Murray State Theses and Dissertations
Abstract
Student worker productivity is an important aspect of higher education, since many functional units rely on student employees to operate. Student workers communicate with all stakeholders of universities, including incoming and current students and their families, alumni, faculty, staff, and community members. Universities facing issues related to budgeting, enrollment, retention, and employability of their graduates can combat those issues by strengthening the largest labor pool on campus, student workers. The study explored what it means to be a productive university student worker within the framework of Social Exchange Theory and Grounded Theory. The study sought to provide recommendations to universities in order to optimize the use of their student employees in various functional units. The study found that a productive student worker is a representative of their university and their functional unit who is professional and helpful, exhibiting dependability, initiative, a balanced approach to work and academics, and strong communication skills. The researcher found that many of the attributes that define a productive student worker are the same qualities that employers seek in recent college graduates. The researcher found that professionalism is a cornerstone of productivity for student workers. The study found that productivity is not formally being measured for university student workers. However, qualitative measures are beneficial, especially when used in a standardized manner. The study found that direct supervisors set expectations of student workers with some input from the students themselves. The knowledge gained from the study will help inform future research regarding productivity in student workers.
Year manuscript completed
2024
Year degree awarded
2024
Author's Keywords
on-campus student employment, student work, productivity, productive student worker, professionalism for student workers
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Dissertation Committee Chair
Ben Littlepage
Committee Member
Don Robertson
Committee Member
Matt Purdy
Committee Member
Sheila Bourland
Document Type
Dissertation
Recommended Citation
Mansfield, Amanda S., "UNIVERSITY STUDENT WORKER PRODUCTIVITY: A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS" (2024). Murray State Theses and Dissertations. 389.
https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/etd/389
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