A New Deal for NPO Governance and Management: Implications for Volunteers Using Psychological Contract Theory

Two major evolutions have been reported to occur in the nonprofit sector during the past decades. Both the nature of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) and of volunteering style are changing. While this creates challenges for NPO governance and management, little is known about the process or the outcomes of these two developments. We propose a two-dimensional conceptual model to explain how the aforementioned evolutions influence the attitudes and behavior of volunteers, based on psychological contract theory. More specifically, we posit that both evolutions create tensions in volunteers’ psychological contracts that could lead to contract breach. We formulate twelve propositions on the nature of this psychological contract breach and the resulting attitudes and behavior of volunteers. Finally, we offer some possible solutions that NPO boards and managers can apply to cope with these challenges.     

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.     

Reporting Volunteer Labour at the Organizational Level: A Study of Canadian Nonprofits

Volunteer contributions in the production of services are an important resource internationally. However, few countries include volunteer contributions in their national accounts, even though many encourage their populations to engage in volunteering. At the organizational level, many nonprofit organizations using volunteers often limit their input to a footnote in annual reports acknowledging their contribution; few estimate their value in financial terms. As a result, their financial accounts lack information upon which to base decisions affecting the organizations and the communities they serve. Additional information is required to assess the impact of volunteers in individual nonprofits as well as the sector as a whole. This study focuses on Canada, one of the few countries that include volunteers in the national accounts, to examine to what extent nonprofit organizations estimate a financial value for these contributions and include this in their financial statements. This paper reports the results of an online survey of 661 nonprofits from across Canada. In order to understand why some organizations keep records for volunteer contributions and quantify them, two sets of explanatory factors are explored: organizational characteristics and the attitude of the executive director. We find larger organizations were more likely to engage in record keeping and estimating volunteer value, as were organizations with a relatively large group of volunteers and volunteer programs. The attitude of the executive director is important in determining which organizations engage in these practices.     

Employee experiences with volunteers

Volunteers frequently serve public and nonprofit organizations, among them libraries, parks and recreation departments, social service groups, and religious organizations. Research on volunteers and volunteerism traditionally focuses on antecedents to volunteering and outcomes for volunteers. In this study, we attempt to build on the existing literature by examining the volunteer experience from the paid employee's vantage point. Using a sample of employees who work alongside volunteers in animal care organizations (N = 270), we examine how employees described the volunteers with whom they interact. Although these assessments were generally positive, there was considerable variability. This appears to be explained, in part, by each organization's volunteer resources management practices. Results also indicate that employees who reported less satisfactory experiences with volunteers also reported being more stressed, overworked, and less committed to the organization, and having a greater intention to quit. Importantly, these results held up even after controlling for general job satisfaction. Implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.     

Stability and Change in Nonprofit Organizations: The Volunteer Contribution

This paper reports on a study of the microprocesses of stability and change in a nonprofit welfare organization in Australia. We position volunteering and voluntarism as core constitutive phenomena in and of nonprofit organizations and the nonprofit sector more generally, and examine volunteer agency in action. Developing a model drawn from neoinstitutional theory and adopting an ethnographic approach, the paper illustrates theoretically and empirically how volunteers create and revise institutional orders operative within organizations in ways hitherto poorly articulated and understood.     

Understanding the Management of Sports Events Volunteers Through Psychological Contract Theory

This paper juxtaposes the expectations of event managers and sports event volunteers in a case study organisation. These are understood within the theoretical framework of the psychological contract. Results show the distinctive contribution volunteers can make to events but also the distinctive challenges they present to event managers. For event managers, volunteers bring: enthusiasm, a good relationship and empathy with the public, and they provide a cheaper labour force. But a major concern is ensuring their reliability. For volunteers, important expectations include: flexibility of engagement, the quality of personal relationships, recognition for their contribution, and a clear communication of what they are expected to do. The juxtaposition of event manager and volunteer perspectives illustrates the need for a different approach to managing volunteers in comparison to paid employees. This reflects both volunteers’ expectations and the recognition that they have greater autonomy; not being tied to a contract by financial rewards or a related career progression. More generally the results illustrate the use of the theoretical framework provided by the psychological contract but that in using this it is valuable to compare the perspectives of managers and volunteers, using a qualitative approach to understand this social relationship.     

