Date of Award

5-2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management

Committee Member

Dr. Denise M. Anderson, Committee Chair

Committee Member

Dr. Edmond P. Bowers

Committee Member

Dr. Sarah Winslow

Committee Member

Dr. Tony W. Cawthon

Abstract

Background and Purpose. On-campus college student employment has been positively associated with extracurricular involvement, academic success, and retention. There is a lack of clarity, however, regarding the types of jobs and job characteristics associated with the positive outcomes of on-campus employment. In addition, it is unclear what else employed students might gain or how they might benefit from on-campus employment as opposed to off-campus employment. Furthermore, since living a balanced life has become an increasingly popular value among Millennials, the lives of employed college students need to be further examined, specifically regarding work and leisure experiences. Therefore, this study explored the work and leisure experiences of employed college students based on the different job programs that exist on Clemson University’s campus. Methods. Semi-structured interviews were used as the main form of data collection. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed by a team of three researchers. Findings. Findings suggest that these participants a) felt they gained various soft skills relevant to their future careers through employment and extracurricular involvement, b) that leisure can be experienced in the workplace, and c) that employment and extracurricular involvement history before college might contribute to boredom and not knowing what to do during unstructured free time. Future Research. Future research is necessary to further explore the effects of on-campus employment as well as off campus employment. Additionally, more research is necessary to understand the implications of experiencing leisure in the workplace. Finally, research is needed to understand how student involvement in extracurricular activities as well as employment might negatively impact one’s ability to manage unstructured free time.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.