First-Year Student Motivations for Service-Learning: An Application of the Volunteer Functions Inventory

Abstract

This study extends a line of research focused on motivational factors that contribute to first-year students' reasons for engaging in service-learning. Among first-year students, altruistically-motivated students (Christensen, Stritch, Kellough, & Brewer, 2015) and minority students (Pearl & Christensen, 2016) were not only more knowledgeable of service-learning upon entering college but they were also more interested in enrolling in service-learning. The present study employs the Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI) (Clary et al., 1998) to explore the extent to which student traits are correlated with various motivations to enroll in service-learning courses. We examine student responses to the VFI survey instrument using multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA). Our findings establish a foundation that better accounts for students' "inputs" in order to better understand various service-learning outcomes. We discuss the implications of our findings as they relate to higher education administrators and instructors in order to close the gap between service-learning interest and enrollment, and to provide students with service-learning experiences that satisfy their motivations and help them achieve their goals.