Personality Dimensions and Importance of the Social Role of the University Student in Explaining Student Involvement in Student Organization

Introduction

In this article, the concept of student involvement refers to the active participation of students in the student organization in a direction of being able to achieve its established goals, these being improving the student standard, advocacy and lobbying for students’ rights, international affirmation of the student movement, reforms in higher education, and encouraging active student membership through organizing various activities (http://spukm.org n.d.).

Beside student involvement in student organization, student participation in the political life of the country was registered during the course of 2014 as the informal organization of students was formed, the so-called Student Plenum. The initiative appeared at the end of 2014 after the announcement of the changes in the Law on Higher Education of the Constitution of Macedonia, which according to the movement strongly violates Article 46¹ which guarantees the autonomy of universities. In the period of announcement of the adoption of a new Law (during 2017) on Higher Education, the research challenge was to explore the perception and satisfaction of students from Student Organization at the biggest and oldest University in Macedonia². Over the course of 2017³ the field research was conducted in order to determine to what degree students were informed about the existence and work of the bodies of the student organization, how involved they were in the activities, and how satisfied they were with the way in which they managed their student organization, as well as to identify which personality dimensions exert an influence on students’ involvement, and how important it is for students is the social role of the university student (this paper is only one segment of this complex research).

The general outcomes of bigger research show that, to a large extent, students are not completely familiar with the way the student organization functions, and that they barely know the representatives of the student parliament, especially the small percentage of students who were in some way involved in some of the activities of the organization. A large percentage of students are not satisfied with the work of the student organization. Despite student organization's defined competences, students are not cognizant of the fact that this organization carries significant influence on the decision-making processes at the University level. Students have stated that they choose not to get involved in the work of the student organization primarily because of a lack of interest, a lack of knowledge of the opportunities for participation, and also because of the belief that professors mete out retribution upon actively involved students, and because of the involvement of political parties in the decision-making processes (Серафимовска et al., 2018).

As the participants of this survey were undergraduate students (from 18 to 25) it is relevant to broach the subject of psycho-social developmental issues. These students belong to the Millennials, the demographic generational cohort that is considered to include those born between 1981 and 2000. This generation has been witness to a series of events generating a sense of insecurity and unsafely. When all the events that have taken place in the period of growth and development of this generation are put together, it can be concluded that they are living in a society that is continuously at high risk in terms of security from an economic and social aspect. Young people from Macedonia, as well as youth from other republics of the former Yugoslavia, have been exposed to dramatic events such as armed conflicts, mass migration, and refugee crises, the transition of the social system from socialist to capitalist, political parties influence on public administration, dubious privatization of social property, multiple reforms in the education system, etc. The general perception of the situation in the state, as well as the perception of the internal political situation, clearly demonstrates the sense of lethargy that exists among the youth, accompanied with mistrust towards state institutions (Талески et al., 2006). Young people in Macedonia are usually not socially active, but those who are, are members of political parties, with a lesser number being members of non-governmental and sports organizations, whilst the smallest number are members of professional organizations. The percentage of students who answered that they are politically active, have cited pragmatic reasons for this, to wit, employment, desire for a better standard of living, protection, etc. (Цветанова et al., 2016; Латковиќ et al., 2013).

Regarding political ideology, socialist ideology still dominates among students in Macedonia, even 71% of students possess a socialist ideology (Markovikj, 2010). The socialistic ideology is characterized by collective responsibility, equal distribution of funds, non-conformism and expectation for the responsibility to be taken over by government institutions.

Students, according to the theoretical and empirical knowledge of developmental psychology, belong to the life period designated as “early maturity”. At the age of 18 to 25, young people strive for independence from their parents and build a vision of achievements in life related to their profession and intimate relationships (Gormly and Brodzinski, 1990). Findings from studies conducted in Macedonia showed that the process of achieving independence from the parents starts at a later age or in some cases never. Relevant numbers of young people still live with and are financially dependent on their parents, and their political attitudes are similar to those of their parents (Латковиќ et al., 2013).

