The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 44, No. 2 - 39

Resident Assistant Workplace Motivation

Given the prominent first-place
ranking for helping behaviors,
attention should be paid to
highlighting the pieces of the
position that include helping
students and offering testimonials
from current or past residents on
the impact of their RA on their
residential experience .

important to realize that because the covariate
was entered first in its own model and was not
removed, the second model and subsequent
R² are cumulative. In other words, it would be
incorrect to suggest that model 2 includes just
the three predictors and accounts for 95.5%
of the variance in the outcome variable (using
adj.R² ). It would be appropriate to suggest that
Table 4, which includes all three predictors and
the covariate, accounts for 95.5% of the variance in the outcome variable (using adj.R² ). It
would also be appropriate to suggest that there
was a significant increase in R² from block 1 to
block 2 such that the combination of the three
predictors and the covariate seems to account
for a meaningful share of the variance in the
outcome variable.

CONCLUSION
Though there are a number of studies on
RA motivation, very little research concerns
RAs in more recent years; as the RA role has
evolved, knowledge of what motivates RAs has

not kept pace, which has led to a gap in understanding what motivational factors guide
current students to apply for the RA position.
The importance of the RA as an institutional
resource, as well as the impact of this job on
the student's development, is of significance
(Huffman, 2014), and the answers to the questions of what motivates today's student to seek
this role are important to those charged with
filling these positions and to the possibility of
retention within the position.
The results of this study show that the most
prominent factor motivating students to apply
for the RA position is a desire to help others.
The ability to meet financial obligations was
the second most prominent, followed by the
need for students to work with the RA team
and bond with the RA peer group. There are no
significant differences in student demographic
characteristics and their impact on motivation
to apply for the RA position. Further, gender
and race/ethnicity, how many students an RA
serves, and how long the student has been an
RA did not predict high levels of motivation.
Finally, no work environment or demographic
characteristics were predictive of motivation.
Differences in gender and race/ethnicity, the
class standing of students an RA serves, the
type of housing, number of semesters in the
position, number of residents, and type of in-

The opportunity for career and
professional development
may not have a price tag, but it
is substantial.
V o l u m e 4 4 , No. 2 * 2 0 1 8

The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 44, No. 2

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