A Description Between Community Service Hours and Servant Leadership of American FFA Degree Recipients in Texas

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship of servant leadership, as measured by Spears? (2005) ten characteristics of an effective servant leader, leadership effectiveness, and McCuddy?s (2008) Fundamental Moral Orientations, to the 2010, 2011, and 2012 recipients of the American FFA (National FFA Organization) Degree, in Texas. FFA members are required to complete community service activities in order to receive awards in the FFA program, including FFA Degrees. With the new community service requirements of the highest ranked degree, the American FFA Degree, members should experience an increase in social and moral characteristics as they develop servant leadership characteristics, leadership effectiveness, and selflessness in their Fundamental Moral Orientation.

The researcher conducted a quantitative study of 2010, 2011, and 2012 American FFA recipients? sense of servant leadership and the types of community service hours recorded on their American FFA Degree application. A five part questionnaire was distributed online, using Qualtrics. A response rate of 34.69% (N=102) was achieved.

The results of this study indicate a strong orientation toward servant leadership concepts among all 2010, 2011, and 2012 American FFA Degree recipients. All servant leadership variables had above average scores among all respondents. While substantial differences were seen among the servant leadership variables, no statistically significant differences could be found between any of the panels or in any of the demographic variables. This study suggests that servant leadership already exists in agriculture education and the FFA program. Just because community service has only been recently recognized in the FFA program does not mean that it has not always been an innate quality of the FFA persona; and with that, building social and moral characteristics, similar to those of a servant leader.