Sociologists, studying the phenomenon of youth from the perspective of social inclusion and independence from parents, distinguish synchronized and non-synchronized youth (Nikolic et al., 2004:7-17). Synchronized youth is characterized by temporal and content coordination of achieving economic independence, permanent employment and family formation. Non-synchronized youth is determined by temporally and content-wise uncoordinated attainment of certain adult roles. In highly developed countries, the duration of the period of youth is more or less a matter of choice, as there is a low level of unemployment, for example in Germany it is 3.65% (Eurostat, n.d.); however, in transitional countries, such as Macedonia, the level of overall employment is 22.4% (State Statistical Office, 2018) and youth unemployment is 42.3% (Латковиќ et al., 2016) prolonged period of youth dominates (unsynchronized youth).

The transformation of youth depends on the degree of freedom in a society, reflected in the possibility of choosing values ​​according to the existence of pluralistic offers, existing culture, quality of education, and conflicts in society. Social transition hinders the transformation that occurs in youth, especially when the transition does not appear alone, but along with various forms of armed conflict. Osgood et al. (2005) noted that transition to adulthood is influenced by various events. Those events can be in the form of personal, relational, or of a socio-economic and political nature; some of them can have negative effects on this process, for example adolescents’ marriages, economic issues, family issues, substances abuse, political and civil affairs, etc. (Osgood et al., 2005, pp.1-27).

Student Involvement in Student Organization, Five-Factorial Personality Model and the Importance of the Social Role

The Five-Factor Personality Model assumes the existence of five basic dimensions that lie at the heart of personality traits. This model begins with the concept of hierarchical structure of personality traits (Costa and McCrae, 1992). The five basic factors are named as domains and behavioral dimensions. Neuroticism (adaptability and emotional stability); Extraversion (social relations, intensity of interpersonal interactions and the level of activity); Openness (active seeking experiences, aesthetic sensitivity, intellectual curiosity, need for change, and non-dogmatic attitudes); Agreeableness (trust, interpersonal relations, the need to help others); Conscientiousness (ability of self-control as disciplined direction for the realization of set goals, and adherence to one’s own principles) (McCrae and Costa, 1992; Markovikj and Serafimovska, 2014).

Mondak and Halperin (2008) point out that the change in research in the domain of political science occurs owing to the research in the field of personality psychology where several factor models appear. Of these, the Five-Factor Personality Model is best known. The series of research in the field of political science has resulted in data indicating that all five personality dimensions have a certain connection with certain aspects of political behavior, and student involvement in student organization can be assumed as a behavior needed for civic democratic society engagement (Howe and Fosnacht, 2017). Student involvement in student organizations is considered as a direct representation of their likely involvement outside of school/college/university later in life. Participating in organizations, groups, and other activities allows students to improve their leadership and organizational skills and is related to increased skill development as well as other aspects of personal growth (McCannon and Bennett, 1996).

The relationship between personality and political behavior could be considered in two respects. The first aspect is that differences in personality can directly affect different forms of political behavior: manner of voting, political attitudes, strength of identification with certain political parties, etc. The second aspect is that differences in personality can lead to indirect, situational effects on political behavior. Recent research in psychology suggests that situational factors, such as the threat to society’s security, influence political reasoning.

Data from surveys in the domain of political behavior/involvement in societal processes through the connection with personality dimensions have shown that the basic political predispositions are rooted in personality. The data has shown that personality dimensions are related to important political predispositions and attitudes. These dimensions/traits are not considered to be under our conscious control, but have been found to have a significant effect on thoughts, attitudes, and behavior. In the realm of politics they have been shown to influence one’s political participation, sense of civic duty, partisanship, ideology, and political efficacy (Dusso, 2016). It has been demonstrated that Openness is negatively linked to identification with conservatism as an ideology (Gerber et al., 2009). Openness and extraversion is positively linked to direct democracy, e.g. to political protests (Brandstatatter and Opp, 2014; Gallego and Oberski, 2011; Ha et al., 2013; Mondiak et al., 2010). Other research has pointed out that Extroversion and Openness are conditioning factors of political activism (Ribeiro and Borba, 2016).

