Gender Variations in the Effects of Number of Organizational Memberships, Number of Social Networking Sites, and Grade-Point Average on Global Social Responsibility in Filipino University Students

Young people, including those in the Philippines, are taught about global social responsibility (GSR) as part of their formal education in global citizenship (UNESCO, 2013). GSR is a crucial value to promote in this demographic sector, because the world’s burgeoning problems (e.g., climate change) demand both collective and cross-generational action. Several studies have examined GSR in young people, but their main focus has been on the effectiveness of educational activities on GSR (e.g., Bhandari & Belyavina, 2011) as well as on the statistical relationships of GSR with other global citizenship elements (e.g., Blake & Reysen, 2014). There is a sparse amount of attention bestowed to investigating the effects of factors at the individual level. Like other cultural values, GSR is likewise influenced by elements stemming from individual-based factors, such as one’s social activities and academic performance. This study discusses the effects of number of organizational memberships, number of social networking sites (SNS), and grade-point average (GPA) on GSR. These effects are hypothesized to differ according to gender, which is known to influence the learning of human values (Bowl, Tobias, Leahy, Ferguson, & Gage, 2012; Severiens & Dam, 1994). Studying these factors is important as it would determine potential pathways to effectively foster GSR in young people.

In their review of prominent theoretical and philosophical literature, Morais and Ogden (2011) define GSR in terms of interdependence and social concern for others, the society and the environment. According to them, these measures specifically indicate: 1) understanding global interconnectedness and personal responsibility; 2) knowing global issues and being emphatic of global justice and disparities; and 3) constructing an ethic of social service to help resolve social issues (Morais & Ogden, 2011). GSR clearly demands young people to situate themselves on a global scale and to embrace the call for service to the global community. The learning of the value may constitute a challenge, therefore, for many young people who are still in the process of forming their self-concept. Fortunately, individual-based factors that are beyond the structures of formal instruction have elements or values that could help enhance the movement of young people towards inculcating GSR. These factors require exploration.

Though their participation rate in youth organizations is low (European Commission, 2007), young people are continually encouraged to join organizations because of their developmental effects (Klindera & Menderwald, 2001). Studies have revealed that young people with an organizational membership or involvement tend to hold values and behaviors related to social responsibility (not necessarily at the global level). For example, students in the US who are members of an organization were found to possess a community value of citizenship. That is, these students “believed in a process whereby an individual and/or a group become responsibly connected to the community and to society through some activity; and recognized that members of communities are not independent, but interdependent and that individuals and groups have responsibility for the welfare of others” (Dugan & Komives, 2007, p. 10).

Moreover, US students having an organizational membership, relative to those without, were observed to have developed more humanitarian values and civic engagement (Hernandez, Hogan, Hathaway, & Lovell, 1999); and to have devoted longer hours to volunteering (Wolfe, 2014). These outcomes, which are likely influenced by the variety of activities that organizations commonly provide their members (e.g., organizing, networking and community service) (Hall, 2012), are amplified and deepened as young people gain more organizational memberships. Local social responsibility, which is commonly fostered by youth organizations, may serve as a springboard to fostering GSR in young people.

SNS play a very active role in connecting young people with others from countries all over the world. Using SNS represents a fundamental yet a significant practice among young people, including Filipino students. Facebook, the world’s most popular SNS, has 1.44 billion active users each month and 936 million users every day (Rushe, 2015); in the Philippines, it has 34.0 million active users (Kemp, 2012). In addition to Facebook, young people use other SNS; in fact, 71% of those in the US reported having more than one SNS (Lenhart, 2015). Apart from serving as channels for building social connections (Sheldon, Abad, & Hinsch, 2011) and inter-personal networks, SNS also constitute as main channels for acquiring and sharing news and information, including that on global and social justice issues (Ellison, Lampe, & Steinfield, 2009). These impacts are deepened as young people increase the number of their SNS. Having multiple SNS predicts global awareness. Young people with multiple SNS were reported to have felt knowledgeable about the world and interconnected with other people in the world (Lee, Baring, Sta. Maria, & Reysen, 2015). This global awareness is a precursor to the pro-social values of global citizenship (Reysen & Katzarska-Miller, 2013).

