Chapter 5: The Job Characteristics Model and Placement Quality

Key themes in service-learning research include the impacts of placement quality on attitudinal change, as well as the impact of service-learning on commitment and citizenship. This chapter applies a motivational theory of work, the Job Characteristics Model, as a basis for linking placement quality to commitment. The definition of placement quality and methodology utilized by Eyler and Giles (1999) in Where’s the Learning in Service-Learning serves as a comparison point. Implications for this model in terms of pedagogy, service design, and role-based learning are discussed.