do you think would be most helpful? In the actual interview process, the researcher handled the interview questions flexibly according to the actual situation, not limited to the order of the questions in the outline, and allowed the interviewees to actively share their ideas and questions within the scope of the research purpose.

3.3. Data Analysis Method

After each interview, the researcher encoded the interview content step by step and tested whether the interview content reached saturation according to the coding results. Based on a study of operationalizing data saturation for theory-based interview studies, the researchers proposed principles for deciding saturation in theory-based interview studies and designed to identify three belief categories using an initial analysis sample of 10 and a stopping criterion of 3 [40]. Therefore, the researcher continued to interview the remaining 2 interviewees recruited for the first time and 1 newly recruited interviewee (a total of 3 interviewees) repeatedly to verify whether the research data had reached saturation. When encoding the data of the eighteenth interviewee, it was found that no new coding reference points appeared. The result showed that no new reference points appeared, indicating that the data had reached saturation, and the researcher ended the interview process with 18 participants.

This study employed the analytical process of Grounded Theory to construct categories and utilized NVivo software for coding analysis. The research process is illustrated in Fig. (1).

5.1. Collecting Data

5.2. Data Coding and Analysis

The researcher standardized the Word text data and imported it into NVivo version 12.0 software. The text data were coded step by step by using the method of grounded theory approach, that is, in the order of “open coding”, “associative coding” and “selective coding”. Coding refers to the process of decomposing, discriminating and conceptualizing collected empirical materials [43]. Nodes were collections of reference points extracted from the material, including reference points for specific subjects, places, people, or other aspects of interest to the researcher. Free nodes were independent nodes that had no clear, logical connection to other nodes. Tree nodes were related nodes that were logically connected to other nodes.

The first stage was “open coding”. Researchers need to process the text data line-by-line coding so as not to miss any reference points that are helpful for further exploration of important social factors affecting college student cadres. Based on a preliminary analysis of Word text materials, the researcher found many concepts commonly used by interview subjects. For example, “broadening the ideas of student cadres’ work through the network platform”, “taking the great leaders of China as a model”, “participating in social practice activities to exercise”, “improving the leadership ability through this training”, “exercising my communication ability and coordination ability through organizing this activity”, “the guidance and support of seniors”, and “hope that enterprises will provide more internship positions for college students that match their own majors”. After many modifications, screening and comparison, 515 reference points and 81 codes were initially generated. The researcher labeled these codes as free nodes, which will become an important basis for subsequent data analysis.

The second stage was “associative coding”. The researcher looked for associations among the 81 free nodes found in open coding to see if these larger concepts could be reduced to a smaller number of higher-level concepts. After repeated comparison and discrimination, 15 nodes were formed and marked as tree nodes.

The third stage was “selective coding”. By thinking deeply about the generic relationships between tree nodes in the stage of “associative coding”, this stage gradually refined six more meaningful and conceptual main categories as the social factors affecting college students’ leadership ability: “Social cultures and policies”, “Social media”, “Social models”, “Social practices”, “Social recruitments”, “Social training” and marked them as tree nodes, as shown in Fig. (2).

5.3. Building Model

After three stages of coding, the social factor model of college students’ leadership ability was established according to the logical relationship between nodes and sub-nodes, and the project diagram was formed through the visualization function, as shown in Fig. (3).

6.1. Data Analysis

For the coding and analysis of interview materials, combined with further analysis of interview materials, the researcher extracted six major social factors that affect the leadership ability of college students. A detailed summary table of the data analysis results (where S1 to S18 indicate interview record file numbers) is shown in Table 3.

6.2. Social Cultures and Policies

This code included two aspects: social cultures and social policies. Social cultures can affect college student cadres’ leadership ability, as shared by one of the interviewees, “Creating an impartial and positive culture atmosphere is helpful for us to cultivate our leadership ability” (S5). Social policies can also affect their leadership ability, such as “The state should further strengthen the publicity of relevant supporting policies for college student cadres to mobilize the enthusiasm of more college students to serve as student cadres and better enhance their leadership ability” (S12), “Relevant departments should introduce policies that can certify the experience of college student cadres to ensure its authenticity and fairness as much as possible so that college student cadres are more willing to exercise their leadership ability in their positions” (S17).