GPA is indicative of the quality of young people’s academic performance, but more importantly, of their hard work, conscientiousness, resilience and persistence. In large part, a high GPA is akin to gaining a mastery of and control over one’s academic life. As a less normative student characteristic than joining organizations and using SNS, a high GPA could potentially mediate rather than merely predict one’s inculcation of global values. A high GPA translates to a high self-esteem (Davidson, Metcalfe, Mueller, Molony, & Vodouris, 2012; Ruekberg, 2006). Since GPA is likewise associated with job and earning prospects (Oehrlein, 2009), a GPA-based self-esteem is by no means related only to school but also to broader life outcomes. Thus, young people with a high GPA are also likely to feel able, ready and open to accept and carry out global-level responsibilities. GPA is both an antecedent to global awareness and GSR. Young people with a high GPA have knowledge of the world and are concerned with global problems; value and respect cultural diversity and engage with other cultural groups; and most crucially, are willing to become global citizens (Lee et al., 2015, p. 2).

This study determines gender variations in the effects of number of organizational memberships, number of SNS, and GPA on GSR. There are gender differences in organizational memberships, SNS and GPA according to studies. For example, young women are more inclined to join organizations (Ferris, Oosterhoff, & Metzger, 2013) and to volunteer (Wolfe, 2014). There are more young women having multiple SNS (Jambulingam, Selvarajah, & Thuraisingam, 2014) whose main purpose for using social networks revolves around maintaining and deepening existing relationships, in contrast to young men who tend to continually establish new relationships in SNS (Mazman & Usluel, 2011). With respect to GPA, young men have lower grades compared to those earned by young women (Conger & Long, 2010).

As an overarching social structure (Risman, 2004), gender guides young men and women how to learn and act according to some prescribed characteristics. For instance, as a consequence of their gender-role socialization, young women, compared to men, are more relationship-oriented, emotional and caring (Tormey & Gleeson, 2012), and are more involved in acts of caring and support (Eagly, 2009). These gender characteristics are likely to define how young men and women would value and learn from organizational memberships, SNS and GPA, which would then impact on their GSR.

The purpose of the present study is to estimate gender variations in: 1) the direct effects of (a) number of organizational memberships, (b) number of SNS, and (c) GPA, on GSR; and 2) the indirect effects of (a) and (b) through (c) on GSR among Filipino university students. The structural path model estimated in this study is shown in Figure 1. It is hypothesized that number of organizational memberships and number of SNS would be positively associated with GSR in both genders. As a mediator, GPA would help enhance these positive associations.

Methods

Results

The descriptive characteristics of the sample are shown in Table 1. Mean GSR scores are statistically significantly lower for men than women (M = 48.2, SE = .16 versus M = 50.6, SE = .14, t = -2.43, p = .00). The GPA of men is similarly lower than that of women’s (M = 2.61, SE = .01 versus M = 2.92, SE = .01, t = -.32, p = .00). In addition, men in the study had fewer SNS memberships (M = 2.45, SE = .03 versus M = 3.16, SE = .02, t = -.71, p = .00); and fewer organizational memberships (M = .89, SE = .02 versus M = 1.00, SE = .01, t = -.12, p = .00). Both groups were almost identical with respect to duration of Facebook use.

The correlations of the study variables are shown in Table 2. Except for one, all the exogenous variables are statistically significantly related with GSR. For men, the number of organizational memberships is shown to have the strongest positive correlation with GSR. For women, the variable with the strongest positive correlation with GSR is GPA. With its weak correlation with the endogenous variable, duration of using Facebook is excluded from the path analysis.

The parameter estimates (unstandardized and standardized) for each path by gender are shown in Table 3. Based on the unstandardized coefficients (B), a lower number of SNS is significantly associated with higher GPA for women but not for men. Number of organizational memberships has a significant association with GPA for both men and women. As further suggested by unstandardized coefficients, number of organizational memberships, number of SNS, and GPA are all statistically significant predictors of GSR for both groups, albeit the strengths of their associations vary between men and women. Among men, the strongest predictor is number of organizational memberships followed by GPA, and number of SNS. Among women, the strongest predictor is GPA, followed by number of organizational memberships, and number of SNS. As implied by the Comparative Fit Index (CFI) and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA), the model with GPA as the mediator fit the data.

