Title: Does students' empowerment influence their commitment?

Authors: Azadeh Shafaei; Mehran Nejati

Addresses: School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Minden Heights, Gelugor 11800, Penang, Malaysia ' School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Minden Heights, Gelugor 11800, Penang, Malaysia

Abstract: Students' commitment plays a very important role in their academic achievement. This paper seeks to investigate how various aspects of students' empowerment influence their commitment, by investigating a sample 59 undergraduate students. Results of the study revealed that out of the four categories of empowerment, only self-determination significantly enhanced students' commitment. Hence, it was argued that to enhance students' commitment, which can consequently result in their improved sense of belongingness, schools need to enhance their students' perceived sense of having selection in initiating and regulating actions within the school setting. Findings of this study provide invaluable insights for educational administrators and school deans to enhance students' empowerment, which might be through engaging them in school affairs and involving them in some of the activities and decisions of the school.

Keywords: university students; student empowerment; student commitment; educational administration; higher education; universities; academic achievement; undergraduate students; self-determination; belongingness; action initiation; action regulation; educational administrators; school deans; school affairs; student involvement; Malaysia; education economics; educational development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEED.2012.052311

International Journal of Education Economics and Development, 2012 Vol.3 No.4, pp.305 - 313

Received: 28 Feb 2012
Accepted: 11 Nov 2012

Published online: 23 Aug 2014 *

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