Persons with high expressiveness of the Conscientiousness dimension have a sense of obligation to be good citizens and thus to participate in society (Verhulst, Eaves and Hatemi, 2012), and also to stand behind traditional values (Geber et al., 2009). Conscientiousness includes the disposition to be safe, organized and accurate, as well as to work hard and be diligent. People with a high level of conscientiousness usually excel in school and at the workplace. Conscientious citizens are known to participate in politics if they perceive it as their civic duty (Monidak et al., 2010). Agreeableness has proven to be positively related to interpersonal trust and trust in politics. Generalised trust is a relevant segment of democratic citizenship, so people high on the Agreeableness scale will be more willing to participate in solving collective problems (Dinesen at al., 2013). Agreeable persons are known to be conflict avoidant and they will avoid political situations that are conflictive (Ackerman, 2016).

It has been shown that the dimension pointing to emotional stability (Neuroticism) influences the attitude towards political rights. Namely, persons who are calm and secure are advocates of the politics of equality (Mondiak et al., 2010).

These are findings, which support the hypothesis that the personality dimensions have influence on political attitudes and behavior but there are other researchers (Hatemi and Verhulst, 2015) who suggests the relationship between personality dimensions and political orientations are either not significant or are weak. They declare that the covariance between personality and political preferences is not causal, but due to a common, latent factor that mutually influences both.

In this paper it is assumed that two dimensions can be relevant for student involvement in the activities of student organization: Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. High Agreeableness refers to prosocial, communal orientation as well as political participation (Dinesen at al., 2013), and high Conscientiousness describes the socially prescribed impulse control following norms and rules, planning, organizing, and prioritizing tasks (Gerber et al., 2010). People who are conscientious will participate in institutionalized forms of participation (like a student organization – author’s note), but rarely in non-institutionalized forms of participation such as a political protest (Ackerman, 2016).

The relationship between personality and society is realized through the social position. The behavior expected of a person with a certain social position defines the social role (Rot, 1987). The social roles are sets of behaviors that are recognized by the members of society, these being the “specific orderly system of social action” (Znaniecki, 1994:37). They provide identification of the person with the others who share the same attitudes, sets of behavior etc. and have a function to place an individual in society. These issues make social roles very important for human social life. The importance of the social role in this study has been based on the Laponce construct of the minority effect. According to Laponce, roles that have minority status in society attract more importance than do those that are in the dominant (majority) position.

The social role of the student is temporary and lasts only until the person graduates (Rot, 1987). The expectation of the students is mostly orientated toward fulfillment of their basic function, which is studying and completing the process of education. Besides this basic expectation there are others which are more connected with involvement in society and activism. Some of the expectations are more oriented toward the quality of education and some of them toward social movements. Students are usually labeled and seen as progressive, free-minded, intellectual, critical of the current social and/or political situation and, from this perception, the expectance of political participation occurs. History has shown us that over time students have assumed a somewhat important social and political role, putting relevant issues on the political and social agenda (Kovacic, 2014).

Material and Methods

This paper tends to explain single segment of the wider research titled as: “Perspectives of Higher Education Development in the Republic of Macedonia”, which focused on the connection between student involvement in the student organization, two dimensions of personality (Agreeableness - A and Conscientiousness - C), and the importance of the social role of the student at UKIM. So, the main research question is: ‘What is the connection between personality dimensions, the role of a student at UKIM, and student involvement in the student organization?’

Participants

Field research was conducted on 669 students from the state university, St. Cyril and Methodius (UKIM), Skopje during May 2017. Appropriate approval for research had been received by the Office of the Rector as well as from the Deans of Faculties. Students voluntary participate in the study.