Voluntary contributions and wages in nonprofit organizations

Voluntary work provides a major source of labor for many nonprofit organizations. Consequences of volunteers and paid staff working alongside each other in nonprofits are well documented. This article contributes to this strand of literature and investigates whether the presence of volunteer work influences paid employees' wages in nonprofit organizations. We estimated a multilevel wage equation accounting for personal characteristics of workers and characteristics of nonprofits. The analysis revealed that nonprofit organizations engaging volunteers pay lower wages to their employees. Our findings contribute to the understanding of wage‐setting behavior of nonprofits and improve the methodological approach of empirical research in this field.     

Retaining Critical Human Capital: Volunteer Firefighters in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Effective delivery of services for the public good involves a multiplicity of organizations and actors, including those from the public, nonprofit, and private sectors. In some cases, service delivery is accomplished using programs that directly engage volunteers, including key public services like community-based and nonprofit volunteer fire departments. Volunteers in fire departments—often highly engaged volunteers with specialized training—provide vital services for a substantial portion of the United States, allowing local governments to realize considerable cost savings. Thus, issues of volunteer retention are a critical challenge for fire departments. Existing research has addressed issues of retention in a variety of settings; we argue that the challenging and particular context of fire departments is worthy of focused research. This article is an exploratory study of the predictors of voluntary firefighter retention in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. We use data from a web-based survey of volunteer firefighters to examine the factors that influence volunteer retention, focusing specifically on volunteer management practices and broader job-related concepts. Results indicate that volunteer training, performance management, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment influence both short- and mid-term intent to remain, indicating that management practices and programs, as well as other contextual factors that shape satisfaction and commitment, are important in retaining volunteers.     

“Compassion,pleasantry, and hope”: A process evaluation of a volunteer-based nonprofit

As funders continue to emphasize the importance of documented results, nonprofit organizations must work to complete program evaluations that are both valuable and feasible. The purpose of this paper is to document a practical process evaluation of a southeastern nonprofit, a local Meals on Wheels. Using a mixed methods approach, we sought to answer four evaluation questions: (1) What are the essential program components, as identified by key stakeholders; (2) To what extent are volunteers implementing the identified essential components as intended; (3) What is the level of volunteer satisfaction with the program; and (4) What suggestions do stakeholders have for improving the program? Our findings indicate that most aspects of the program were implemented as intended, but inconsistencies occurred when volunteers were unsure of their assigned duties. In addition, volunteers had high levels of satisfaction and specific suggestions for improvement. From these results, we developed a conceptual model of factors contributing to quality of implementation and volunteer satisfaction that may be generalizable to other volunteer-based nonprofits. Specifically, we identified three factors that helped to facilitate satisfaction and performance: leadership, social contact, and fulfillment. Finally, this process evaluation demonstrates the feasibility of developing and implementing evaluation tools in similar organizations.     

Enhancing volunteers capacity in all‐volunteer nonprofit organizations: The role of volunteer leaders' reliance on effective management processes and (de)motivating leadership

All‐volunteer nonprofit organizations rely solely on the commitment of volunteers to support their operations. As such, it is important that leaders of these organizations, even though they are volunteers themselves, rely on professional skills in order to optimize their organization's volunteers capacity. In the present study, we investigated how volunteer leaders' reliance on effective management processes and a (de)motivating leadership style related to volunteers capacity. To this end, we relied on the Competing Values Framework (CVF) and Self‐Determination Theory (SDT), respectively. Results revealed a positive (unique) association between (the sum score of) the management processes of the CVF models, as well as (the sum score of) the motivating leadership styles and volunteers capacity. Bivariate analyses indicated that the management processes of each CVF model (i.e., human relations model, internal process model, open system model, and rational goal model) and each motivating leadership style (i.e., an autonomy‐supportive and a structuring leadership style) related positively to volunteers capacity. These findings have important practical implications as they revealed that it is crucial for volunteer leaders to implement effective management processes, while adopting a motivating leadership style.     

