Everyday Interactions with University Authorities: Authority Treatment Quality, Outcome Favorability and First-Year Students' University Adjustment

In: Group processes & intergroup relations: GPIR, Volume 12, Issue 2, p. 209-226

Abstract

Two hundred and twelve first-year undergraduates completed an authority interaction checklist every time they had a (self-defined) meaningful interaction with university authorities during the first two weeks of their first semester. Students' degree of university identification before they began the term moderated the influence of campus authorities' treatment quality on academic engagement three months later. These longitudinal data provide support for the argument that people who identify with the group the authority represents will interpret the authority's behavior as indicative of their value to the group.