Quota sampling and convenience sampling was used. The number of male students was 33.2%, and the number of female students was 61.4% (5.4% do no answer this question). Respondents included students from the first and fifth year of studies from almost all faculties that constitute UKIM.

Measures

In order to answer the main research question, the data obtained from the following instruments have been analyzed:

a) Set of questions from the Questionnaire (QP) on the Perception and Satisfaction of students about their student organization (SPUKIM): student’s need for information about the existence of certain bodies/commissions of the student organization; satisfaction with the work of student organization, addressing the student organization representatives, perception of the influence of organization, perception of the factors which have an influence on student involvement according to the process of decision making and feelings toward organization.

b) Two scales from the short form of IPIP NEO: Conscientiousness and Agreeableness. IPIP NEO (the short form of 50 items) is a brief measure of the Big Five Personality Dimensions. In this form of the test, each dimension is defined by ten items. This test uses the Big Five Factor markers from the International Personality Item Pool, developed and constructed by Goldberg (1992). This test is taken from the “Possible Questionnaire Format for Administering the 50-Item Set of IPIP Big-Five Factor Markers” (International Personality Item Pool<http://ipip.ori.org/New_IPIP-50-item-scale.htm). The test contains 50 items ranked on a five-step scale where “1” is “very inaccurate”, “3” is “neutral”, and “5” is “very inaccurate”. The items were translated into Macedonian and the basic metrical features of the two scales (Agreeableness and Consciousness) were checked. Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient, which indicates the internal reliability was 0.79 for Agreeableness, and for Conscientiousness it was 0.82. These coefficients indicate high reliability on both scales. In order to determine whether the items have the capacity to differentiate respondents, the Pearson correlation coefficient was applied. Coefficients of correlation between the score of each item, with the item total score, were statistically significant (p<0.01), confirming the discrimination of items. Also, both scales (Agreeableness and Conscientiousness) correlate highly (r=0.31, p<0.01). By using the Principal Component Analysis, which determines how many factors the scale consists of, it has been found that each of the scales are determined by one dominant factor. When one considers the obtained data, it can be said that the two scales have solid metric characteristics that allow for their use in further research.

c) One segment (question) from the Laponce⁴ questionnaire about the importance of social roles - the significance of social roles for individuals (in this case: the significance of a role student for students from UKIM).

Results

The interaction between two personality dimension (Agreeableness and Conscientiousness) and the importance of the role of the student “student at UKIM” is presented in two coordinate systems (see Figure 1. below). Figure 1 shows a coordinate system defined by the two coordinates, one being the importance of the role, and the personality dimension Conscientiousness, where “C+” (above the 50^th percentile) refers to high intensity of particular dimension, and “C–“ (below the 50^th percentile) to a low expression of it. The importance of the role is determined by continuum defined by two extremes: important (I) and non-important (N). Important (I) is defined by two levels of expression of “completely important” and “partially important to me”. Non-important (N) is defined with both degrees of non-importance: “partially not-important to me” and “not-important to me at all”, with neutral answers excluded from further statistical processing.

Figure 1 Graphical presentation of the zones defined by the dimensions: importance of social role of the student at UKIM and personality dimension Conscientiousness.

Figure. 2, (below) shows the coordinate system defined by the two coordinates: importance of the role and the expression of dimension Agreeableness (“A-” indicates the low intensity of the dimension, scores below the 50^th percentile, while “A +” indicates the high intensity, scores above the 50^th percentile).

Figure 2 Graphical presentation of the zones defined by the dimensions: importance of social role and personality dimension Agreeableness

As was stated in the research question, the connection of personality dimension and the importance of the role and student involvement are to be explored. In the further statistical processing, obtained groups, which are defined by the level of personality dimension and importance of the role, are compared with the student involvement expressed in the six questions from the Questionnaire on the Perception of UKIM students about their student organization (QP).

The concept student involvement in the QP is presented with the following aspects (which correspondent to one question of QP):

Need for information.

Satisfaction with the work of student organization.

Addressing the student organization’s representatives regarding issues of interest of the students.

