Volunteers' motivations: a functional strategy for the recruitment, placement, and retention of volunteers

A psychological strategy for understanding the motivational underpinnings of volunteerism is described. In a presentation that merges the theoretical interests of researchers with the practical interests of volunteer administrators, six different motivational functions served by volunteerism are identified, and an inventory designed to measure these motivations is presented. The implications of this functional approach for the recruitment, placement, and retention of volunteers are then elaborated. Finally, recommendations are provided for volunteer administrators who seek to increase the number of people who volunteer and to improve their human resource management.     

Is Volunteering Always Voluntary? Between Compulsion and Coercion in Co-production

Governments are increasingly eager to involve citizens in co-production of services. They are seen as a substitution or a supplementary resource in service delivery. Citizens’ involvement relies heavily on their motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic drivers) to partake in co-production. Taking note from prior debate in the volunteerism literature, the article ties volunteer motivation to the process of co-production and citizen–state interaction. Here the state has contrastive options to motivate citizens’ behavior varying between compulsion and coercion. The question is how states’ increased engagement and interaction with volunteers affects volunteer motivation and free choice, the main characteristic of volunteerism. To exemplify this, we analyze the motivation behind state engagement in different forms of co-production: volunteering in rescue and police services and in a volunteer program for the unemployed in Estonia. We conclude that using citizens in co-production is rife with controversies that influence the very nature of volunteerism.     

The Emerging Consciousness of Japanese Voluntarism

Abstract  This paper examines Japanese voluntarism from a historical perspective, through which it can be seen that it is not volunteerism and volunteer activity per se which is emerging in contemporary Japanese society, but instead an emerging consciousness of volunteerism and an associated emerging terminology of volunteerism. This emerging consciousness is in part a function of social evolution, and in part due to an administrative generated movement to generate a volunteer spirit in Japan, the borantiu-katsudo movement. This emerging consciousness has on the one hand benefitted existing categories of volunteerism by increasing their visibility and expanding their dimensional character and relevance. On the other hand, this emerging consciousness has also generated some unforeseen forms of contemporary volunteerism.     

More Than Help? Volunteerism in US Latino Culture

Volunteerism makes critical contributions to individual lives and society as a whole. However, to date, few studies have investigated volunteerism within Latino communities, a large and growing US population. The aim of this study was to understand how non-metropolitan US Latinos perceive volunteerism, as well as to determine what motivates and what deters their participation in volunteer programs. Our research team conducted six focus groups with 36 Latina women living in the State of Illinois. The focus groups covered topics such as the definition of volunteerism, participation motives and barriers, personal volunteer experience, and Latino culture, community, and organizations. We also assessed demographic information. Results from this study indicate that Latinas have a unique understanding of the concept of volunteerism. Participants associated everyday “helping” with volunteerism, establishing commonplace forms of aid as perhaps a “Latino way of volunteering.” We found time-consuming activities such as family responsibilities and work to be deterrents to Latinas participating in more formal volunteer activities.     

Relationship between news media coverage of medical research and academic medical centers and people volunteering for clinical trials

In academic medical centers an untested assumption is that positive media attention aids recruitment of patients into a medical study while negative news reporting is damaging. In this study we examine associations between the amount of newspaper coverage concerning medical research and the number of people who volunteer, and the positive or negative content of the reporting. We find evidence that a positive relationship, though not statistically significant, exists between the volume of media coverage and volunteerism; a positive relationship exists between positive media coverage and volunteerism; and no existence of an inverse relationship between negative news coverage and volunteerism. These results lay a foundation for more in-depth exploration into the role news media play in this type of volunteerism.     

Looking Beyond Traditional Volunteer Management: A Case Study of an Alternative Approach to Volunteer Engagement in Parks and Recreation

In an era of declining volunteerism it is critical to examine alternative approaches to volunteer management that may better promote engagement and address common barriers to volunteering. Using a “best practices” Canadian case study approach, this research describes an alternative approach to volunteer engagement that emphasizes lifestyle integration, organizational informality and flexibility, and volunteer–agency collaboration. We suggest that traditional volunteer management structures may actually be hindering engagement and call instead for a more vocation-based, networked, and collaborative approach which affords greater autonomy to the volunteer and sees power being shared between agencies and volunteers.     

公共精神培育的逻辑路径和现实基点——志愿精神价值内涵及反思

志愿精神和公共精神是精神的重要形式和伦理体现，两者在内容上解析了不同实践领域的各自内涵，在形式上都具有精神的总体性样态，公共精神是志愿精神培育的内核：志愿精神和“公共精神”的价值内涵和实践指向具有一致性．公共精神对于解决当前我国志愿精神生成过程中的现实问题起着重要作用。因此，解析志愿精神与公共精神的关系，可以明晰志愿精神培育的实践指向。破除志愿精神培育的现实问题。     

Taking Subjectivity and Reflexivity Seriously: Implications of Social Constructionism for Researching Volunteer Motivation

This paper explores the contributions a social constructionist paradigm can make for researching volunteer motivation, by reflecting on an active membership study of volunteer netball coaches at a New Zealand high school. Social constructionism is based on philosophical assumptions which differ from those of positivism and post-positivism, the dominant paradigms for understanding and representing volunteer motivation. It highlights the social processes through which people give meaning to their motives and view researchers as necessarily implicated in this meaning-making process. Through a critique of the extant literature on volunteer motivation and an illustration of the insights of social constructionism from our empirical study, we consider how volunteer motivation research could be different if subjectivity and reflexivity were taken more seriously.     

