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EXPLORING STUDENT MOTIVATIONS TOWARD
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT: AN APPLICATION OF
EXPECTANCY-VALUE THEORY
by
Melissa A. Gaeke
__________________________________________________________________
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION)
May 2009
Copyright 2009 Melissa A. Gaeke
Object Description
| Title | Exploring student motivations toward civic engagement: an application of expectancy-value theory |
| Author | Gaeke, Melissa A. |
| Author email | gaeke@usc.edu; melissa.gaeke@gmail.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Public Administration |
| School | School of Policy, Planning, and Development |
| Date defended/completed | 2008-12-08 |
| Date submitted | 2009 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2009-05-08 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Cooper, Terry L. |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Sundeen, Richard A. Crigler, Ann N. |
| Abstract | This dissertation explored the influence of participation in university-sponsored civic activities on four aspects of motivation: future expectancy, sense of ability, interest and utility. This study draws on previous research on service learning, civic engagement, and student development. The essential thrust of this research was to examine the underlying relationships between each of several motivational constructs and the expectation of participating in civic engagement activities in the future. In addition, the relative impact of participation in a variety of civic activities, both at baseline and over time, was examined, as was the strength of the motivational constructs to predict a student's expectancy for future civic engagement. This dissertation adds to the civic engagement literature by examining how young adults benefit from participation in a variety of civic activities available to them on a college campus, including work in student government, involvement in civic-oriented student organizations, service learning programs, and other experiential civic engagement programs. It was hypothesized that participation in these programs will increase motivation toward future civic engagement.; Data were collected from undergraduate students engaged in a variety of civic opportunities and from a control group. The analyses focused on four questions that examined the relationships among the variables and highlighted pathways for future research and programmatic improvements. This research has demonstrated that it is possible to categorize civic engagement into a variety of "civic tasks" such as fundraising for a social cause, persuading others during an election, working informally with others to accomplish something in the community, or tutoring children. Respondents were asked to comment on their sense of ability, interest in, and utility of each of the variables. The variables predicted anticipated future civic activity. Finally, these data demonstrate that students who participate in these sorts of civic activities are impacted by the activities and that the activities make an impact on the students' development. Recommendations for future scholarship and practice are discussed. |
| Keyword | civic engagement; civic education; service learning; student development; co-curricular involvement; volunteerism |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m2210 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Gaeke, Melissa A. |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Gaeke-2860 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume51/etd-Gaeke-2860.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | EXPLORING STUDENT MOTIVATIONS TOWARD CIVIC ENGAGEMENT: AN APPLICATION OF EXPECTANCY-VALUE THEORY by Melissa A. Gaeke __________________________________________________________________ A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION) May 2009 Copyright 2009 Melissa A. Gaeke |
