Autonomy, competence, and relatedness: unpacking faculty motivation in service-learning

Abstract

Service-learning (SL) has gained global popularity for promoting students’ civic engagement and democratic and pluralistic values and impacting faculty and communities. It relies on foundational pillars (the 4 Rs): respect, reciprocity, relevance, and reflexivity. While the drivers of faculty motivation have received attention from researchers, a gap remains in understanding what sustains their motivation and engagement over time. This study aims to address this gap by exploring the perspectives of a group of European scholars through the lens of Self-Determination Theory. A hybrid thematic analysis was employed to analyze the 22 semi-structured interviews collected in 14 European countries. The findings reveal that SL exerts a transformative influence on the community, students, faculty, and higher education institutions, nurturing a heightened sense of competence among faculty members. Institutionalization is a pivotal factor in sustaining and rewarding engaged faculty scholarship, enabling autonomy in academic roles, and aligning personal values with institutional endeavors. Finally, the community experience within SL fosters positive connections with colleagues and communities at local, national, and international levels. As a result, this study introduces a fifth foundational pillar, extending the existing 4 Rs model: relatedness. Future research directions and implications are proposed.