6.3. Social Media

Social media can be divided into books and the Internet. Reading books could help college student cadres strengthen their ideals and beliefs, expand their theoretical knowledge and work ideas, and then transform them into leadership ability to effectively carry out student work, such as “Through reading ‘How the Steel Was Tempered’ (i.e., a book by Nikolai Ostrovsky, 1934), it has strengthened my belief and inspired me to lead students better to create achievements” (S9). Internet, especially the articles in the WeChat Official Account, can help college student cadres improve their writing ability and enhance the depth and breadth of thinking, which has important reference significance for them to lead student organizations. For instance, “Reading the articles in the WeChat Official Account of various colleges student union had a positive impact on leading my members to carry out student activities” (S12).

6.4. Social Model

The social model included a family role model, senior model, public figure model, and professional model. A family role model who once served as a college student cadre provided strong support and good advice for college student cadres to better show their leadership ability during their tenure, such as “My sister was also a college student cadre, and she supported me very much to serve as a student cadre and shared some of her experiences leading student organizations in college” (S8). The excellent work performance of senior students in the same school or organization had a leading role in promoting the leadership ability of college student cadres, such as “An outstanding senior in my student union encouraged me to continue to run for minister so that I could further improve my leadership ability” (S14). The positive mentalities of the public figure model had a profound and lasting incentive effect on college student cadres’ leadership ability, such as “The modern Chinese president instilled in me a sense of leadership from a young age” (S10). Professional models who had achieved certain achievements in their careers (such as school counselors or corporate executives) could guide college student cadres to carry out daily work more efficiently, thus further portraying their leadership ability, such as “My counselor once supported me to take charge of a major activity independently, which greatly improved my leadership ability” (S17), “Successful people in enterprises can guide college students to exert their leadership ability more comprehensively from a broader social perspective” (S6).

6.5. Social Practices

The social practice activities of college students mainly included the off-campus practical activities organized by them, as well as some social internships or part-time jobs that they participated in. All 18 college student cadres who were interviewed have experience organizing off-campus practical activities, and all of them mentioned in the interview that organizing activities enabled them to lead the team to complete the work or task more efficiently in the future, such as “I have improved my leadership ability by organizing this off-campus volunteer teaching activity for college students, and my working relationship with my team members became more harmonious and positive” (S8), “By organizing this volunteer service project, I feel that I have increased my self-confidence, and I will be more skilled and calm in leading team members to carry out activities in the future” (S17). Participating in social internships or part-time jobs exercised college student cadres’ comprehensive ability, helped them to better lead the work team and adapt to the future social workplace environment, such as “By participating in some part-time community jobs, I can get in touch with the workplace in advance, thus laying a foundation for improving my leadership ability in the workplace after graduation.” (S13).

6.6. Social Recruitments

Social recruitments included the emphasis of employers on the experience as college student cadres and employment goals they achieved by improving their leadership ability. If more employers pay attention on candidates with the experience as student cadres when recruiting college graduates, the more willing college students are to take the initiative to serve as student cadres, and their leadership ability has been effectively improved, such as “Some positions of civil service examination explicitly require student cadres experience, and my work experience as a monitor can give me an advantage in applying for the examination” (S1); “I know that some state-owned enterprises pay more attention to the experience of college student cadres when recruiting, which is one of the motivations for me to persist as a student cadre during my school life” (S4). College student cadres also wanted to achieve their employment goals by developing their leadership ability, such as, “By serving as a student cadre, I have exercised my leadership ability, and at the same time, I became more rational and calmer when speaking in public, so I feel more confident about my future job hunting” (S10).

6.7. Social Training

Social training included college student cadres’ demand for the form and content of social training, as well as the career abilities and traits of college student cadres acquired in training. College student cadres hope to innovate the form of social training to enhance their leadership ability, such as “I hope to participate in social training including situation simulation to effectively improve my leadership ability” (S8). College student cadres also aim to improve specific skills they may lack by participating in social training, enabling them to indirectly enhance their leadership abilities in the future, such as “I hope to learn how to scientifically assign work tasks to team members through training, so as to lead the team for better development” (S3). Besides, college student cadres acquired many career abilities and traits that contribute to their development of leadership ability through training. The results showed that only two interviewees had participated in leadership training organized by social organizations outside the school, while the rest had only participated in school training, such as “My interpersonal and organizing skills have been improved through this ‘Jinan City Young Marxist Training Project’, which helps me to establish a more harmonious working relationship with my subordinates” (S9), “The biggest gain I got from this youth leadership training course organized by school is that as a class leader, I should establish an overall situation consciousness in the students’ work” (S16).

