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A co-creation shift in learning management: work design for institutional commitment and personal growth

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Abstract

Some higher education management departments have started to implement customer service orientation strategies in their marketing activities in order to solidify value exchange perceptions, differentiate themselves, and improve retention rates. However, if students are to get the most out of their academic experiences, they need to become meaningfully and psychologically involved in their studies. This research study explored the specific job context of students within the higher education environment by testing the structure of the “work of students” by utilizing job design theories. The ensuing conceptual Student Engagement Work Design Model (SEWDM) and the empirical findings provide a roadmap of how the engagement elements of autonomy, feedback, skill variety, task identity, and customer services can be utilized by universities when attempting to predict institutional commitment and personal growth needs. A co-creation approach to management education is definitely more complicated to promote and implement, but it has the larger payback as costs can be lowered through the careful design of the students’ work so it will be motivational—with students helping to create a better educational experience for their peers, the faculty, and the community resulting in more positive word-of-mouth promotions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shannon School of Business, Cape Breton University, P.O. Box 5300, 1250 Grand Lake Rd, Sydney, NS, B1P 6L2, Canada

    Leslie J. Wardley

  2. Faculty of Management, Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON, Canada

    Charles H. Bélanger

  3. College of Business, Ohio University, Athens, OH, USA

    John Nadeau

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  1. Leslie J. Wardley
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  2. Charles H. Bélanger
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  3. John Nadeau
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Correspondence to Leslie J. Wardley.

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Wardley, L.J., Bélanger, C.H. & Nadeau, J. A co-creation shift in learning management: work design for institutional commitment and personal growth. High Educ 74, 997–1013 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0090-0

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