*This post is the
first in a series of three posts related to brother/sisterhood based on
belonging. This post will cover the reasons why belonging is such an important
part of the fraternity/sorority experience. The second post will discuss what
we have found are the best ways to foster belonging at the chapter level. The
final post will explore the particular problem of belonging in sororities.
For the last four years, Josh Schutts, Sarah Cohen and I
have been engaged in an in-depth study of fraternal brotherhood and sisterhood.
In our research, we have discovered that men and women experience brotherhood
and sisterhood in different ways, and that the degree to which they experience
the various elements of brother/sisterhood powerfully predicts a variety of
other outcomes related to the fraternity and sorority experience.
During that time, as we have developed curriculum
related to brother/sisterhood, we have tended to focus most of our efforts on
boosting brother/sisterhood based on accountability. Being the most altruistic
form of brotherhood, and perhaps of sisterhood, it made sense to us that if we
could only help more chapters become more comfortable holding one another
accountable, all of the problems in fraternity/sorority world would be worked
out. What we have discovered in the last four years is that before students can
become comfortable holding one another accountable, they must first become
comfortable with one another. In other words, students must feel a sense of
belonging before we can expect them to master the art of accountability.
Belonging, not accountability, is the most important aspect of brotherhood and
sisterhood, because without belonging, accountability is difficult, if not
impossible, to achieve.
To be clear, accountability is still important. In fact, ALL
of the schema of brotherhood are important – not just those which are the most
altruistic. As we have observed in our conversations with chapters over the
last few years, a deficiency in ANY aspect of brother/sisterhood can have
detrimental impact on a chapter. But over time, we have observed both
quantitatively and qualitatively that belonging plays a critical role in a
chapter’s overall brother/sisterhood profile.
Think about it – most students join a fraternity or sorority
to find a place to belong on campus. The need to belong has been the lifeblood
of fraternities and sororities over the years – it is THE driving force in
membership recruitment. Students looking for a place to meaningfully connect
with like-minded others have flocked to fraternities and sororities for nearly
two centuries. This seeking of belonging is not a frivolous pursuit that
fraternities and sororities provide for only the most affluent students.
Rather, belonging is a fundamental human need. If you are a student of Maslow,
then you know that, once basic survival needs are taken care of, the most basic
human need is a place to belong. As humans, we crave connection. We are social
creatures, and our evolutionary instincts have driven us to play well with
others so that we will be accepted and loved by our respective tribes. A need
for a life of connection, rather than a life of isolation, has driven this
phenomenon for generations. The need to belong is not new.
As we have analyzed larger and larger datasets over the
years (we have now had over 20,000 women and 15,000 complete the Fraternal
Brotherhood and Fraternal Sisterhood Questionnaires), we have noted five
important findings that illustrate why belonging is the most important aspect
of brotherhood and sisterhood:
1. Belonging explains the most variance in the overall brother/sisterhood models
All of the schema of brother/sisterhood are positively
correlated with one another. If any one goes up or down in a significant way,
we would expect to see the other schema impacted in some way. But when
completing a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on the overall
brotherhood/sisterhood models, we find that belonging explains the greatest
variance in the overall models for both brother and sisterhood. In other words,
belonging is a powerful driver of all of the other schema of
brother/sisterhood. As belonging goes, so go the other schema. A chapter that
measures high in belonging will likely measure high in the other areas of
brother/sisterhood. A chapter measuring low in belonging will likely struggle
in other areas of brother/sisterhood as well.
Conceptually, this makes sense. It is hard to imagine being
part of a group where you do not feel like you share meaningful connections to
other group members, but feel like you are supported, feel like the experience
is fun, or feel comfortable holding other group members accountable to the
groups expectations. Without belonging, we really don’t have brotherhood or
sisterhood. Brother/sisterhood may not end with belonging, but it most
definitely begins there.
2. The strongest predictor of the most altruistic versions of
brother/sisterhood is belonging
Of all its relationships with the other schema of brother/sisterhood,
belonging has the strongest correlation with the two most altruistic schema.
For men, belonging is the strongest predictor of brotherhood based on
accountability (correlation of .346). In women, belonging is the strongest
predictor of sisterhood based on common purpose (correlation of .78).
Consider the practical implications of this. For men, this
tells us that the more that fraternity members feel connected to one another,
the more likely they are to hold one another to the chapter’s standards and
expectations. The less men feel a sense of belonging, the less likely they are
to hold one another accountable. Before men are comfortable enough to hold
their brothers to mutually agreed upon expectations, they must first be
comfortable having deep, meaningful conversations with them. Vulnerability and
connection comes first, accountability comes second.
For women, belonging is an incredibly strong predictor of
sisterhood based on common purpose. If sorority members do not establish
meaningful connections to one another, it is unlikely that they will develop
meaningful connection to the organization’s purpose. As we have learned in our
conversations with sorority women, belonging comes from authenticity – a
feeling of “being able to be myself in front of my sisters” instead of having
to wear a mask and “pretend that things are always great, even if they aren’t.”
