Introduction

For the World Economic Forum (WEF), the health crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the global recession of 2020 have created highly uncertain perspectives in the world (^{World Economic Forum, 2020}). Likewise, the WEF pointed out that leadership is one of the skills most in demand by employers. Moreover, its development in employees is valued according to the surveys with the greatest global impact (^{Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean [ECLAC] Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture [OEI], 2020}).

According to Katrin Jakobsdóttir, Prime Minister of Iceland, the pandemic crisis will accelerate the agendas related to the environment, equality, and the fourth industrial revolution (^{International Labor Organization [ILO], 2021}). In general, society presents us with challenges characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, known as the VUCA environment (^{Villa, 2020}), driving the need to design and plan real and practical strategies that must consider alternative problem-solving, decision-making, and action development models (^{Cáceres-Reche et al., 2021}). In this sense, the participation of leaders becomes crucial since they set the tone for modifying the course of events and influencing the achievement of results (^{Hadziahmetovic et al., 2023}).

Currently, leadership is understood as the process through which influence is exerted on other individuals to achieve particular objectives (^{Castro, 2007}). Some of the behaviors expected in a leader are the ability to adequately interpret the characteristics of the environment, the organizational environment, the subordinates, and the tasks to be performed (^{Trógolo et al., 2013}). For ^{Ferreiro and Alcázar (2002}), today's world requires leaders who help navigate the various paths available and govern organizations that are sources of achievements in human development.

On the other hand, the absence of leadership or its ineffectiveness in organizations represents a danger for them because it damages their image, credibility, economy, and development (^{Schiappa-Pietra, 2015}), as well as their members, a situation evidenced by empirical data. For example, a study conducted by ^{Trógolo et al. (2013}) with Argentine workers found a direct correlation between lack of leadership and burnout in the exhaustion and depersonalization dimensions. Likewise, ^{Skogstad et al. (2007}), in a study with 2,373 Norwegian workers, showed that ineffective leadership causes distress, role conflict, greater exposure to workplace harassment, and less dedication to work. Currently, there is a leadership crisis in Peru and other parts of the world, greatly evidenced by polarization, since there is no figure capable of uniting a country beyond the positions that divide it (^{Ronderos, 2020}). Given this situation, specifically in Peru, some groups are interested in changing this situation and promoting leadership in young people; an example of this is the last University CADE 2023, where the "Democracy" theme was addressed to strengthen it (^{Vasquez, 2023}).

Due to their work in knowledge generation and dissemination, as well as their relevant presence in society, universities are called upon to play a fundamental role in preparing the intellectual capital of a country together with its ethical formation. That is, they must generate knowledge and equip their graduates with the competencies and skills necessary for the practice of their specialty, in addition to cultivating an ethical, critical, and responsible awareness to face national and global challenges (^{Tünnermann, 2011}), including meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (^{Sustainable Development Solutions Network Australia/Pacific, 2017}).

Likewise, according to the International Labor Organization and the Inter-American Development Bank (^{ILO, 2021}), by 2030 in Latin America and the Caribbean, more than 15 million new jobs are projected to be generated, which would evidence the transition towards a sustainable economy in which leadership will be essential. This scenario raises the need to prepare human capital with skills to predict the direction of change and to cope with it. In this context, organizations increasingly expect their employees to be equipped with proactive leadership skills. That is, leaders should encourage others to prepare for change. This type of leadership is known as transformational leadership (^{Barut et al., 2010}).

In 2023, Hadziahmetovic et al. reviewed 90 articles published between 2016 and 2022 on leadership and found that 36% of the studies addressed transformational leadership. They concluded that it is the most studied and developed theory at present regarding leadership. Its main precursor is Bernard M. Bass, who relied on the charismatic and transformational leadership approaches of House in 1977 and Burns in 1978 (^{Castro, 2007}). Burns differentiated two types of leadership: transactional and transformational. In the first case, it is recognized as an exchange between the leader and his or her followers, in which the latter receives a value in exchange for their work or, on the contrary, receives a sanction, denoting a cost-benefit relationship. In contrast, transformational leadership promotes the emergence of the awareness of employees, who accept and commit themselves to fulfilling the organization's mission, leaving aside their individual interests to concentrate on the interests of the group as a whole (^{Castro, 2007}).

Bass (1985, cited by ^{Contreras et al., 2016}) defines transformational leadership as leadership that motivates people to do more than they expect, and, as a result, changes occur in groups, organizations, and society, which, in turn, constitute a benefit for society. For Bass, transformational and transactional leadership are not mutually exclusive; leaders can use both types of leadership in different situations (^{Castro, 2007}).