Nonprofit versus corporate governance: An economic approach

This article proposes a new theoretical concept of nonprofit governance using transaction cost economics and the economic theory of contracts. After a short review of economic approaches to corporate governance, I clarify the specific nature of the governance problem in nonprofit organizations. Based on this analysis, I derive criteria for selecting an organization's relevant stakeholders. If stakeholders provide valuable specific resources without the protection of a comprehensive contract that details exactly how the organization is to use these resources, then such stakeholders seek decision and control rights in order to direct the use of the resources they have provided. I argue that the core problem of governance is how to enhance valuable specific contributions of the relevant stakeholders while keeping the costs of bargaining between stakeholders and the costs of collective decision making low. The theory developed is then applied in a discussion of practically relevant governance mechanisms, and the concept of governance is used to contribute to the discussion on the strengths and weaknesses of the nonprofit character of organizations from a governance perspective.     

Doing Better While Doing Good: Motivational Aspects of Pay-for-Performance Effectiveness in Nonprofit Organizations

Management practices in the nonprofit sector have been changing over the last decade. Many nonprofit organizations are now mimicking the management techniques of for-profit organizations. Referring to prevailing economic, psychological, and management theories, this paper deals with pay-for-performance plans and specifies reasons for their introduction into nonprofit organizations. The determinants of pay-for-performance effectiveness are analyzed with special emphasis on the motivational determinants. The results of the analysis are incorporated into a model of pay-for-performance effectiveness. Referring to theoretical reasoning as well as empirical studies, this paper analyzes how the motivational determinants of pay-for-performance effectiveness are coined in different types of nonprofit organizations. The paper ends with a discussion in which the author presents an alternative explanation for the introduction of pay-for-performance plans into nonprofit organizations and some suggestions for future research.     

The Effects of Individual Risk Propensity on Volunteering

Serving as a volunteer is gratifying and rewarding, but by nature it is also considered a risky decision. Volunteering risk may come from the lack of sufficient training, asymmetric information between volunteers and managers, and the lack of support and protection from nonprofit organizations. Abundant studies discuss volunteering behaviors based on demographics. However, people's decisions are mainly determined by their own preferences rather than demographic differences. Accordingly, this study hypothesizes that individual risk propensity is an important predictor for volunteering behaviors. Using a nationally representative data set, this study finds that risk‐accepting individuals are more likely to volunteer than their risk‐averse peers. Also, the former tend to volunteer more frequently than the latter once they decide to be part of the volunteer labor force. Several managerial implications and volunteer recruitment strategies for nonprofit organizations are discussed.     

Voluntary Membership and Well-Being of Nonprofit,Government, and Business Employees

While the benefits the volunteers offer nonprofit organizations are substantial, they can also cause problems for these groups. In an environment where people willingly donate their time and energy to a cause that they ostensibly support, why is disruptive behavior so common? This ethnographic study of volunteers at an animal shelter identifies the factors that lead to problematic behavior. The paper argues that disruptions occur when there is a mismatch between the needs of the volunteer and the needs of the organization and because of structural conditions that lead to uncertainty among volunteers. These findings shed light on volunteer behavior broadly and present the opportunity to address disruptive behavior. As a result, the benefits the volunteers provide for an organization can be maximized.     

Why Can’t You Just Follow the Rules? Volunteer Rule Breaking and Disruptive Behavior

While the benefits volunteers offer nonprofit organizations are substantial, they can also cause problems for these groups. In an environment where people willingly donate their time and energy to a cause that they ostensibly support, why is disruptive behavior so common? This ethnographic study of volunteers at an animal shelter identifies the factors that lead to problematic behavior. The paper argues that disruptions occur when there is a mismatch between the needs of the volunteer and the needs of the organization and because of structural conditions that lead to uncertainty among volunteers. These findings shed light on volunteer behavior broadly and present the opportunity to address disruptive behavior. As a result, the benefits volunteers provide for an organization can be maximized.     