Perception of the influence of student organization in the promotion of student interests.

Perception of the factors which have an influence on the student involvement according to the process of decision-making.

Feelings toward student organization.

The data based on interaction between personality dimensions (A, C), the importance of the role of the student at UKIM, and student involvement are presented below:

Need for Information

Regarding the question “Would you like to be better informed about the work of student representatives?” a statistical significance was found between the responses of the four groups (the groups are shown in Figures 1 and 2).

The analysis of the obtained data shows that the need for better information stems from the degree of intensity of dimension C and the importance of the role (Chi square = 10.93, p <0.05), thus those students who have a higher degree of intensity of dimension C have a need to be more informed see Figure 3 (note: data in all figures are presented in percentages). This finding corresponds to the nature of this dimension, that is, the person who falls into the high intensity category on dimension C tends to fulfill his/her duties, and is conscientious and responsible in regard to his/her work tasks (Bracken and Ludvik, 2014). Respondents with a higher intensity of dimension C, for whom the role of the student at UKIM is important have a more expressed need to be better informed about their student organization.

Figure 3 Expression of the need to be better informed depending on the intensity of dimension C (Conscientiousness) and the importance of the role.

It was also observed that to be better informed is not the primary result of the intensity of dimension A, but by the importance/non-importance of the social role of the student at UKIM (Chi square = 7.82, p <0.05), see Figure 4 below. The lowest need for information is for those students with a low intensity of A and to whom the role student at UKIM is not important. The highest need is those with a low intensity of A and for whom the role is important.

Figure 4 Expression of the need for better information depending on the intensity of dimension A, and the importance of the role

2. Satisfaction with the work of the student organization

A statistical significance (Chi square = 17.41, p <0.01) was noted between the responses of the four groups regarding the issue of satisfaction with the work of the student organizations at particular student parliaments at faculties (SPF). There is statistical significance between the four groups concerning the intensity of dimension A and importance of the social role with the satisfaction of the work of the organization. If the role is seen as important, the more intense is the satisfaction with the SPF; the less satisfied with the work of student organization are those who have a higher intensity of dimension A, and for whom the role is non-important (N).

Figure 5 Expression of satisfaction with the work of SPF depending on the intensity of dimension A and the importance of the role.

This same tendency can be found concerning dimension C and the importance of the role (Chi square = 18.21, p <0.01), see Figure 6 below.

Figure 6 Expression of satisfaction with the work of the SPF depending on the intensity of dimension C and the importance of the role of student at UKIM.

The findings regarding the satisfaction of the work of student organization exhibit the same tendencies as do the findings regarding the satisfaction with the work of SPF (Chi square = 23.52, p <0.01 for intensity of dimension C and importance of role, and for the importance of the role and dimension A, Chi square = 21.63, p <0.01).

These data indicate that the satisfaction with the work of student organization at the faculty and at the university level occur in cases when the role of the student at UKIM is perceived as being important. The most commonly expressed point of dissatisfaction is among those students for whom the role of the student at UKIM is not important.

3. or manifested ed are those with rtance of the social role the higher is satisfaction with the student organization (SPF) 3. Addressing student organization representatives regarding issues of interest of the students.

Irrespective of the intensity of dimension C, students with a higher importance of the role of the student at UKIM show greater readiness to approach the representatives regarding a problem that is of interest to the students, and this shows the statistical significance between the four groups (Chi square = 8.60, p <0.05).

Figure 7 Address to representatives depending on the intensity of dimension C and the importance of the role of the student at UKIM.

There is no statistical significance found concerning the dimension Agreeableness.

Perception of the Influence of student organization in the Promotion of Student Interest.

There exists statistical significance between the four groups concerning the influence of student organization in the promotion of student interest (for dimension C and importance of role, Chi square = 19.15 p <0.01, while for dimension A and importance of the role, Chi square = 19.50 p <0.01).

Figure 8 Perception of the influence of student organization in the promotion of student interests depending on the intensity of dimension C and the importance of social role of the student at UKIM.

