The initial year of university is often a sensitive period for new students. Commencing students may lack the necessary skills and resources to adapt to unfamiliar learning environments. One intervention demonstrating academic benefits is Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS). PASS is a structured peer led study group where students collectively share knowledge and solve course-related tasks. To date there has been limited empirical exploration into how PASS enhances student performance outcomes. To amend this gap, the current study used both a cross-sectional (n ¼ 264) and a matched longitudinal (n ¼ 76) survey design, combined with PASS attendance and course performance data, to investigate three psychological mechanisms that may mediate these effects: increased academic engagement, a positive student identity, and increased statistics self-efficacy. Sampling a first-year psychology cohort enrolled in an introductory statistics course, both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses found a positive relationship between PASS attendance and academic performance. Furthermore, self-efficacy mediated the relationship between PASS attendance and student performance.

PurposeDue to the proliferation of measures (and conceptualisations) employed to assess shared leadership behaviours, it is unclear to researchers and practitioners which specific team behaviours should be encouraged and which measures should be included in research to enhance team effectiveness outcomes. To address this issue, this research tests 11 shared leadership scales to identify which measures and behaviours exhibit the strongest relationship with team effectiveness.Design/methodology/approachThis research utilises survey methods (n = 328) to test the measurement of shared leadership using 11 previously validated scales. This novel approach uses structural equation modelling techniques (SEM) to compare and contrast multiple measures targeting a single underlying construct.FindingsAcross the 11 measures tested (drawn from three theoretical perspectives), no single scale demonstrated a superior ability to assess shared leadership (based on model-fit and effect size exhibited). Nevertheless, the results indicated that measures assessing shared transformational leadership were most highly related to team effectiveness; whilst the shared leadership density measure (using social network techniques) exhibited the weakest relationship.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations of this research include the use of a student sample (although participants were screened based on their current employment in a team environment), and the individual assessment of shared leadership rather than team assessment. These findings indicate that shared transformational leadership behaviours are highly related to perceptions of team effectiveness. It is recommended future research define and delineate between constructs of interest, including general forms shared leadership (i.e. shared leadership broadly defined) and more specific forms of shared leadership (e.g. shared transformational leadership [narrowly defined]).Practical implicationsIt is recommended that interventions and/or training designed to enhance team shared leadership outcomes should specifically target shared transformational leadership behaviours; especially when aiming to increase beneficial team outcomes such as effectiveness or potency.Originality/valueThis research is novel in both advancing our understanding of the shared leadership behaviours needed to enhance team effectiveness; and in methodological approaches comparing and contrasting multiple measures of a single latent construct.

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