Attitude Differences Between Paid Workers and Volunteers

This study addresses the extension of research on paid employees to volunteer workers. Pearce (1978, 1993b) has postulated that job attitudes are substantially different between volunteers and paid employees, based on her work studying fourteen organizations employing either entirely volunteer workgroups or entirely paid workgroups. Another interpretation of her data would be that the organizational culture of such workgroups is different, not the individual job attitudes.     

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.     

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.     

Differences between paid and unpaid social services for beneficiaries

In many Western welfare states, social work services that have traditionally been provided by paid employees are being replaced by family support, community support, informal networks, and volunteering. For the field of social work, it is relevant to know what it matters to beneficiaries whether services are provided by volunteers or by paid employees. The central question of this article is therefore as follows: What are the differences between unpaid and paid social services for beneficiaries? The article is based on literature review and focus groups. Our results suggest that beneficiaries do experience some differences regarding the advantages of volunteer services for beneficiaries that can be summarized in three propositions: (1) services provided by volunteers are more relational than are services provided by paid employees, and they are therefore perceived as more equal, flexible and sincere. (2) The effects of volunteer services for beneficiaries are not exclusively positive. (3) Although particular tasks may appear to be interchangeable to some extent, the relative advantages of a given task depend upon whether it is performed by a paid worker or by a volunteer. Additional research is needed in order to provide further validation.     

Work‐to‐Society Spillover?

Nonprofit employees can make ideal volunteers for other organizations in the sector, and understanding their participation in volunteering is a timely task. Based on “spillover theory,” this study tests how nonprofit employees’ experience on the job may carry over into the nonwork arena. The study focuses on how nonprofit employees’ satisfaction with the job and perception of the organization's mission achievement relate to their volunteering, controlling for the generally higher levels of prosocial motivation found in the sector. The findings suggest that the consequences of job satisfaction for this group extend beyond the workplace, contributing to societal benefits.     

Assessing Value Differences Between Leaders of Two Social Venture Types: Benefit Corporations and Nonprofit Organizations

This study considers key value differences between leaders of two types of social ventures: for-profit social benefit corporations and nonprofit organizations. The research question asks to what degree the value sets of leaders of benefit corporations are congruent with those of similarly situated individuals in nonprofit organizations. The results show the values of leaders working in benefit corporations and nonprofit organizations are in many ways aligned, but there are notable statistical differences. A sectoral association of values is also present with employees in both types of organization, especially when the previous work experience of employees is considered.     

Volunteers and Professionals in Norwegian Sport Organizations

The mass media, politicians, and social scientists assert that there are increasing problems in recruiting volunteers to voluntary organizations. This paper investigates the situation with respect to voluntary sport organizations in a Norwegian context. The situation for voluntary and paid work is described and discussed with respect to different kinds of sport organizations. The empirical results show that voluntary work still is the foundation of most sport organizations, but that there are large differences between various types of organizations, and that voluntary work functions in complex interaction with other important economic and structural features of these organizations.     

Leadership within Australian voluntary sport organization boards

This article applies leader‐member exchange theory to the study of dyadic relationships between leaders (board chairs and paid executives) and members (volunteer board members) within the boards of Australian voluntary sport organizations. The article specifically examines leader‐member exchanges within a sample of six Queensland State sport organizations and their relationship with board performance. It was found that leadership within voluntary sport organization boards emanates from either board chairs or executives and that when the individuals fulfilling these roles are able to develop a mature working relationship, the board's ability to perform is enhanced. These findings extend our understanding of the importance of leadership roles held by volunteers and paid professionals for the achievement of organizational outcomes.     

The Role of Supervisory Referral in Employee Assistance Programs

Abstract

A growing number of organizations offer Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) to help employees with their personal problems. Many organizations rely on their supervisors to help identify and refer troubled employees to the EAP for assistance, yet very little conclusive evidence exists regarding the factors that influence whether or not supervisors identify and intervene with troubled employees. A previous review of the literature (Nord & Littrell, 1989) found that the following variables were consistently related to referral: (a) degree of management support for the EAP, (b) gender of supervisor, (c) gender of subordinate, (d) existence of a supervisor network, (e) occupational category of the employees supervised, (f) social distance between supervisor and troubled employee, (g) supervisors' attitude toward their role in referral, and (h) supervisor knowledge of the EAP. However, results of some of the studies reviewed for the current paper were inconsistent with Nord and Littrell's (1989) findings. Additional research is needed in this area, including research on the effectiveness of EAP supervisory training, in order to provide guidelines for the administration of effective EAP programs.     

Exploring the Dynamics of Volunteer and Staff Interactions

The quality of the relationships between volunteers and paid staff can have far‐reaching consequences for organizations that utilize volunteer programs to support service delivery. We utilize a mixed methods case study design to explore volunteer and staff perceptions of their mutual interactions within a large library system in the southeastern United States. We consider which areas of these interactions might be vulnerable to conflict. Our findings suggest that conflict is likely to arise due to communication problems, behavioral or attitudinal issues, perceptions of job vulnerability, divergent expectations, lack of trust, and workflow integration hurdles. We argue that to avoid these tensions and promote effective service delivery, staff members must have appropriate training and preparation to interact successfully with volunteers.     

Another ‘Glass Ceiling’?: The Experiences of Women Professionals and Managers on International Assignments

The last fifteen years have seen an exponential growth in research on women professionals and managers in organizations. However, much less attention has been paid to the small but growing number of women who are embracing international careers. This paper describes some of the main findings of a two-year longitudinal study of the experiences of 92 women expatriates in a variety of UK-based companies. The results show that while there are a growing number of women opting for international assignments (IAs), they are overwhelmingly concentrated in junior and middle management positions, have less options in terms of the countries to which they can be posted and are handicapped by cultural prejudices about ‘proper’ gender roles in some countries. The reasons for these problems are explored and some suggestions are made for improving international opportunities for women employees in the future.     