According to Jovanovic & Ciric (2016, cited by ^{Sukdee, 2021}), transformational leadership is the most suitable for guiding university students through their education because the following aspects are taken into account: 1) the ethical dimension of the theory, i.e., the moral basis, 2) the validity of previous studies that provide support, and 3) evidence of the practice of leaders in the educational field.

Therefore, it is considered relevant to identify in the scientific literature field studies on transformational leadership in university students. Thus, the following research question was posed: What are the characteristics of empirical research studies on transformational leadership in undergraduate and graduate university students nationally and internationally between 2014 and 2023? This report presents an analysis of the last ten years on this specific topic and identifies the trends in the studies conducted, the country and specialty of the researchers, and the research design and methodology used, among others.

Method

Procedure

The search was conducted in ERIC, ScienceDirect, Scopus, PubMed, and ALICIA databases between May and June 2023. The following keywords were used: "liderazgo transformacional en universitarios," "liderazgo en universitarios," "transformational leadership in university students," "transformational leadership in undergraduates." The combination of the following terms was also used: "liderazgo transformacional+universitarios," "transformacional leadership+university students," "transformacional leadership+undergraduates".

The articles were then selected for review using the inclusion and exclusion criteria indicated above. The details of the selection process are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 Article selection flowchart 

Results

A total of 277 sections were collected, to which the determined inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, leaving 23 articles that met the required criteria (one national and 22 international). Table 1 shows the data of the selected articles according to author, title, journal, country, and language.

Analysis of Articles

Articles by year of publication.

Twenty-three articles on transformational leadership with higher education students were identified for 2014-2023. Regarding the year of publication, Figure 2 shows us 2021 with six published articles (26.1%), followed by 2022 with five articles (21.7%), and 2023 with three publications (13%). It can also be seen that the data distribution remained between one (4.3%) and two articles (8.7%) between 2014 and 2020.

Source. Elaborated by the author.

Figure 2 Publications on transformational leadership in university students by year 

Article by country of the main author.

Regarding the country of the main author of the publication, Figure 2 shows that the authors come from 15 different countries, which are located in Africa, North and South America, Asia, and Europe, with the United States ranking first with five articles (21.74%). It is worth noting that there are two additional publications whose one of their main authors comes from the United States, rising to 30.43%. Next, Mexico with 13.04% (3 articles). Then, Canada and Spain with 8.7% (2 articles), in addition to Turkey if we consider the article whose main authors come from the United States and Turkey. In the case of Peru and China and the rest of the countries shown in Figure 3, with only one article (4.35%).

Source. Elaborated by the author.

Figure 3 Publications on TL in university students by country of the main author. 

Articles by specialty of the main author.

Figure 4 shows the distribution of the selected articles according to the specialty of the main author. As can be seen in the figure, 26% of the publications (6 cases) come from the disciplines of Economics, Administration, and Business, followed by Psychology, Education and University Teaching, and Agriculture with 13%, respectively (3 cases each). Next, Nursing with 8.7% (2 articles). Finally, six additional disciplines with one article each (4.3%). In addition, three of these disciplines are related to health (Medicine, Kinesiology, and Physiotherapy). The remaining two articles belong to the Physical Education and Social Sciences specialty.

Source. Elaborated by the author.

Figure 4 Publications on TL in university students by specialty of the main author 

Discussion

The purpose of this study was to analyze research published in indexed journals in the last ten years (2014-2023) on transformational leadership in university students. From a search process, 23 articles were identified, to which various criteria were applied to systematize the main results.

Regarding the year of publication, it was observed that there was uninterrupted scientific production during the decade analyzed, with an increase in studies from 2021 onwards, coinciding with the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and the return to the new normality. This result is consistent with the study conducted by ^{Muñoz-Chávez et al. (2022}), who examined the transformational leadership-linked competencies to face the COVID-19 contingency in Mexican university teachers. According to ^{Contreras et al. (2016}) and ^{Hadziahmetovic et al. (2023}), transformational leadership is one of the most widely used leadership approaches due to its adaptability to crisis management. Therefore, there has been more research on this theory in the last decades. In addition, there is interest in developing transformational leadership in the educational sphere at various levels, such as university (^{Li, 2022}).