The effects of GPA, number of SNS, and number of organizational memberships on GSR were decomposed and the results are shown in Table 4. The exogenous factors have statistically significant direct and/or total positive effects on GSR, whereby increases in these factors lead to increases in GSR scores. Although the indirect effects of organizational memberships on GSR through GPA are statistically significantly robust, the indirect effects of SNS on GSR through GPA are negligible. Men and women significantly differ only with respect to the total effects of their organizational memberships on their GSR. In particular, men’s GSR is more strongly influenced by organizational memberships than women’s GSR (p < 0.01). Overall, gender variations in the effects of the exogenous factors are sparse, based on the p-values of the invariant constraint on the associated path coefficients shown in the last column of Table 4.

Discussion

The study examined gender variations in the effects of number of organizational memberships, number of SNS and GPA on GSR. The three factors have significantly increased GSR scores among the university students interviewed. As a mediator, GPA also has significant positive effects as hypothesized, but these effects are only true insofar as the relationships of organizational memberships and GSR are concerned. Overall, men’s GSR can be significantly differentiated from that of women’s solely in terms of organizational memberships.

The lack of broad gender variations may be accounted for by the homogeneous university life experiences, similarities in parental education, or common socio-demographic conditions among the university student population surveyed. For example, most students were young (mean age: 17.9) and freshmen who were completing general education rather than major subjects at the time of the survey, and were from high-income families. Moreover, the lack of appreciable gender differences, which could have impacted on the relational outcomes of the variables examined, may be due to a narrowing of the gender gap in the emotional expressiveness among the younger generation. The increasing numbers of young men coming to terms with their emotional side may mean shifts in the ways they will value and learn from their social and academic lives, which have implications for their GSR.

The exogenous factors are highly effective most probably because the resultant outcomes of their provisions to university students are closely related to the elements of GSR. Multiple organizational memberships help broaden young people’s sense of community service and volunteerism (Dugan & Komives, 2007; Wolfe, 2014). Multiple SNS enable young people to establish and develop cross-cultural interactions and relationships in virtual networks (Ellison et al., 2009; Lee et al., 2015). As a robust indicator of academic fortitude and broad-based learning, GPA hastens young people’s global readiness, including their global awareness and GSR (Lee et al., 2015).

Of the three factors, organizational memberships are the most significant predictor of young men’s GSR. The overall significance of organizational memberships in men may be linked to their learning process in organizations, which is mainly experiential and action-based. Being activity-oriented themselves (Cleveland, Stockdale, & Murphy, 2000), young men may be prone to learning more when the process is attuned to their learning style. In contrast, young women—with their propensities to be expressive (Noller, 1986) and deep when discussing issues (Cleveland et al., 2000), which are effective for learning social issues, may gravitate more toward classroom-based activities to acquire an in-depth knowledge of concepts such as GSR. The lack of gender variations in the effects of SNS may be due to the possibility that the men and women interviewed are still in a formative phase of exploring the higher-level functions and benefits of the Internet. Similarly, the absence of gender differences in the effects of GPA could be because the students who were interviewed, being mostly freshmen, have only been given sparse information on GSR.

The lack of appreciable mediating effects of GPA on SNS-GSR nexus may be attributed to an absence of the intertwining between GPA and SNS in terms of their respective functions. To date, GPA, which is largely academic and intellectual, and SNS, which is largely personal and social, remain as two distinct and separate domains in the Philippines. A fusion of the two, which would transform SNS into a vital academic learning tool that young people could use to deepen their learning of social issues, is a rare university agenda. The significantly strong mediating effects of GPA on the relationships between organizational memberships and GSR could be attributed to the fact that GPA and organizational memberships are inter-related (Broh, 2002; Cooper, Valentine, Nye, & Lindsay, 1999; Darling, Caldwell, & Smith, 2005). Organizational memberships enable young people to pursue their academic interests outside of the classroom, which in turn translates into school engagement and academic achievement (Ferris et al., 2013).