Chapter 6: Service Learning as A Tool for Developing Emerging Adults Into Productive Employees and Citizens

To what extent can service learning provide for developing students who will be productive workers and citizens? A research study that investigated the relationship between college student participation in service learning projects and their future participation in organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) will be discussed. Organizational citizenship behaviors are those discretionary individual behaviors that are not part of the job description but can have a significant impact on the effective functioning of an organization. Partaking in OCBs resembles volunteerism because it involves engaging in task-related behaviors at a level so far beyond required or generally expected duties. Some of the most common OCBs in the workplace include helping others who have been absent, giving advance notice when unable to come to work, exhibiting a willingness to tolerate the inevitable inconveniences and impositions of work without complaining, and being concerned about the company’s life (Organ, 1988, 1990).

Previous researchers have shown that service learning offers a way of informing students that they can play an integral role in affecting the lives of many people outside of their college campus. This is especially true for those entering adulthood (Astin & Sax, 1998; Astin, Sax, & Avalos, 1999; Batchelder & Root, 1994; Boss, 1994; Dunlap, 1998; Eyler & Giles, 1999; Kenny, Simon, Kiley-Brabeck, & Lerner, 2002). The current study’s results indicate that service learning projects can prepare students for future participation in OCBs. This is the first study to associate service learning with OCBs in a formal manner.

This study highlights the important role that service learning can play in both undergraduate and graduate student development. It also displays this methodology’s teaching potential. It can assist in the development of individuals who will participate as responsible members of their organizations and in the society at large.