Students for whom the role is important are of the impression that student organization does have an impact on the promotion of students’ interests.

Figure 9 Perception of the influence of organization in the promotion of student interests depending on the intensity of dimension A and the importance of the social role of the student at UKIM.

The student organization has been perceived as being influential in the promotion of student interest among those students who have lower intensity of dimension A and for whom the role of the student is important. This data stems from the nature of the intensity of dimension A. Students with a low intensity of dimension A tend to advocate the interests of the organization rather than tending to agree with others. Those with lower intensity of dimension A are more focused on the processes of the organization rather than on interpersonal issues, but they see the organization as influential only if they identify with the role. However, for the most students, personal motivation appears to be the most important factor, which can be taken to indicate a low level of awareness in regard to social responsibility.

Table 1 Factors that influence students’ involvement in decision-making processes according to the intensity of dimension C and the importance of the role of the “student at UKIM”.

In identifying the factors of student involvement, dimension C and the significance of the role are also influenced. The greatest difference has been found to exist between this two groups: (C-)N and (C+)I. For the first group, the most important are personal motivation and party affiliation, and for the second greater significance was given to the way organization is organized, unity in performance, argumentation of requests, and quality of communication with teachers.

Perception of the factors which have an influence on the student involvement according to the process of decision-making

When choosing the factors that have an influence on student involvement in regard to the decision-making process, the role is of primary importance, but only in cases where there is a low expression of dimension A. The biggest difference is between following groups: (A-)N and (A-)I. The first gives the highest importance to personal motivation and party, whilst the second one will give great importance to the way student organization is organized, argumentation of requests, and quality of communication with teachers.

Table 2 Factors that influence students’ involvement in the decision-making processes according to the intensity of dimension A and the importance of the role

Feelings toward student organization.

Statistical significance was found in the four groups concerning the feelings towards student organization (Chi square for dimension A and importance of the role is 25.57 p <0.01 and Chi square for dimension C and importance of the role is 27.41 p <0.01).

Figure 10 Feelings for the student organization according to the intensity of dimension A and the importance of the role.

Figure 11 Feelings for the student organization according to the intensity of dimension C and the importance of the role.

When the role is not important, negative feelings towards the student organization dominate. Positive feelings prevail among students to whom the role of the student is important (Figure 10 and 11).

The obtained relevant findings from the statistical processing of the received data are shown in a single table that attempts to unify all particular indicators.

Table 3 Aspects of student involvement, personality dimensions, and the importance of the role of the student at the University.

Discussion

The summary presentation of the results shows that the importance of the role of a student at the University is of primary importance for student involvement in the activities of the student organization. If the role is important for students then there will be a greater desire from students to be informed about the work of the student organization, to have positive feelings towards the organization, to be satisfied with organization, to show greater initiative when referring to requests for improvement of the work of the organization, and ultimately the organization will be perceived to be influential. For these students, relevant factors for involvement in the organization will be organizational issues and not personal ones.

Dimension C, together with importance of the role (I) becomes relevant for the cognitive component, the higher intensity of dimension C (C+), and a more explicit need for greater information about the management of the Student Organization. The same students (C+ I) pointed out the organizational issues as the most important factors for students' participation in the decision-making processes on aspects important for student life.

Dimension A together with the importance of the role becomes relevant in regard to the following aspects of student involvement: need for information and perception of influence. Students with a lower intensity of dimension A (A-) and for whom the role is important (I) will have a more pronounced need for information. They will perceive the organization as being influential and for them the most important factors for involvement in the organization are personal issues.

We assumed that two dimensions should be of higher intensity concerning student involvement in order to improve the functioning of the student organization, which was the case for dimension C, but it turned out that those students with a lower level in dimension A, but for whom the role of the student is important, are more concerned about the student organization. This leads to the conclusion that they see the student organization as offering them the real possibility of being able to help them achieve their own personal aspirations. This finding can be supported with real cases in the history of student organization functioning, e.g. active students became members of political parties that later actively participate in government (there are many samples in each established Government in Macedonia till now). This statement, together with supported findings that the highest percentage of respondents will be involved in the student organization only for personal motivation and to facilitate later participation in political parties.

