In Search of Authentic Peer Leaders: Finding, Nurturing, and Affirming

Luthans and Avolio (2003) have posited that we need methods to develop authentic leaders. One method is to form learning communities on college campuses. Within these communities, peer leaders influence the development of newly admitted peers. The question is: why do some students become peer leaders and others do not? We believe that the answer lies somewhere in their core values. By the time people enter college, they are predisposed to value certain end-states and modes of conduct. Therefore, it is important to determine these predispositions so that leadership development opportunities such as peer leadership can be made available to those who are ready for this type of development. However, at this point we do not know which core values make a difference. This gap in the knowledge is what led to this study. The findings identify the core values of both peer leaders and non-peer leaders. In most cases, these values are the same for both groups. However, the core value of a sense of accomplishment stands out as being significant in determining who will select this type of leadership development opportunity. The paper expands on how to find, nurture, and affirm these select students.

After comparing the RVS scores of mid-to upper-level managers at two different time periods (T1: 1980's; T2: 2010's), the results showed that the value orientation of managers at T2 are different than at T1. Murphy, Mujtaba, Manyak, Sungkhawan and Greenwood (2010) used the Rokeach Value Survey to examine value differences across generations. Conducted in a work setting in the country of Thailand, it compared the value differences of baby boomers against Generation Y and Generation X and found differences.
A review of the literature indicates that the Rokeach Values framework has been utilized often in research within higher education settings. The focus of the studies ranged from examining the values of college instructors in India (Triveni, 2014) and value differences as it relates to the gender of students in Hungary (Bosci, 2012). Additional studies have been conducted with business students within the disciplines of management (Ng & Burke, 2010), accounting, and finance (Giacomino, Brown, & Akers, 2011;Giacomino, Li, & Michael, 2013;McCarthy, 1997).
The peer educator literature argues that one issue new students face upon entering college is a range of new and controversial viewpoints that challenge their personal values. Ender and Newton (2000) point out that peer leaders can assist in the new students' maturation process by displaying appropriate values.
Given the importance of this process, it is our belief that it is important to determine both the terminal core values and the instrumental core values of potential peer leaders. Therefore, our first two hypotheses are: Hypothesis 1: Peer leaders will identify a small set (three to five) of core terminal values.
Hypothesis 2: Peer leaders will identify a small set (three to five) of core instrumental terminal values.
Assuming that we find that peer leaders do have a small set of core terminal and core instrumental values, the next question would be whether these core values different from those of non-peer leaders.
This reasoning led us to our next two hypotheses, which are: Hypothesis 3: Peer leaders' terminal core values will differ from non-peer leaders.
Hypothesis 4: Peer leaders' instrumental core values will differ from non-peer leaders.

Subjects
The subjects were 46 peer leaders and 64 non-peer leaders enrolled at a large southwest university. All peer leaders were 19 to 20 years old and held the academic rank of sophomore. The non-peer leaders were chosen because they mirrored these demographics but were not peer leaders. Each subject was asked to complete a multiple page questionnaire that included the Rokeach Values Survey. No extra credit was extended to these subjects for their involvement in the study.

Measure
We used the Form E version of the Rokeach Value Survey. This instrument consists of two pages. The first page has eighteen terminal values listed on it. Figure 1 is Figure 2 is an example of the instrumental values part of the survey.

Procedure
The questionnaire was handed out to the subjects and they were asked to return the surveys to one of the researchers' offices. The subjects were assured of anonymity and that only aggregate data would be reported. Each subject was asked to rank order the eighteen terminal values using 1 as the most important value and 18 as the least important value. Once the subjects completed the terminal values, they were asked to rank the instrumental values using the same process where 1 represented the most important value and 18 represented the least important value.

Analysis
The statistical analysis was conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).
After the data set was created, it was checked for errors. Next, consistent with Tukey's (1977) advice to get to know your data, we produced a series of descriptive and exploratory data analyses to examine the data. We used the explore function of SPSS to determine outliers, unusual values, and peculiarities in the data set. Each of these occurrences was traced back to the original questionnaire and corrections were made if necessary before any further analysis was done. We next reverse coded both the terminal values and instrumental values for all subjects so the value that is ranked highest received a score of 18 and the value that is ranked lowest received a score of 1. Next we analyzed the data to answer our hypotheses.

