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Abstract
As the primary function of public service and community engagement of land-grant institutions, the Cooperative Extension System serves the constituents of the state by disseminating knowledge gained from the university and engaging with communities to help solve complex issues. These complex issues are disentangled by Extension professionals who live and work in the communities they serve, and accomplished through relationships among and between the Cooperative Extension System, communities, and people. Often, this is accomplished through stewardship strategies that organizations employ to establish, cultivate, and maintain relationships with stakeholders, and the affective outcomes stakeholders associate with those relationships. The purpose of this study is to examine the interplay of stewardship strategies and their affective outcomes among Georgia 4-H stakeholder groups. In this way, the study sought to examine these stewardship strategies, the association of affective outcomes, and the predictors related to each. Using the positive youth development organization of the Cooperative Extension System, Georgia 4-H, for examination and utilizing a quantitative instrument, the study sampled 385 Georgia 4-H donors and volunteers.The results of the study identified five principal conclusions: (1) Georgia 4-H stakeholders perceive engagement of all stewardship strategies, and concurrently associate high affective outcomes; (2) variations in stewardship strategies and affective outcomes exist among stakeholder groups; (3) affective outcomes, though conceptually distinct, are highly intercorrelated; (4) personal characteristics do not yield a substantial influence on predicting stewardship strategies or affective outcomes; and (5) the combined predictive power of stewardship strategies on total affective outcomes is the strongest. These findings extend the understanding of stewardships strategies and illuminate the integral role they play in this public service organization. Through examining multiple stakeholder groups that engage in relationships with Georgia 4-H, this study provides an advancement of the understanding of stewardship strategies and their inherent affective outcomes in the public service sector and provides recommendation for best practices for future engagement.