The Impact of Institutional Mission on Student Volunteering

Abstract

This study examined patterns and predictors of volunteering among students at a liberal arts college with an institutional culture that strongly promotes community service. Results showed that predictors varied across four different types of volunteering: community service, social action, religious service, and service to the college. Year in school, academic performance, and familiarity with the college’s mission statement were the most consistent predictors, but only familiarity with the mission was significantly associated with all types of volunteering. Thus, one way to increase volunteering may be to promulgate an institutional mission statement emphasizing service to others.

Examining the motivations and benefits of student-athletes performing community service.

“…Their participation has also been shown to be more than fleeting, with one study finding students spent an average of 2.5 hours performing community service every week (Sullivan, Ludden, & Singleton Jr., 2013), while another found freshmen and juniors were equally willing to perform community service (Griffith, 2010). College students have also shown a willingness to volunteer in almost any community service organization setting (Astin & Sax, 1998), including education, public safety, religious-based, civic awareness, economic development, health issues, and many others Berger & Miler, 2002;.…”

“…Additionally, students attending an institution mentioning community engagement in its mission were found to be statistically more likely to perform any type of community service if they were aware of the institution's mission (Sullivan et al, 2013). While the connection between community service and the university's mission statement has a historical foundation, recent research has also found mission statements failing to mention community engagement (Weerts & Sandmann, 2008).…”

“…Omitting community engagement from the institution's mission statement can depress the frequency of student engagement (Sullivan et al, 2013).…”

“…Scholars have investigated the frequency of college students performing community service, with varying results (Franke et al, 2010;Gage III & Thapa, 2012;Griffith, 2010;Ruiz, Sharkness, Kelly, DeAngelo, & Pryor, 2010;Sullivan et al, 2013). A 2009 national aggregate study discovered almost 58 percent of college students performed community service in their first year in college (Ruiz et al, 2013), while 71 percent of senior college students performed community service by their senior year (Franke et al, 2010).…”

“…A 2009 national aggregate study discovered almost 58 percent of college students performed community service in their first year in college (Ruiz et al, 2013), while 71 percent of senior college students performed community service by their senior year (Franke et al, 2010). A qualitative study found 68 percent of college students performed community service during the 2007 spring semester, spending an average of 2.5 hours per week performing community service (Sullivan et al, 2013). When the same students were asked if they had participated in community service at any point during their undergraduate experience, 84 percent indicated they had volunteered, and peaked with 96 percent of seniors indicting they had performed community service during their undergraduate experience.…”