Results
To test both hypotheses 1 and 2, we performed t-tests on each of the terminal values and instrumental values for the peer leaders. To qualify as a core value, the specific value in question had to meet two criteria. First, its mean score had to be greater than the average mean score of 9.5, which is the average score that would be received for each value if they were all equal. Second, because we are only looking for the small set of core values, we only accepted those values that exceeded the .001 level of significance.     Hypothesis 3 was partially supported. One of the terminal core values was found to be significantly different between the peer leaders and non-peer leaders. However, the other four core terminal values were found not to be significantly different between the two groups. These findings will be discussed more in the discussion session. Hypothesis 4 was not supported. The three instrumental core values identified by the peer leaders were not significantly different from those identified by the non-peer leaders.

Core Terminal Values
Four of the core terminal values were the same for both the peer leaders and the non-peer leaders.
Those four values describe quite clearly what students of this generation are seeking as an end-state for their lives. They want to find spiritual fulfillment. They want to have close friendships and to take care of their families. Overall, they want to be happy. A few years ago, the first author was the director of an undergraduate leadership program at this same southwest university. When the first author surveyed the members of this program on the core values of the group, the number one core value expressed by the group was happiness. Not only did both the peer leaders and non-peer leaders select these four values as core values, there was no significant difference between these four values between the two groups.
However, these values do not help us understand why some students choose to become peer leaders. Burns (1978) believed that end-values (i.e., terminal values) would help explain why some people would sacrifice for the common good in their organizations. One core terminal value that was significantly different between the peer leaders and non-peer leaders was a sense of accomplishment.
The peer leaders want to make a lasting contribution to the organization and the future members of the organization. It is important to point out that the learning community to which these peer leaders belonged was initiated by the students who now serve as peer leaders because as they said, "We want to make a difference". This speaks directly to the exemplary leadership that Burns had in mind. It is also consistent with Luthans and Avolio (2003) assertion that "the leader's authentic values, beliefs, and behaviors serve to model the development of associates" (p. 243).
The non-peer leaders did identify one additional terminal value that was core for them. It was self-respect (Mean = 11.69; SD = 3.76; t df=64 = 4.66; p < .001). A post hoc analysis showed that while this was a significant core value for the non-peer leader group, it was not a significant core value for the peer leaders (Mean = 10.52; SD = 3.59; t df=45 = 1.93; p = .06). However, there was not a significant difference between the two groups mean scores (Mean Difference = -1.17; t df=108 ; p = .11). So, while self-respect is not a core value for the peer leaders, it is an important value having a mean score of The results from our findings do provide some insights as to how the core value of a sense of accomplishment can be translated into action. In other words, how do we align a student's sense of accomplishment to the goals and objectives of a learning community? We posit three general strategies that can be used in business learning communities utilizing student peer leaders: 1) Finding (involves the selection process of identifying student peer leaders), 2) Nurturing (involves training and development of student peer leaders), and 3) Affirming (involves establishing credibility, recognition, and reinforcement of successful initiatives conducted by the peer leaders).

