Service-Learning in Higher Education and Prosocial Identity Formation

Why this paper matters

Links service-learning to prosocial role-identity formation.

Evidence reviewed

Design: Conceptual theory article
Full-text status: Indexed PDF/full text reviewed

Principal finding

Offers a structural-symbolic-interactionist model for how repeated roles and recognition may stabilize prosocial identity.

EntrSL interpretation

This paper informs the design or evaluation of service-learning and experiential-learning work. Its findings should be interpreted within the reported design and context, not treated as universal or necessarily causal evidence.

Limitations and boundary conditions

Conceptual model, not an empirical test.

Scoring rationale

• EntrSL relevance: 4/5. Directness to service-learning, experiential learning, higher education, entrepreneurship, reflection, reciprocity, or institutional practice.
• Evidence quality: 3/5. Based on design transparency, sample or review breadth, analytical fit, and inferential limits.
• Journal standing is separate. OpenAlex two-year mean citedness and h-index are descriptive source metrics and do not increase this paper’s evidence score.

Citation

Lindsey M. McDougle; Huafang Li (2023). “Service-Learning in Higher Education and Prosocial Identity Formation.” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1177/08997640221108140