Structures,Challenges, and Successes of Volunteer Programs Co‐managed by Nonprofit and Public Organizations

This article presents a mixed‐methods, multicase study and comparison of volunteer programs in US national parks that have evolved, in response to growth and fiscal pressures, to be co‐managed by national park staff and their nonprofit support partners. Findings detail why and how the expanded partnerships were formed; how they operate; challenges they face; ways in which they adhere to, stretch, and depart from theories of nonprofit management, collaboration, and program institutionalization; and the significant—even exponential—volunteer program growth that resulted in each case. These nonprofit?public volunteer program partnerships—at Acadia, Arches and ­Canyonlands, Cuyahoga Valley, Golden Gate, the National Mall, and Yosemite national park sites—employ many standard forms of interorganizational relations, even though in these cases the nonprofits give money to the government organization instead of the reverse. Their volunteer program and management structures also share similar elements because of coercive, normative, and mimetic pressures. At the same time, each volunteer program partnership is a distinct blend of collaboration and management practices because of the unique natural features, climate, needs, adjacent populations, and personalities of leaders at each site. The cases employ innovative strategies to substantially increase the number of staff who lead volunteer programs. Recommendations are offered for nonprofit management research and practice, and findings are instructive for organizations that utilize volunteers either as a single entity or as part of a collaboration.     

Bittersweet and Paradoxical

The American Red Cross is the most active nonprofit organization involved in disaster planning and response in the United States. The organization deployed nearly 50,000 volunteers to provide essential support to victims of some 125,000 domestic disasters, including home fires, hurricanes, wildfires, and floods, in a recent two‐year period. This study asks how American Red Cross disaster response volunteer experiences function to cultivate satisfaction and, at the other end of the spectrum, the kind of dissatisfaction that leads people to quit; it pays particular attention to ways in which volunteer management shapes dissatisfaction and fatigue because of implications for volunteer retention. Paradoxically, the Red Cross facilitates the highly satisfying act of helping victims, but volunteers feel dissatisfied when management practices get in the way of helping. The study suggests voluntary organizations that rely on skilled, long‐term volunteers to deliver services should evaluate and strengthen their communication strategies, recognition practices, and support systems for volunteers in distress.     

Combined Effects: The Influence of Organizational Form and Structural Characteristics on Contract Performance in Mixed Sector Markets

Social service contracting to nongovernmental organizations is popular form of privatization across the world. Although nonprofits are preferable social service providers for legal and normative reasons, governments in the United States increasingly rely on for-profit organizations to deliver social services. This trend warrants further exploration about whether nonprofits or for-profits perform according to theoretical expectations when they exist in the same market. This study employs qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to examine how sector-public, nonprofit, and for-profit-combines with structural variables to produce acceptable contract performance in juvenile justice programs. QCA is a discovery-oriented research tool that determines whether combinations of variables within cases produce a specific outcome and whether those combinations are consistent across cases. I find sector is not a necessary or sufficient predictor of acceptable performance on its own. Rather it combines with market factors to lead to acceptable contract performance. Combinations vary by sector, indicating that sectors behave differently in similar circumstances. The primary theoretical contribution of this paper is to provide a nuanced account of contract performance in mixed sector markets.     

AIDS volunteers and their motivations: theoretical issues and practical concerns

Volunteers and volunteer organizations are critical elements in society's response to the HIV epidemic. This article reviews a model of the volunteer process that draws on psychological theory and methodology and incorporates concerns of individual volunteers, volunteer organizations, and society at large. An inventory for assessing the motivations of AIDS volunteers is introduced. The findings from a survey of volunteers working in AIDS organizations around the United States speak to their motivations, their choices of volunteer roles, and their decisions about quitting or continuing service. Based on these findings, a detailed set of recommendations for effective volunteer recruitment, assignment, and retention is offered.     

Corporate Volunteering: Benefits and Challenges for Nonprofits

In the frame of corporate social responsibility, corporate volunteering is almost exclusively studied from the point of view of companies, while the perspectives of nonprofit organizations are neglected. Hence, this article focuses on the perspective of managers of nonprofit organizations on volunteer partnership projects with for‐profit companies. In the center of this article lie nonprofit managers' strategy and motivation for participating in corporate volunteering, conception of corporate volunteer activities, and the often‐cited win‐win‐win aspect. Key findings suggest that a majority of the questioned nonprofits lack strategic behavior and management tools for undertaking volunteer partnership projects with companies. Nevertheless, corporate volunteering is widely perceived as an opportunity and a promising method of raising donations for nonprofit organizations. This article suggests that the key to successful future cooperation between nonprofits and profit‐oriented organizations lies in the processes of internal evaluation and subsequent strategy development.