Finding
The first and most important strategy involves finding the right type of students for the peer leader program. Research indicates the importance of using the right criteria to select students for mentoring roles (Fox, Stevenson, Connelly, Duff, & Dunlop, 2010;Hall & Jaugietis, 2011;Terrion & Leonard, 2007). As it pertains to the findings of this study, it would be important to find those students who exhibit the core value of a sense of accomplishment. The results of this study clearly highlight values that distinguishes between students who choose to be peer leaders versus those who choose not to be peer leaders. Therefore, the first implication is to be careful in the selection process. We have included some tips as it relates to the selection process for potential candidates.
Written application. All students interested in serving as a peer leader would be required to submit a written application as part of the selection process. Applying our findings to this aspect, the application should require the candidate to respond to one of the following questions: "Tell us about a time when you had a sense of accomplishment or when you have been proud of something you accomplished".
These questions are designed to be intentionally broad enough to allow the candidate to elaborate in sufficient breadth and depth with an example. In addition, it could be required that the candidate submits a letter from a reference. In the letter, the reference would be prompted to specifically address an example of accomplishment that they have witnessed for the candidate. After reviewing the candidate's response to the application question and the comments from the reference, it would be safe to assume that the application reviewer would have some indication that the candidate has the core value of sense of accomplishment.
Interviews. Once the potential peer leaders' applications are screened, the next phase would be the face to face interview process. While it is important for a person to exhibit in writing a sense of accomplishment, it is important to ascertain the root of that core value, whether it is centered on a personal sense of accomplishment or centered on a sense of accomplishment involving others. We believe these are two separate entities. Students say they want to be leaders. However, some don't have the disposition or don't want to do it for the right reason. It will be important to identify potential peer leaders who exhibit a sense of accomplishment centered on involving others to be successful. One way to distinguish between a sense of accomplishment for personal reasons or the involvement of others is through behavioral interviewing questions. Two sets of questions would be posed. give examples that are personally related, that might be an indicator that the root of their sense of accomplishment is more personal. Given that the function of a mentor is to be influential in helping other people reach major life goals (Gibbons, 2000), this would suggest why the involvement of others in regard to sense of accomplishment is so vital given the nature of the peer leader role. Thus, a candidate should be able to provide examples in this area as well. Questions 4 and 5 are designed to get the applicant to project or to create a vision of how a sense of accomplishment would look like when involving others. Plus, by asking these questions in a moderately stressful situation such as an interview, the candidate's response would be another indicator to use in determining if the candidate would make a good peer leader.

Nurturing
After students have been successfully identified, the second strategy involves training and developing students. A review of the literature indicates the presence of some type of orientations or training for those selected to serve in student peer leader positions (D'Abate & Eddy, 2008;Rodger & Tremblay, 2003;Sanchez, Bauer, & Paronto, 2006). As part of training and development, the first aspect is to discuss in detail the core value of sense of accomplishment. During the peer leader training, it would be explained that they were selected, because they were identified to possess a strong need for a sense of What is critical for the new peer leaders to understand is that a sense of accomplishment comes from serving their peers and that part of that service is to prepare their peers to not need them after the mentoring period. It is to make the peer wiser, freer and independent.
The second aspect is to help students come up with an individual plan of action to utilize their sense of accomplishment in their peer leader position. One way this could be accomplished is through the identification of a master list of goals and objectives for the students in the program based on commonly held success markers for first year students. Helping students understand how to link activities to program goals is a key aspect for training (Hall & Jaugietis, 2011). For example, in academic learning communities, academic performance (i.e., GPA) and student retention, campus engagement, and civic involvement are the common measures of assessment for student progress and program assessment (Evenbeck & Borden, 2001;Hegler, 2004;Hotchkiss, Moore, & Pitts, 2006;Robbins, Oh, Le, & Button, 2009). During the peer leader training, the peer leaders can develop a list of key activities based on these markers as well as other goals they deem to be important. One indication from the literature when it comes to goals in mentoring programs is that the goal areas can vary a great deal (D'Abate & Eddy, 2008). As a way to ensure consistency from a programmatic standpoint, a common core of goals can be identified through the use of a multi-voting exercise in which each peer leader can highlight the items that they think are the most important that should be accomplished by everyone (core goals). After tallying the results, at least 2-3 core goals would be identified by the group. The remaining items would be considered elective goals, and each peer leader would have to select at least one of these goals. Figure 3 provides an example of a master list containing core goals and electives centered around common 1 st year success markers for 1 st year students.
Core Goals All peer leaders should develop an individual plan of action to have their students reach these goals • 70% of the students in my group will achieve a 2.5 or higher GPA at midterms.
• 80% of the students in my group will achieve a 2.5 or higher GPA at the end of the semester.
• 85% of the students in my group will get involved in at least 1 extracurricular activity by the end of the semester.
• 80% of the students in my group will not drop a class during the first semester.
• 70% of the students in my group will attend at least 3 outside school small group social events by the end of the semester.

Elective Goals
Choose 1 goal from the list below (or create a new goal) and include it on the individual plan of action • Hold 1 on 1 meetings with each student in my group at or before midterm.
• Hold 1 on 1 meetings with each student in my group at or before 2 weeks before the start of finals.
• Send a weekly encouraging email to students in my group.
• Have individual "coffee dates" with each of the students in my group before the end of the semester.
Organize and plan a weekly study group session for the students in my group.