Weiner’s Attribution Theory distinguishes between different types of attribution through key dimensions such as subjective vs. objective, stable vs. unstable, and controllable vs. uncontrollable factors. Subjective factors refer to individuals’ own inherent traits and efforts, typically related to personal experiences, cognition, emotions, and motivation, which are usually things that individuals can control or change. Objective Factors are external conditions, the environment, or the actions of others, which are often beyond the individual’s control. Controllable Factors are factors that individuals can actively adjust or change, often related to personal behaviors, efforts, or strategies. Uncontrollable Factors are factors that individuals cannot change or adjust, such as luck, the actions of others, or random events [44]. Based on Weiner’s Attribution Theory, this study categorized these six factors into two categories: subjective controllable factors and objective uncontrollable factors.

Building on this foundation, the current study positions the leadership abilities of college student cadres as the core category influencing six main categories. Their leadership abilities are continuously enhanced through active participation in social activities and the support of both subjective and objective factors within the social environment. College student cadres can participate in social training and social practice activities according to their own needs and improve their leadership ability directly through the combination of theory and practice. Besides, they can also actively search and read various social media articles that they are interested in or find helpful for their personal development, which provides

knowledge accumulation and a theoretical basis for the improvement of their leadership ability over time. Therefore, for college student cadres, social practices, social training and social media are processes in which they actively engage and represent subjective, controllable factors that have a direct impact on their leadership abilities.

Postconditions in social recruitment, contemporary social policies, and cultures can motivate college students to take the initiative in becoming student cadres or participating in social activities, such as social training, practice activities, or engaging with social media. This indirectly impacts the development of their leadership abilities. According to interviewees, employment goals, positive and fair social cultures, and strong policy support encourage student college student cadres to truly fulfill their duties, enhancing their leadership skills.

Moreover, the significant achievements and outstanding abilities of role models admired by college students not only provide guidance and motivation in social activities, indirectly improving their leadership ability but also directly influence the development of essential leadership skills. Thus, role models, social recruitments, cultures, and policies represent objective, uncontrollable factors that can influence college student cadres’ leadership ability or indirectly through their participation in social activities.

Based on this narrative, the constructs and presents a new model of the social factors influencing college student cadres’ leadership ability, as shown in Fig. (4).

Subjective1 (Major themes)

Objective Uncontrollable Factors (Minor themes)

Contributions and Limitations

Limitations

While both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used to measure college student cadres’ leadership ability, each has its advantages and disadvantages. To avoid a one-dimensional approach, future research should combine qualitative and quantitative methods for a more comprehensive analysis of social factors influencing college student cadres’ leadership ability.

Implications of the Study

This study integrates Triadic Reciprocal Determinism to provide a nuanced understanding of the social factors influencing college student cadres’ leadership ability. It proposes a social factor model of college student cadres’ leadership development, bridging gaps in existing theoretical frameworks.

By identifying and addressing barriers to leadership development, this study serves as a research reference for enhancing the leadership ability of college student cadres, contributing to their personal growth and equipping them with essential skills for professional success. Additionally, the study presents specific ideas for college educators to develop targeted interventions, such as workshops, mentoring programs, and leadership training tailored to student needs. These initiatives aim to nurture leadership capabilities effectively. Furthermore, the insights gained from this research have the potential to create a long-term impact by shaping future leaders who are well-prepared to tackle complex challenges and contribute to organizational and societal advancement.

This study also provides valuable perspectives and improves the leadership abilities of Chinese college student cadres from a social-environmental perspective. Moreover, it offers a scientific basis for the Chinese Ministry of Education to formulate policies related to leadership development in college students, underscoring its high theoretical and practical value.

Directions for Future Research

Future research can build upon the conclusions of this study by conducting quantitative investigations into the social factors influencing college student cadres’ leadership ability. This approach would not only validate the findings of this study but also enrich the hierarchical dimensions and structural elements of these social factors. Researchers could develop a social factor analysis scale to assess the impact of different social factors on leadership ability efficiently and effectively. Such a tool would also aid educational institutions in designing more targeted strategies for developing college student cadres’ leadership skills from a social perspective.