Conclusions

This article has explored student involvement in the activities of the Student Organization examined through the importance of the social role of the University and two personality dimensions: Agreeableness and Consciousness (measured with short-form of NEO IPIP). Student involvement is interpreted through understanding responses to a set of questions that represent one part of an extensive questionnaire on the perception and satisfaction of the work of student organization, while the importance of the social role of the university student is identified with one question from the Laponce’s questionnaire. This text analyzes the involvement of students in a structured and formal shape of student organization such as the student organization at the University, including the following segments: the need for information, satisfaction with the management of the organization, addressing the representatives of the organization in regard to questions of interest for the students, the perception of the influence of the student organization in promotion of students’ interests, the perception of factors which have an influence on student involvement as well as the affective aspect felt towards the organization.

Based on the respondents’ grouping according to the intensity of the personality dimensions and the importance of the social role of the university student, it is clear that the involvement of students in the student organization mainly depends upon how much the role student is important for them. Dimension C appears additionally as only relevant in the domain of cognitive component (need for more information about the management of the organization) and domains of perception of relevant factors for student involvement for relevant aspects of a student’s life, which are oriented toward organization (way of organization, unity in advocating the interests of students, etc.). These students, with high C, are more active in processes of planning and organizing tasks as well as oriented toward occupational achievement (McCrae, Costa, 1992). A low intensity of dimension A, together with importance of the role becomes a relevant factor for student involvement in the student organization. These students will be involved in the activities of the student organization as they perceive it as a means for achieving their own personal goals.

In general, young people (students) have a very low interest in being involved in the processes of managing the student organization or in participating in the activities organized by it. They exhibited little or no knowledge at all about the work of student organization (61.6% are not familiar with student organization), and what is very important is that the percentage of students who claimed that students from organization are important for them is very low (only around 20%). A low level of involvement in the student organization is not a positive indicator regarding citizenship behavior. Since student involvement is a relevant segment of a participatory political culture and primarily depends on the importance of the social role, it follows that the student organization should put forth greater effort into investing in the processes of integrating its own members so as to make the role of a student important and significant to them. This can only be achieved by establishing a democratic system of organization.

References

Table 1. Factors that influence students’ involvement in decision-making processes according to the intensity of dimension C and the importance of the role of the “student at UKIM”.

Table 2. Factors that influence students’ involvement in the decision-making processes according to the intensity of dimension A and the importance of the role

Table 3. Aspects of student involvement, personality dimensions, and the importance of the role of the student at the University.

Figure 1 Graphical presentation of the zones defined by the dimensions: importance of social role of the student at UKIM and personality dimension Conscientiousness.

Figure 2 Graphical presentation of the zones defined by the dimensions: importance of social role and personality dimension Agreeableness

Figure 3 Expression of the need to be better informed depending on the intensity of dimension C (Conscientiousness) and the importance of the role

Figure 4 Expression of the need for better information depending on the intensity of dimension A, and the importance of the role

Figure 5 Expression of satisfaction with the work of SPF depending on the intensity of dimension A and the importance of the role.

Figure 6 Expression of satisfaction with the work of the SPF depending on the intensity of dimension C and the importance of the role of student at UKIM

Figure 7 Address to representatives depending on the intensity of dimension C and the importance of the role of the student at UKIM.

Figure 8 Perception of the influence of student organization in the promotion of student interests depending on the intensity of dimension C and the importance of social role of the student at UKIM

Figure 9 Perception of the influence of organization in the promotion of student interests depending on the intensity of dimension A and the importance of the social role of the student at UKIM.

Figure 10 Feelings for the student organization according to the intensity of dimension A and the importance of the role.

Figure 11 Feelings for the student organization according to the intensity of dimension C and the importance of the role.