103 0361-0365/98/0400- 0103$15.00/0 q 1998 Human Sciences Press, Inc. Research in Higher Education, Vol. 39, No. 2, 1998 REVISING TINTO’S INTERACTIONALIST THEORY OF STUDENT DEPARTURE THROUGH THEORY ELABORATION: Examining the Role of Organizational Attributes in the Persistence Process Joseph B. Berger and John M. Braxton : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : The purpose of this study is to estimate the effects of organizational attributes on social integration in particular, and more generally on the student withdrawal pro- cess. Theory elaboration (the application of new concepts borrowed from other theo- retical perspectives to explain the focal phenomenon) is used to help with the revi- sion of Tinto’s interactionalist theory of individual student departure. The existence of empirical evidence supporting the importance of organizational attributes in the per- sistence process makes the addition of organizational characteristics a logical choice as a possible source of social integration in an elaboration of Tinto’s theory. The results from this study provide strong support for elaborating the revised version of Tinto’s theory through the inclusion of concepts from organizational theory. The find- ings from this study also indicate that future research should use theory elaboration to look for other potential sources of social integration. : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : The rate of college student departure in colleges and universities poses a puzzle to both scholars and practitioners. Given the widespread availability of guides on the selection of colleges and universities, and the enormous amount of attention that parents, students, and college officials focus on the college selection process, we might expect that students will select the ªrightº college or university for themselves. Consequently, we would expect the rate of depar- ture to be very low. Thus, it is puzzling that almost one-half of students enter- ing two-year colleges and more than one-fourth (28.5%) of students entering four-year collegiate institutions depart these institutions at the end of their first Joseph B. Berger, Department of Educational Leadership, Counseling, and Foundations, Univer- sity of New Orleans; John M. Braxton, Department of Educational Leadership, Peabody College at Vanderbilt University. Address correspondence to: Joseph B. Berger, Department of Educational Leadership, Counseling, and Foundations, 348E Bicentennial Education Center, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA 70148; e-mail: jbbel 6uno.edu.