Employee and Volunteer

The purpose of this research is to analyze the different factors that determine the level of time devoted to volunteer activity involving employed people. To this end, we applied a logistic regression model to a sample of 5,067 employees, considering four categories of factors: family and personal, on the one hand, and contextual factors, on the other. This second group involves three factor categories: occupational, organizational, and community involvement factors. The findings of this work are especially relevant to two areas: first, to design a policy of corporate social responsibility that effectively integrates the figure of corporate volunteering, considering its pertinent factors; and second, to broaden the perspective of the third‐sector organizations beyond the traditional profile with which volunteers are commonly associated.     

The Psycho‐Social Processes Linking Income and Volunteering: Chronic Financial Strain and Well‐Being

The positive effect of income on volunteering found in many studies is conventionally explained in utilitarian terms: volunteer work is “costly” or demands “resources.” This explanation overlooks important sociopsychological processes. By situating the income‐volunteering relationship within the stress process framework, we develop a theory that traces the influence of income on chronic financial strain which in turn affects subjective well‐being, which functions as a psychological resource for volunteers. Data taken from two waves of the National Survey of Midlife in the United States confirm this theory: household income has no direct effect on volunteering once chronic financial strain and two measures of subjective well‐being—social and eudaimonic—are taken into account.     

Measuring Social Cohesion: An Experiment using the Canadian National Survey of Giving,Volunteering, and Participating

Social cohesion is a concept difficult to define and to measure. As there can be many definitions, so there can be many measurements. The main problem, either in defining or measuring the concept, is its multilevel and multidimensional nature. At one extreme, country is the most commonly used level to view social cohesion but measurement at this level is of little use for any interventions. At the other extreme, community is the most useful level but it is a social construct for which data are difficult to get, given the administrative boundaries used in social surveys. As an initial attempt to measure social cohesion at a subcountry level, this study focuses on census metropolitan areas for which data on several dimensions of social cohesion are available. We use the information gathered by the National Survey on Giving, Volunteering and Participating (NSGVP) on three dimensions of social cohesion: political (voting and volunteering), economic (occupation, income, labour force participation) and social (social interactions, informal volunteering). Using statistical techniques including factor analysis and standardization, we create an overall index of social cohesion for each CMA. We point out use of this measure for further analysis of social dynamics.     

Collective and Reflexive Styles of Volunteering: A Sociological Modernization Perspective

This paper presents a theory-guided examination of the (changing) nature of volunteering through the lens of sociological modernization theories. Existing accounts of qualitative changes in motivational bases and patterns of volunteering are interpreted against the background of broader, modernization-driven social-structural transformations. It is argued that volunteer involvement should be qualified as a biographically embedded reality, and a new analytical framework of collective and reflexive styles of volunteering is constructed along the lines of the ideal-typical biographical models that are delineated by modernization theorists. Styles of volunteering are understood as essentially multidimensional, multiform, and multilevel in nature. Both structural-behavioral and motivational-attitudinal volunteering features are explored along the lines of six different dimensions: the biographical frame of reference, the motivational structure, the course and intensity of commitment, the organizational environment, the choice of (field of) activity, and the relation to paid work.     

‘Big Society’ in the UK: A Policy Review

Alongside the UK Coalition Government’s historic public spending cuts, the ‘Big Society’ has become a major narrative in UK political discourse. This article reviews key features of Big Society policies against their aims of rebalancing the economy and mending ‘Broken Britain’, with particular reference to their implications for children and young people, and for the voluntary and community sector working with them. Although many positives are acknowledged, flaws are identified in the lack of attention paid to the unique position of children in society, and in an inconsistent conceptualisation of the voluntary sector on which Big Society policies rely.     

Generativity and Volunteering

The robust association between religion and volunteering and education and volunteering can be interpreted in developmental terms as a function of socialization. Churches and schools instill attitudes that predispose the individual to volunteer. Data from two waves of the National Survey of Midlife in the United States (1995 and 2005) are used to test a hypothesis that generativity—a desire to leave a legacy by providing for the welfare of others—mediates the influence of both religion and education on volunteering. Structural equation models using multiple‐imputed data to correct for attrition show that the influence of parental religiosity on volunteering in 2005 is partially explained by generativity in 1995 and that the influence of education on volunteering in 2005 is partially explained by generativity in 1995.     

