To Pay or Not to Pay: The Influence of Compensation as an External Reward on Learning Outcomes of Peer Leaders

Data on 4,016 peer leaders from 49 four-year institutions across the United States were used for this quantitative study. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the impact of different forms of compensation on the skills development, institution interaction, academic commitment, employability outcomes, and academic performance of peer leaders. Results reveal that course credit was a significant predictor of increases in all outcome areas included in this study. With self-determination theory used as a framework, the findings suggest that the ways external rewards are structured in peer leader experiences influence students' outcomes. Further, results point to including fundamental features of high-impact practices in scholarship and practice of peer leadership programming.