The relationship between student service-learning and participation in organizational citizenship behaviors

This dissertation investigated the relationship between student participation in service-learning projects and their future participation in organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). This is the first study to associate service-learning to OCBs in a formal manner.; This study involved a three-phased investigation that utilized various types of data analysis. The first phase was a quasi-experimental field study conducted among two classes of undergraduate business students at a small, liberal arts college. The second phase of the research involved extensive interviewing of graduate business students who had participated in service-learning during an accelerated course. A third phase involved a qualitative content analysis of archival records from past service-learning classes, including course evaluation forms and reflection notebooks. The data gathered from the three phases were analyzed in multiple ways and the results were triangulated.; The results of the analyses were mixed, but provided some evidence that service-learning enhanced levels of both "historical OCB" and "OCB intentions" and their various dimensions, although it did not have the same impact on all students. Older students and students with higher grade point averages who participated in service-learning tended to experience greater changes than the entire sample with regard to their propensity to perform OCBs. The research findings in all three phases did however support service-learning as an effective teaching pedagogy that aroused an interest on the part of business students to help others and to participate in the society that they live in.; This study highlights the important role that service-learning can play in student development. It also displays the potential of this teaching pedagogy to assist in the development of individuals who will participate as responsible members of their organizations and the society at large. The results of the study should be of interest to both academicians and practitioners.