Regarding the authors of the articles, they came from 15 countries on different continents, with the United States being the country from which the main authors published the most on the subject, ranking first with 30.43%. This shows that this country still maintains its hegemony in research. This finding was similar to that found by ^{Hadziahmetovic et al. (2023}) in a systematic review of leadership styles. On the other hand, it is strange that China did not stand out even though it conducted systematic reviews on the subject as compared to the United States and Canada (^{Li, 2022}). This situation is possibly because the transformational leadership scientific production has been oriented towards acting leaders in the organizational field and educational management, but to a lesser extent in university students. Based on the above, it is suggested that Peruvian researchers continue to conduct empirical studies and that the latter be published in high-impact indexed journals to have a greater international presence and that studies be disseminated not only through university repositories or the ALICIA platform of Concytec.

As for the origin discipline of the studies, 26% of publications come from researchers in Economics, Administration, and Business, followed by Psychology, Education and University Teaching, and Agriculture with 13%, and Nursing with 8.7%. Likewise, six additional disciplines were found, with 4.3%. This finding corroborates that leadership is a transversal skill in demand in any profession, as stated by ^{ECLAC/OEI (2020}).

Regarding the research approach, most of the articles (69.6%) are quantitative, then there are the publications with the mixed approach (21.7%) and finally the qualitative ones (8.7%). This result was similar to the studies of ^{Hadziahmetovic et al. (2023}) and ^{Li (2022}), whose predominant approach was quantitative. For ^{Ugalde and Balbastre (2013}), quantitative research has advantages such as it offers a structured view, especially because of the techniques used to collect data to study the phenomenon of interest and facilitates the inference of results in large populations, allowing their generalization. Therefore, it is recommended to expand the production of experimental studies, especially in testing the effectiveness of programs conducted in universities to promote the development of transformational leadership in undergraduate and graduate students in their university education to prepare them to be agents of change in a society increasingly characterized by a VUCA environment, which demands competent and ethical leaders.

The articles reviewed studied several variables in addition to transformational leadership in university students, which were classified into six groups because they presented an element that united them. Details of the findings can be found in the Results section. ^{Likewise, Li (2022}), found in a review study of articles on transformational leadership in China that several variables worked together with the main research variable were oriented to the educational context, especially in the management of schools.

As for the instruments used in quantitative research, there is a diversity of tools, standing out the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) by ^{Bass & Avolio (1990}) and the Leadership Practice Inventory (LPI) by ^{Kouzes & Posner (2012}), whose psychometric properties had been studied in the same research or data were available from the adaptations made in the countries where the instruments were administered. Similarly, ^{Li (2022}) found that one of the most widely used psychometric instruments was the Avolio & Bass MLQ and provided details about its validity and reliability. However, Cronbach's Alpha values were higher (0.890-0.971) in ^{Li's (2022}) study compared to the results in this study (0.574-0.940). Nevertheless, both studies report adequate validity and reliability indices of the MLQ. In this sense, it is recommended to continue researching the psychometric properties of the existing instruments, in addition to promoting the design of new instruments, either from psychometric or qualitative approaches.

Likewise, an overview was provided of the statistics used in the articles analyzed under the quantitative approach, which were in line with their respective objectives and research designs. A similar situation is seen in the study conducted by ^{Li (2022}), which shows the importance of the use of statistics to produce various research topics in transformational leadership, especially in university students. In addition, researchers must be trained not only in statistics but also in the management of the qualitative and mixed approach, whose proportion of studies analyzed was lower compared to the quantitative approach. This situation was also present in the studies conducted by ^{Li (2022}) and ^{Hadziahmetovic et al. (2023}). Therefore, further research using the qualitative and mixed approach is recommended.

In general, it is concluded that the review on transformational leadership in university students provides useful information to researchers, academics, and university education managers to broaden and deepen the topic, as well as to design programs and strategies to develop leadership competence in students as part of their training, with a positive impact on society.

Finally, two limitations were identified in reviewing the selected articles. First, the period selected (2014-2023). Although it provides with recent information, a scarce number of studies were found. From an optimistic view, this situation represents an opportunity to further develop the topic in the university population. The second limitation was language because articles were selected in English and Spanish, both languages spoken by a considerable number of people in the world; however, reports in Portuguese were excluded, a language spoken in Brazil, where there is a significant scientific production in Latin American and Caribbean journals indexed in the Journal Citation Report (JCR), with 50.4% of presence according to ^{Ronda-Pupo (2021}). However, the findings presented provide valuable information on the topic analyzed.