Drivers of Student Learning and Development: A Serial Mediation Approach

ABSTRACT ‘Learning and development’ is a crucial student outcome yet has been unexplored in the context of psychological ownership. In a highly competitive era, students assume that the sole motive of being in the institution is to focus on studies while they seldom understand that real learning happens when they psychologically own the institute and the learning environment. This study assesses the drivers of student learning and development, including psychological ownership, engagement and commitment, using the theoretical underpinnings of social identity and social exchange theories. Data were collected from 317 full‐time management postgraduate students in India through a structured survey questionnaire. Serial mediation was tested using the bootstrapping method in the PROCESS macro. We found psychological ownership to significantly drive students' learning and development. Further, engagement and commitment serially mediated the relationship between psychological ownership and learning and development. Our contribution is novel as we study the relationships among these variables in the Indian higher education setting. Our study has key theoretical and practical implications.