The Relationship Between College Student Involvement, Investment, and Satisfaction

1
The Relationship Between College Student
Involvement, Investment, and Satisfaction

• Sarah Maurer
• Hanover College

2
Thoughts on Student Satisfaction

• Given the considerable investment of time and
  energy that most students make in attending
  college, their perceptions of the value of that
  experience should be given substantial weight.
  Indeed, it is difficult to argue that student
  satisfaction can be legitimately subordinated to
  any other educational outcome. -Alexander Astin,
  1993

3
Involvement and Satisfaction

• Participation in Greek Organizations (Pennington
  et al, 1989)
• Student Athletes (Pascarella et al, 1991)
• Astin (1984) Residential Students vs. Commuting
  Students
• Abrahamowicz (1988) Greatest differences in
  student satisfaction found in interpersonal
  relationships

4
Rusbults Investment Model

• Introduced by Rusbult (1983)
• Satisfaction increases with lower costs and
  higher rewards
• Commitment increases with higher rewards and
  investment size, and lower costs
• Theory has been used to apply to job commitment
  (1983) satisfaction and commitment in
  relationships (1986)

5
Hatcher (1992)

• Studied College Student commitment using
  Rusbults Investment Model
• Phase 1 Sample of students generated concrete
  examples of rewards, costs, alternatives, and
  investments associated with college
• Phase 2 Examples used to teach concepts to a new
  sample of students, who then completed the global
  measures of the investment model variables
• Found satisfaction, alternatives, and investments
  each affected commitment

6
Current Study

• Case Study of Hanover College
• Approximately 1,000 students
• Private, located in rural Indiana
• Largely residential
• Issue of retention

7
Hypotheses

• Involvement will be positively correlated with
  Investment.
• Involvement will be positively correlated with
  Satisfaction.
• Investment will be positively correlated with
  Satisfaction.

8
Methods

• Link to online survey was sent to all Hanover
  College students through weekly Student Life
  E-Newsletter 125 total participants
• Survey contained measures for Involvement,
  Investment, and Satisfaction, based on previous
  studies
• Also included open-ended questions to allow for
  additional comments from participants

9
Sample Items

• Involvement
• Asked for students to list activities and specify
  if office held Weighted activities in analysis
• Investment (?.71)
• If you were to consider withdrawing from Hanover,
  how much do you think you would lose from the
  following area of your life?
• Satisfaction
• Knowing what you do now, how likely would you be
  to enroll at Hanover again?

10
Results

• Investment
• Min 2.00 Max 4.75
• Mean 3.57
• St. Dev. 0.545
• Satisfaction
• Min 1.00 Max 5.00
• Mean 3.59
• St. Dev. 1.288
• Involvement
• Min 0.00 Max 45.00
• Mean 10.86
• St. Dev. 6.27

11
Results

• No significant correlation between involvement
  and investment (r -.08, p.41, N125)
• No significant correlation between involvement
  and satisfaction (r -.05, p.57, N125)
• Significant positive correlation between
  satisfaction and investment (r.66, p.00, N125)

12
Additional Factors

• Gender even across investment, satisfaction, and
  involvement
• Place of residence no effect on investment,
  satisfaction, or involvement
• GPA no effect on investment, satisfaction, or
  involvement
• Type of activity no effect on investment or
  satisfaction

13
Class Year Effects

• Juniors least likely to reenroll (3.15),
  sophomores most likely (4.05)
• Investment and Satisfaction reflected same
  pattern
• Juniors and seniors more involved than
  first-years and sophomores
• Trend toward significance

14
Class Year Reenrollment
15
Conclusions

• One of three hypotheses supported Investment
  positively correlated with Satisfaction
• Involvement findings go against previous research

16
Future Research

• Create more accurate measure of student
  involvement
• Measure level of investment in individual
  activities

17
Implications for Student Life Professionals

• Involvement does not seem to be as important in
  satisfaction as previously thought
• Critical for students to be invested in the
  institution

18
Questions?