Leadership Development in International Student Organization : Case Study on Erasmus Student Organization (Sweden)

Sammanfattning: The research on the topic of leadership has long been the area of interest for scholars for many decades. Despite the extensive amount of literature available there is still a gap when it comes to research about the role of student organization in the leadership development of an individual. This thesis project, therefore, is designed in order to gain deeper understanding of the potential effect of a student organization on the leadership development of a student who took leadership position within student organization.  This ambition was accomplished through qualitative research with semi-structured interviews conducted in a case study of Erasmus Student Network. The results of the research have revealed certain link between the leadership development and person’s participation in the activities of student organization. Additionally, cultural aspect has been identified as the important factor of the organization. As the result of our findings, we may conclude that there is a positive correlation between student organizations providing a good opportunity for students to test their leadership abilities in a safe environment, while it was not possible to identify the extent of that impact on the leadership development of an individual.  We believe that our research may add value to the theoretical knowledge on the leadership topic in the context of student life while giving an opportunity for the reader to use the findings of this study as a practical information and guidelines for potential of student organization to have an impact on the future of an individual.