The impacts of community-service learning on career adaptability and on ethics and social responsibility of university students: an experimental study

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to determine the impacts of community service-learning (CSL) on the career adaptability, ethics, and social responsibility of Chinese undergraduate students studying business in Hong Kong. The CSL program was a credit-bearing program lasting two to three months (not less than 80 service hours). In a pre-test-post-test experimental design, students who enrolled in the class were the experimental group (n = 147; 67 male, 80 female) and students who did not enrol in the class were the control group (n = 104; 47 male, 57 female). The students completed the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS) China Form and the Perceived Role of Ethics and Social Responsibility Scale (PRESOR) before and after the CSL program. At pre-test there were no significant differences between the two groups in CAAS or PRESOR scores. However, at post-test, mixed Group x Time ANOVAs showed that students in the experimental group had greater increases in career adaptability (including concern, control, curiosity, and confidence) and perceived role of ethics and social responsibility (including stockholder and stakeholder view), than those in the control group. The results show that CSL has positive impacts on students’ career adaptability, ethics, and social responsibility.