An investigation on the role of positive psychological constructs on educational outcomes in business schools

Abstract

Business schools are increasingly interested in empowering students to be more competent and driven for social changes through service learning. However, studies examining the role of positive traits and cross-cultural differences of service-learning education are limited. As a result, we leveraged positive psychology reasoning to explore the relationship between positive behavior as indicated by compassion, ethical leadership, perceived supervisory support and service-learning benefits for students (N = 272; n = 59 teams) in the United States of America (U.S.) and Germany. We used hierarchical linear modeling (2-Level model) to find main effects of relational compassion, ethical leadership, perceived supervisory support, on judgements of service-learning benefits by students. We also observed differences between U.S. and German students on evaluations of ethical leadership, supervisory support, perceived community benefits, and service-learning benefits. The findings offer insight on the role of positively oriented education effects in two countries. We discuss implications for theory and research on service-learning benefits.