Developing civic-mindedness in undergraduate business students through service-learning projects for civic engagement and service leadership practices for civic improvement

Robin Stanley SNELL, Yin Lee, Maureen CHAN, Hok Ka, Carol MA, Ka Man, Carman CHAN

Research output: Journal PublicationsJournal Article (refereed)peer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Projects that challenge students to practice service leadership for civic improvement can address the aim of developing civic-mindedness in undergraduates. We conducted two qualitative studies. First, we investigated the learning experiences of four teams of undergraduate business students, who undertook semester-long course-embedded service-learning projects in partnership with four Hong Kong-based social enterprises. The students described five modes of civic engagement as project purposes, mentioned applying six types of service leadership practice for civic improvement, and described eight types of developmental outcome within the domain of civic-mindedness. Comparisons suggested that besides relational support through training and guidance, empowering infrastructure, opportunities to exercise autonomy, and opportunities to demonstrate competence, three project-related features that varied between projects were important in fostering civic-mindedness. These were direct contact with grassroots-based beneficiaries; the experience of making a tangible difference; and linking the campus with the wider community. A second qualitative study indicated that course-embedded team projects with these features that were undertaken in mixed teams that included freshman and senior year business students fostered civic-mindedness for both categories of student.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)73-99
Number of pages27
JournalAsian Journal of Business Ethics
Volume4
Issue number1
Early online date16 Jun 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2015
EventThe Fifth World Business Ethics Forum - Macau, Macau, Macao
Duration: 9 Dec 201411 Dec 2014
https://www.um.edu.mo/fba/wbef2014/index.html

Keywords

  • Civic engagement
  • Civic-mindedness
  • Intergroup contact theory
  • Self-determination theory
  • Service leadership
  • Service-learning

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