企业志愿服务行为对顾客购买决策行为的影响研究——基于顾客道德认同的视角

在相关研究文献回顾的基础上,以福建五大品牌保险企业及其员工为研究对象,通过研究假设,以实证分析的方式,从顾客道德认同的视角考察企业志愿服务行为与慈善捐赠行为对顾客感知到的企业形象、产品质量及对顾客购买决策行为的影响。结果发现：道德认同感越强的顾客,对有开展志愿服务行为和实施慈善捐赠行为的企业的评价越高,认为它们的企业形象越好,产品质量也越高,越能积极正向地影响其自身的购买决策行为。     

Race and Place: Exploring the Intersection of Inequity and Volunteerism Among Older Black and White Adults

Although the historical impact of racial segregation and ongoing health and economic inequities between older Black and White adults is well documented, little is known about the relationships among race, individual- and neighborhood-resources, and formal volunteering in later life. This study explores this intersection. Individual-level data from 268 respondents aged 55+ were collected in the St. Louis metropolitan area through paper-based mail surveys. Objective neighborhood data were obtained at the zip code level from secondary sources and matched with respondents. Using exploratory factor analysis, we constructed a 14-item environmental scale with 3 neighborhood dimensions (economic, social, and built environment). Older Black adults had lower levels of education; had fewer financial assets; lived in neighborhoods with less economic resources and lower built environment scores; and fewer formally volunteered when compared to older White adults. Individual resources (financial assets, health) and neighborhood resources (social and built environment) were positively associated with formal volunteering among older Black adults. Only individual resources (age, marital status, financial assets, health) were associated with formal volunteering among older White adults. A coherent set of policies that bolsters individual and environmental capacities may increase the rate of volunteerism among older black adults.     

社会工作的专业地位、基本策略以及与志愿服务的关系:历史回顾与反思

社会工作产生于志愿服务。在寻求科学化的慈善服务中,社会工作者始终与志愿者保持着一种平等合作的关系,注重在社区的场景中把个人改变和社会改变结合起来。但是,在成为政府提供直接社会福利服务的主要专业之后,社会工作把专业地位的寻求作为发展的主要目标,在专业内部,出现个人因素与社会因素的冲突;在专业外部,出现社会工作者与志愿者平等合作关系的断裂。全球化带来经济竞争的加剧,改变了政府的基本社会政策,促使社会福利服务从政府为主转变成多方参与的多元服务模式。80、90年代西方社会普遍认识到政府和市场机制的限制,鼓励非政府组织加入社会福利服务系统。这样,在全球化处境下社会工作需要重新确定自己的专业位置,它不仅是政府多层面管理系统的一部分,同时又是与非政府组织等各种社会资源合作的政府代言人,只有通过与志愿者建立平等合作的关系,才能在社区中充分整合各种社会资源为社区居民提供符合本地需要的专业服务。西方社会工作的专业化发展经验也为我国社会工作的发展提供有益的借鉴,帮助中国社会工作者更好地应对全球化带来的各项挑战。     

Education,Perceived Control,and Volunteering

The consistent effect of education on volunteering has been explained in a number of ways. In this study we test the hypothesis that perceived control beliefs are partly responsible. Using two waves of panel data from National Survey of Midlife in the United States we estimated cross‐lagged structural equation models in which education is positioned as the exogenous variable and perceived control and volunteering are allowed to be reciprocally related across the two waves. We find that perceived control predicts volunteering, but there is no reciprocal effect: volunteering has no effect on sense of control. One reason, therefore, that educated people are more likely to volunteer is that they have stronger control beliefs. The findings enrich the theory of volunteering by introducing the idea of agency, showing one way in which resources influence the decision to volunteer.