Perceptions of selected agricultural professionals on the values of specific leadership traits related to early success in the agriculture job market

A researcher-developed instrument was used to determine the perceived importance of leadership traits on entry-level success in a professional agriculture career. The study further sought to measure the level at which specific leadership traits were practiced on a daily basis. Data collected through a purposive sampling technique was analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance. Results indicated that all 16 traits measuring the four leadership style categories identified in the literature were ranked as important for entry-level positions.;The multivariate analysis and the follow-up canonical discriminate analysis found an overall significant difference in the importance of the four leadership categories by age of the respondent. Expressive/Influential was the only category that contributed to the discrimination between younger and older respondents. Analysis indicated that only the Sympathetic/Steadiness and Technical/Conscientious categories contributed to the discrimination between respondents based on their interaction between educational level and position within the company. Analysis indicated that three of the four leadership style categories were significantly different when comparing the perception of specific leadership traits with their actual practice. Only the Bold/Dominant category was consistent in both perception and practice.