The data suggest that until women feel they can be authentic with one another,
they are much less likely to feel comfortable holding their sisters accountable
or buying into the organization’s purpose and mission.
3. Belonging powerfully predicts organizational commitment
In our research, we have studied organizational commitment
in a variety of ways, but the two that seem to make the best connection to the
fraternity/sorority experience are affective commitment and normative
commitment.
Affective commitment is best described as an emotional
commitment. A person measuring high on affective commitment has a deep and
abiding love for their organization and the people in it. Because of that
emotional connection, they are committed to the organization. They stay
involved, support the organizations efforts, and attend organization events
because of their feeling of love for the organization and its members.
Normative commitment is best described as a sense of
obligation. Someone measuring high on this construct would likely say “I feel
like my fraternity/sorority has given so much to me. I feel obligated to give
back to the organization because all I’ve gotten from this experience.” They
stay involved and support the chapter’s events because of that feeling of
obligation.
Both of these constructs are predicted by a number of things
we have studied, but the most powerful predictor of both affective and normative
commitment, for both men and women, is belonging. The more you feel a
meaningful connection to your chapter brothers/sisters, the more committed you
are to them and the organization. Because of this, chapters measuring high on
belonging should also expect to have better membership retention, as commitment
is a strong predictor of retention. The more committed you are, the more likely
you are to stay around. The less committed you are, the more likely you are to
leave. And nothing predicts this commitment as powerfully as belonging.
4. Belonging powerfully predicts Organizational Identification
Imagine that member of your chapter who never leaves the
house without wearing letters. Shirts. Hats. Sandals. Letters on their can.
Hell, maybe even an ankle tat.
When I think of that person in my own chapter, I always
think of Johnny Barnes. In four years, I don’t think I ever saw Johnny wearing
anything other than AGR letters. He bought every single t-shirt that was
available. He had at least six hats, a fleece jacket, a pullover, letters on
his car, and if memory serves he had a tattoo as well. He literally never left
the house without repping the letters of our beloved fraternity. AGR was an
important part of Johnny’s identity on campus. He did not want people on campus
to know him as merely Johnny – he wanted to be known as Johnny the AGR. The
fraternity was fully and completely intertwined in his personal identity.
The “Johnny Barnes Phenomenon” is something we have actually
studied in our research, through a construct called Organizational
Identification. Fraternity/sorority members measuring high on Org ID make the
fraternity/sorority a big part of their identity. They wear letters. They
attend events. They want to see the organization succeed, because when the
organization is successful, they are successful, because the organization is a
part of them.
Belonging is the strongest predictor of Organizational
Identification for both men and women. The more you feel a sense of belonging
and connection to your brothers/sisters, the more likely you are to make the
organization a big piece of your personal identity. Like both affective and
normative commitment, Org ID is also a powerful predictor of member retention.
Chapter members measuring high on Org ID would never dream of quitting, going
inactive, or otherwise leaving the organization, because it is such a big piece
of who they are. After all, if you are “Johnny the AGR,” then not being at AGR
is almost inconceivable.
My guess is that every chapter has a Johnny Barnes. But
imagine a chapter filled with members like Johnny Barnes. That can happen only
when chapters work hard to make sure that members feel a deep sense of
connection and belonging.
5. Belonging is the most powerful predictor of overall satisfaction with the fraternity/sorority experience
In our recent research with some of our national fraternity
and sorority clients, we have begun asking students to respond to a single
survey item asking them, overall, how satisfied they are with their
fraternity/sorority experience. Using regression analysis, we have then looked
at the variables that predict this satisfaction item. Even when controlling for
every other variable that we measure (generally between 30 and 40), belonging
explains over 30 percent of the variance in overall satisfaction with the
fraternity/sorority experience. It is by far and away the most powerful
predictor of satisfaction – the next closest variable is affective commitment,
which explains a mere 16 percent of the variance in satisfaction.
Think about the implications of that for a minute. Exactly
1/3 of a fraternity or sorority member’s overall satisfaction with their
experience is explained by a single variable – belonging. Its importance in the
fraternity/sorority experience cannot be overstated. Belonging, simply put, is
the single most important aspect of the fraternity/sorority experience. Members
who feel they belong are more committed, happier, more satisfied with their
experience, more likely to embrace accountability, and more likely to persist
within the organization through graduation compared to members who do not feel
that same sense of belonging.
Belonging’s importance in the fraternity/sorority experience cannot be overstated. Every campus, and every fraternity and sorority HQ, would be wise to commit time, energy and resources helping their chapters create spaces where members feel valued, connected and appreciated. In the next installment of this three-part series, we will explore strategies that we have seen work best at the chapter level in creating that sense of connection and belonging. Stay tuned!
