English

Abstract

Confronted by today's epidemic of corporate meltdowns, broken institutional paradigms, unethical decision making, and demand for innovative competencies in order to remain competitive, managers and college educators are challenged to re-evaluate the training and development pedagogy currently in place. Specifically, we need to better understand the motivations and beliefs of the emerging leaders who will be charged with problem-solving and finding solutions to these conditions. While leadership as a research stream is robust, empirical research measuring the antecedents and drivers to leadership for Millennials (i.e. individuals born between 1982 and 2003) is scant, and what evidence does exist is contradictory. Our study is designed to better understand Millennials as emerging leaders by addressing the importance of the relationship between the intrinsic motivators of flourishing and religiosity and Millennials' leadership development activities. Today's university students are learning and questioning the role of the leader and their future in this society as change agents and champions of values that are more consistent with their belief systems. Leaders are confronted by demands for problem-solving, continuous innovation, technology, diverse workforce and changing relationships and values requiring new levels of competencies, knowledge, skills and experience unprecedented in workplace history. Thus, an opportunity exists to re-examine leadership as it applies to our new environmental and societal contexts and to factor in the faces of our emerging leaders.