Promising Practices of Nonprofit Organizations to Respond to the Challenges Faced in Countering the Mistreatment of Older Adults

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - This article discusses promising practices used by employees and volunteers in nonprofit organizations (NPOs) in...     

Technology and managing people:

conclusion The Information Age has revolutionized the workplace. While it is possible to purchase or copy machines and technology, their very interchangeability means they fail to cre-ate a sustained competitive advantage for an organization (Barney, 1991). The research directions this paper offers are intended to develop firm knowledge that allows creation of inimitable human resources. Importantly, in the rush to embrace new information technologies, organizations must remember the fundamental principle that workers will invest in firm goals in the presence of shared values and a commitment by the firm to make their well-being a priority. We urge continued attention to fulfillment of the psy-chological contract, and to the "people issues" that frequently seem less critical than issues of hardware or technology.     

The Effects of United Way Membership on Employee Pay in Nonprofit Organizations

This research investigates the relationship between United Way membership and the compensation level of employees in nonprofit organizations. This study is based on questionnaires completed by 1,811 employees from sixty‐nine nonprofit agencies in a large metropolitan area. Managerial capitalism, agency theory, and United Way funding and governance roles were used to develop the hypotheses. We found that employees of organizations belonging to the United Way receive pay premiums, suggesting that the United Way member agencies are higher‐quality agencies that pay their employees higher wages.     

Attitudes Towards Disabled Staff and the Effect of the National Minimum Wage: a Delphi survey of employers and disability employment advisors

This Delphi study drew on the expertise of a national sample of 100 employers of disabled people, and a similar number of Disability Employment Advisors (DEAs). It presents their existing attitudes towards disabled employees before analysing the effect of the NMW on these views. Differences between employers and DEAs were found in relation to the perceived costs and obstacles to employers of taking or retaining disabled staff, the problems presented by specific disabilities and the motivation shown by disabled staff. There was general agreement that the NMW has benefited disabled people by making low paid jobs better paid. A minority of respondents thought it had created additional obstacles to employment for disabled people. Some disabled employees appear to have been adversely affected by the interaction of the NMW with the Supported Placement Scheme (SPS, now Workstep) and the benefits system. Understanding employers' perspectives may facilitate the promotion of work opportunities for disabled people.     

Navigating change in the era of COVID-19: The role of top leaders’ charismatic rhetoric and employees’ organizational identification

The Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had tremendous and swift effects on organizational change. This study examined how organizations can leverage leadership and employee resources to facilitate positive change outcomes. Drawing from the self-concept based motivational theory of charismatic leadership and substitutes for leadership theory, the current study proposed a theoretical model connecting top leaders’ charismatic rhetoric, employees’ affective commitment to change, and employees’ turnover intention. Furthermore, the study investigated contingencies that may modify the relationship between leadership communication and followers’ outcomes. Results from an online panel of 417 U.S. employees showed that top leaders’ use of charismatic rhetoric during change led to followers’ affective commitment to change, which decreased their turnover intention. Furthermore, employees’ organizational identification moderated this relationship. When employees have low identification with their organizations, top leaders’ charismatic rhetoric to address the immediate change is more needed.     

The Frustration Factor: Volunteer Perspectives of Frustration in a Sport Setting

Volunteers are an integral part of the labor pool in the sports industry and organizations benefit from the extensive contributions that volunteer workers make to the daily operations of organizations and the overall management of events. Sport organizations have tended to utilize mainstream human resource management practices that focus on paid workers ignoring the differences in motivation and satisfaction factors that differentiate the sports volunteer worker along with the sports industry. This study explores the lived experience of long-term sport volunteers with regard to training and work preparedness, recognition and status, well-being, and belonging. The study employs an ethnographic research strategy in an authentic environment that would allow the researchers to untangle and understand the multiple realities that construct the volunteer experience. A holistic view of the dynamic interdependencies of all components of the volunteer community emerges yielding a new typology, the Frustration Factor.     

Old friends and new acquaintances: Tie formation mechanisms in an interorganizational network generated by employee mobility

This study investigates mechanisms of tie formation in an interorganizational network generated by the mobility of employees between organizations. We analyze a data set that contains information on all organizations in the Stockholm metropolitan area between 1990 and 2003. We show that the formation of new ties is contingent upon the direction of past ties, and that most connections occur at an intermediate geodesic distance of 2 and 3. The findings highlight the importance of tie direction and indirect connections in research on network dynamics and knowledge exchanges stemming from the mobility of employees across organizations.     

Employee occupational stress in banking

Occupational stress literature emphasizes the importance of assessment and management of work related stress. The recognition of the harmful physical and psychological effects of stress on both individuals and organizations is widely studied in many parts of the world. However, in other regions such research is only at the introductory stages. The present study examines occupational stress of employees in the banking sector. A sample of 60 bank employees at different organizational levels and educational backgrounds was used. Data collection utilized the Occupational Stress Indicator (OSI). Results of data analysis provided evidence that employees' educational levels affect the degree of stress they experience in various ways. Bank employees cannot afford the time to relax and "wind down" when they are faced with work variety, discrimination, favoritism, delegation and conflicting tasks. The study also shows the degree to which some employees tend to bring work-related problems home (and take family problems to work) depends on their educational background, the strength of the employees' family support, and the amount of time available for them to relax. Finally, the drinking habits (alcohol) of the employees were found to play a significant role in determining the levels of occupational stress.