Affirming
The third strategy is affirming, which involves a) establishing credibility and b) recognition and reinforcement. While peer leader training and development helps to affirm a peer leader's sense of accomplishment within the circle of their peers, it is also critical to establish credibility in the eyes of the students they are leading. The most obvious and direct manner to establish credibility would occur during the first large group meeting of students. During this meeting, the director of the program would introduce the peer leaders to the first year students and would tell them that due to their core value of sense of accomplishment, they are unique and have been selected for the peer leader role.
The second method is to recognize and reinforce behaviors indicative of the peer leader's sense of accomplishment. While one method of recognition can occur at the conclusion of the program in the form of a dinner or banquet (Hall & Jaugietis, 2011), we recommend recognition to occur during the sessions, or meetings, this should be acknowledged to all participants in the program. Or, if a peer leader is going above and beyond to implement one of their goals, the director of the program could provide that student with a handwritten note. What is important is that this occurs frequently throughout the learning cycle as a way to reinforce ideal behaviors and goal achievement.

Limitations
While using students as subjects is often a limitation of a study, that is not the case in this study. These students are equals with the incoming students and have no position authority over the entering students. They represent true peer leaders. On the other hand, there are limitations to this study, and they need to be acknowledged. The data was collected at a single southwest university. Generalizing to other learning communities and to peer leaders in general is questionable. The use of only the Rokeach instrument needs to be expanded to include other values instruments with those results correlated with those of the Rokeach instrument. At the same time, these findings do shed light on the core values held by peer leaders and the significance peer leaders place on making a lasting contribution.

Future research
So what can we learn from these findings that could spur additional research? Those students who have a desire to make a lasting contribution will be more inclined to seek out opportunities to be peer leaders.
This desire to leave a legacy is consistent with being future-oriented, or as Posner (1993, 2012) label it being forward-looking. It seems that a logical next step in this research stream is to look at the relationship between the core value of a sense of accomplishment and future-orientation. It might also be worth an investigation to examine the relationship between a sense of accomplishment and visioning ability. It seems that those individuals who have a stronger need to make a lasting contribution would also score higher on the ability to vision. However, this is an empirical question for another day.  (2002). The PVS is an improved version of the SVS because it a) measures values indirectly without the respondent knowing that they are having their values investigated, b) reduces the risk of multiple interpretations, and c) simplifies the measurement of values (Tsirogianni & Gaskell, 2011). While all of these options now add a rich research stream, we initially wanted to return to the seminal instrument to establish a baseline with the original Rokeach instrument. Third, examining the relationship between Psychological Capital (efficacy, hope, optimism, resiliency) and core values could shed some light on how to continue to develop authentic peer leaders (Luthans, Youssef, & Avolio, 2007). Fourth, one could look at how to get individuals, particularly students, to act on values. As mentioned in our opening statement with the inclusion of notable historical figures, individuals confront challenges facing the community. In the context of behavioral ethics, this would suggest three components: 1) awareness of values, 2) ability to analyze a situation and justify a position, and 3) taking action. The findings from this study, specifically as it relates to the value of a sense of accomplishment implies action. In contrast to traditional instructional methods for ethics that focus on only the first two items (awareness and analysis), the Giving Voice to Values curriculum focuses on all three components (Gentile, 2017). While there is research that examines the effect of this approach to behavior ethics in accounting and legal education (Christensen, Cote, & Kamm Latham, 2016;Holmes, 2015), a future research stream could examine how the Giving Voice to Values curriculum can be incorporated in peer leader development.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the value that distinguishes peer leaders is an end-value just as Burns had advocated. It is a value that makes these students sacrifice their time, their talent, and their treasure for the betterment of unknown students, the university, and potentially the world. They do transcend their self-interests for a greater good of making a difference and a sense of accomplishment. It speaks to what Csikszentmihalyi (2003) calls having a soul. He says living organisms are thought to have a soul if they can use part of their energy, not for their own growth and survival but to care for, invest in, or help transform others. He says one manifestation of soul in leaders is "doing something of benefit to others" (Csikszentmihalyi, 2003). Given these peer leaders are all business majors, there may be hope for the businesses of the future to also have soul through these authentic leaders.