Have You Found What You’re Looking for?: How Values Orientations Affect Pro-Social Change After Transformative Service Experiences

Past research on transformative service experiences suggests that participating individuals may experience positive, as well as (unintended) negative well-being consequences. Most of this work has examined aspects of the service provider and the service experience as a causal factor, underemphasizing aspects of the participants in such experiences as a determinant. Implementing a longitudinal design in the context of a cross-country bike trip to benefit multiple sclerosis, the authors investigate how changes in participants' civic attitudes and skills, as well as perceived personal change and connection to the experience, may depend upon the participants' underlying values orientation. Emerging findings indicate that values associated with achievement and growth may lead to undesirable changes in civic attitudes, while values associated with external validation promote positive personal change and enhanced connection to the organization and cause. Implications for transformative service organizations and research limitations are discussed.