Are Students Developed to Lead Change and Promote Innovation Adoption? Evaluating Change Agent Efficacy with Contentious Issues

Abstract

Climate change and food security are controversial issues as large individual numbers debating each other without agreement and differences arise from norms or misinterpretations. Yeager et al. (2019) recommended adequately informing an audience of the unacceptable current circumstance is the first step in leading a change effort. The purpose of this study was to explore student’s capacity for change agentry in contentious issues. The population was students enrolled in upper-level leading change courses at three institutions (N = 516) over a period of three years. An instrument was developed to examine students’ perceptions of leading change in the context of the contentious issues of climate change and food security. The instrument was assessed for content validity by researchers at Texas A&M University, Taoyuan District Agricultural Research and Extension Station, and Mountbellew Agricultural College and the instrument was assessed to be valid given this study’s objectives. Higher education can be a great time to learn how to interact with all kinds of people and contentious issues can provide a classroom platform for this development to produce postgraduate success. Integrating contentious issues in the classroom provides great opportunities for rich discussion, which can be conducive for developing leadership skills like problem solving skills and understanding the perspectives of others. Higher education can be a great time to learn how to interact with all kinds of people and contentious issues can provide a classroom platform for this development to produce postgraduate success.