Faith-Based Volunteer Motivation: Exploring the Applicability of the Volunteer Functions Inventory to the Motivations and Satisfaction Levels of Volunteers in an Australian Faith-Based Organization

Increasingly studies on volunteer motivation are exploring the process stages of volunteerism with particular attention to recruitment and retention. Volunteer experience and its dynamic association to satisfaction, however, remain underexamined, particularly in faith-based contexts. This study uses a functional approach to explore the applicability of the Volunteer Functions Inventory (Clary et al. in J Personal Soc Psychol, 74(6):1516–1530, 1998) to a sample of volunteers in an Australian faith-based organization. Factor analysis was supportive of a four-factor solution with the elimination of the Protective function and the emergence of a new function, Enrichment. The validity of a new structure, the Faith-Based Volunteer Motivation Scale, is tested against levels of volunteer satisfaction for this sample. Results concur with Clary et al.’s correlation between high-level motive fulfilment and degrees of satisfaction.     

Social Welfare Related Volunteer Activity: Relevance, Definition and Reality in Rural Japan

Abstract  This paper examines three aspects of sustained social welfare volunteer activity in a rural setting: relevance, definition and reality. Volunteer activity is relevant to social welfare needs resolution in contemporary Japan. Survey results indicate that Hirosaki city residents ascribe secondary, or supplementary welfare resolution expectation to regional society. Given the factors of urbanization, increased mobility, weakening of the traditional family, and instability in the post-bubble economy, the volunteer organization becomes one representative form of this regional society. Hirosaki residents appear to have a fairly clear definition of what constitutes volunteer activity. This definition reflects volunteer activity motivation, characteristics of the volunteer activity itself, and aspects pertaining to volunteer activity's social role. Finally, the reality of volunteer activity as found in the Hirosaki city survey data is that it is highly dependent on maintenance of human relations, possibly at the expense of direct social welfare directed activity. Furthermore, the present reality of Japanese volunteerism is that its success ultimately depends on administrative support, support which is lacking in the Hirosaki case.
These results are based on a survey investigation comprised of a citizen survey, an active welfare volunteer survey, and a social welfare related volunteer organization survey conducted in Hirosaki city. Aomori prefecture in 1994.     

Economic analysis of volunteers’ motivations—A cross-country study

While some core theories on volunteer labor supply decisions can be found in the economic literature, little efforts were made so far to operationalize these models and verify their implications in an empirical context. This paper aims at narrowing the research gap between the theoretical economic literature on volunteer motivations and the empirically observed motivations for volunteer labor supply. A common indicator ‘voluntary contributions by others’ linking the theories of public goods, private consumption and investment has been identified and examined on the basis of structural equation modeling and regression analysis. Using representative micro data collected for volunteers in Bangladesh, Ghana, Poland and South Korea, the paper finds that this indicator significantly influences an individual's motivation. Particularly, observed findings are in accordance with theoretical predictions.     

Volunteer Performance in the Light of Organizational Success: A Systematic Literature Review

Volunteers are crucial to the functioning of nonprofit organizations. Thus, researchers in various disciplines investigate volunteer performance, broadly defined as the value of individual volunteers’ activities for the accomplishment of organizational goals. Yet a comprehensive overview is still missing. To structure this fragmented literature, the systematic review presented herein covers the antecedents and dimensions of individual volunteer performance in the light of organizational success discussed in 75 academic articles. With an integrated framework of volunteer performance, derived from theoretical considerations of organizational success and the ability–motivation–opportunity framework, this article suggests a systematic classification of current scientific knowledge about the antecedents and dimensions of volunteer performance. In turn, this review offers two instructive research avenues helping to develop a holistic picture of the antecedents and dimensions of individual volunteer performance.     

大学生志愿精神的培育与弘扬

大学生志愿者通过志愿服务向世人展现了“奉献、友爱、互助、进步”的志愿精神和当代青年积极向上的精神面貌。现时代,高校如何在大学生中培育、弘扬、传承志愿精神是要关注的课题。对高校志愿服务工作的调研．有助于了解当前高校志愿精神培育和弘扬情况。培育大学生的志愿精神,就要重视发挥志愿服务和志愿精神在高校德育工作中的作用,建立良好的志愿服务组织和管理机制,创新培养和弘扬志愿精神的载体和形式,提升志愿服务组织者的专业水平,完善志愿服务的保障机制。     

Gender Differences in Expectations Predictive of Volunteer Experience Among Older Chinese Professionals in Hong Kong

