Un-(equal) Effects of Voluntary Community Service Learning on Career Aspirations of University Students

• In Event: Exploring the Nexus Between Volunteering and Employment

Abstract

Research shows, that volunteering has the potential to impact and shape students’ career aspirations (Meyer et al., 2019; Salazar et al., 2023; Yoa, 2008; Yorio & Ye, 2012). But, as recently stated by Hustinx et al., (2022), social inequality in and caused by volunteering needs to be uncovered in a more nuanced way. Against this backdrop, this quasi-experimental study analyses data from 2022 and 2023, of 110 university students participating in a voluntary, extra-curricular Community Service Learning (CSL) program.

The following questions will be addressed in this paper: First, concerning the self-selection into CSL programs: How equally or unequally do CSL programs attract students from different socio-economic family backgrounds? Second, concerning CSL program effects: How and to which extend does family background moderate the impact of CSL on students’career aspirations?

Therefore, a quasi-experimental research design (total N=110; treatment group n=55; control group n=55) with a pre-post (interval: 6 to 12 months) questionnaire at a large university for business and economics in Europe was conducted. The participation in the CSL program is voluntary and offers students the opportunity to be a mentor for children from socioeconomically disadvantaged families. It enables students to get in touch with nonprofit organisations and meet with a child at least once a week (2-4 hours) over a year or longer. The main task is to support them in educational, sportive, or artistic issues. Students participate in prior training and ongoing reflection sessions (min of 80 hours of mentoring; 35 hours of training; 10 hours of coaching sessions). For the analysis, descriptive statistics as well as t tests and repeated measure analysis (ANOVA; Girden, 1992) are applied.

The preliminary analysis shows, that there seems to be no socio-economic selection effect into the CSL program in terms of educational level and income of the parents. The effects on career aspirations show that an incremental increase of income (financial success) becomes significantly less important within the treatment group (CSL students), whereas it becomes more important in the control group. Taking the economic family background into account, financial success becomes even more important over time for students from a low income background. Students within the treatment group score significantly higher on the career dimension of having a positive impact (e.g. helping others; leaving people and places better as a result of my career) than students from the control group, but this dimension does not change over time. Further on, the CSL program seems to have a slightly negative impact on the career dimension of entrepreneurial success (e.g. running my business) and no impact on the career dimension of learning and development.

The findings aim to inform universities how CSL programs can shape and impact career aspirations of students and about the potential impact of CSL on social inequality amongst students. Further on, the study contributes to the ongoing discussion, whether CSL should be extra-curricular and voluntary or implemented into the curriculum and mandatory for all students to avoid selection effect and cumulative advantages (Mathew effect) (Meyer & Rameder, 2021).

References

Girden E. R. (1992). ANOVA: Repeated measures. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE.
Hustinx, L., Grubb, A., Rameder, P., & Shachar, I. (2022). Inequality in volunteering: Building a new research front. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 33(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-022-00455-w
Meyer, M., Neumayr, M., & Rameder, P. (2019). Students’ Community Service: Self-Selection and the Effects of Participation. Nonprofit and the Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 48(6), 1162–1185. https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764019848492
Meyer, M. & Rameder, P. (2021). Who Is in Charge? Social Inequality in Different Fields of Volunteering. Voluntas.
Salazar, C., Giles, K. S., & Ackerman, J. R. (2023). Empowered and educated: How an immigration service-learning course influenced students’ paths toward critical consciousness. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2023.2181447
Yoa, J. (2008). Community Service and Post-College Career Choice: A Theory-Based Investigation. Ohio State Universtity.
Yorio, P. L., & Ye, F. (2012). A Meta-Analysis on the Effects of Service-Learning on the Social, Personal, and Cognitive Outcomes of Learning. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 11(1), 9–27. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2010.0072

Author

• Paul Rameder, Vienna University of Economics and Business