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine gender differences in expectations predictive of volunteer experience. Volunteering is one pathway to remaining actively engaged in later life and active engagement is considered one of the cornerstones of successful aging. The global feminization of aging underscores the need to consider gender differences when exploring factors associated with volunteerism. There is also a growing international interest in volunteerism among older adults. A sample of 438 Chinese professionals in Hong Kong ages 45-79, including retired (36.3%) and employed (63.7%), were asked about their expectations for volunteer work. Gender was evenly distributed, with 49.8% male and 50.2% female. Forty-three percent (43%) had volunteer experience. A multivariate logistic regression model was fit to sub-samples by gender, and gender differences emerged. For males, married and the expectation to utilize own skills were associated with volunteer experience. For females, self-rated health, retired, and the expectation to meet the needs of others were associated with volunteer experience. These results suggest that gender differences in expectations may influence volunteer activity.     

基于功能理论的大学生志愿者行为动机研究

志愿者行为动机是洞悉志愿行为的重要因素,从志愿者行为动机功能理论的角度对大学生的志愿行为动机的调查发现:大学生志愿者活动的任务特征确实可由大学生某些被满足的志愿行为动机来体现;大学生志愿者会偏向性选择与其志愿动机相匹配的志愿活动任务类型。为了更好地组织和管理大学生志愿者,高校志愿者机构可尝试实行"预调研制"及"菜单式,,的志愿活动任务展示方式。     

Volunteers work for lesbian,gay, bisexual,transgender, and queer rights: Motivations at a Rochester social justice organization

The reasons volunteers contribute to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) social justice organizations are multifaceted and need further exploration. This pilot study (N = 35) sought to understand volunteer motivations at a Rochester, New York social justice organization fighting for LGBTQ rights. Understanding motivations for volunteerism and volunteers' perceptions about the relative advantages and obstacles of current volunteer experiences at their agency were the primary goals of the study. The study found that these volunteers are motivated primarily by their personal values, mission of the organization, and desire to develop and maintain social relationships with the LGBTQ community. Implications for volunteer resource management and research are explored.     

Linking Autonomy-Supportive Leadership to Volunteer Satisfaction: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective

This study examines the development of volunteer satisfaction within the framework of self-determination theory (SDT). Therewith, autonomy-supportive leadership—as an influential part of the organizational context—is studied as an antecedent of volunteer satisfaction. The hypothesized model suggests that the link between autonomy-supportive leadership and volunteer satisfaction is serially mediated by general need satisfaction and autonomous motivation. Volunteers (N = 113) working closely together with their supervisors completed a paper-based questionnaire. As predicted, both general need satisfaction and autonomous motivation serially mediated the link between autonomy-supportive leadership and volunteer satisfaction. The results indicate that autonomy-supportive leadership is an important factor of the organizational context, increasing both volunteers’ autonomous motivation and satisfaction. Practical implications for volunteering organizations, as well as implications for further research, are discussed.     

Homeownership and Volunteering: An Alternative Approach to Studying Social Inequality and Civic Engagement1

Previous research on volunteering finds significant differences by race and social class. We augment these findings by examining a largely ignored measure of social class: tenure status, the distinction between renters and homeowners. We test a theory that predicts people volunteer more if they have a “stake” in their community and we use the value of their home as a measure of the size of this stake, with renters having no stake at all, using data from the 2003 Panel Study of Income Dynamics. We find that although homeowners volunteer more than renters, the value of their home has no influence on their volunteer work. Length of residence in the neighborhood has a positive effect on volunteerism. Tenure status partially mediates the influence of race and family income on volunteering but not education.     

Volunteers’ Motivation,Satisfaction, and Management in Large-scale Events: An Empirical Test from the 2010 Shanghai World Expo

The studies of volunteerism in sporting events have investigated various motivations, organizational attributes, and their effect on satisfaction and behavioral intention, while by far, there is no research conducted on the scale development of volunteers’ motivation and satisfaction in World Expo. By empirically testing the revised version of Bang and Chelladurai (Paper presented at the Conference of the North American Society for Sport Management, 2003) VMS-ISE developed by Bang and Ross, this study tried to identify the motivational factors of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo volunteers and the inter-relationship between volunteers motivation, experience, and satisfaction. The result shows that the prime motivations for the World Expo volunteers are those items focusing on doing something good for the organization and society, such as “Expression of Values”, “Career Orientation,” and “Love of Expo”. Practical implications and future research directions of event volunteerism management are also discussed.     

Volunteerism and social capital in policy implementation: evidence from the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program

We assess the link between a program's volunteer support and state social capital in the case of the joint implementation of the federal Long-Term Care (LTC) Ombudsman Program by state and federal authorities. This program, which is designed to prevent elder abuse and ensure quality care in long-term facilities, is implemented at the state and local levels and relies heavily on volunteer staff. First, we find that volunteerism is vital to the efficacy of the program's monitoring and investigative functions. Second, we find that volunteerism in this program is tied to broader level conditions of a state's social capital. Last, we discuss the implications of our findings for volunteer-based programs devolved to the states.