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.     

Strengthening Families Through Volunteerism: Integrating Family Volunteerism and Family Life Education

This article builds on increasing interest in family volunteering by presenting it as a family life education tool for strengthening relationships and family functioning. In this context, family volunteering is similar to service learning in which families learn together while giving back to their community. Informed by a discussion on bioecological systems theory, psychosocial development theory, and select studies on volunteering, this article seeks to discover how family volunteering benefits individual and family growth. Existing research indicates that, due to its rich resources, it can deepen relationships, reinforce effective interpersonal skills, and help individuals overcome life's crises. Implications for family life educators and future research are presented, including the need for collaboration and stronger data on which to base flexible and fun volunteer opportunities for families.     

Projections and Policies for Volunteer Programs: The Implications of the Serve America Act for Volunteer Diversity and Management

This article explores the limits of public policy as it affects volunteerism in the United States. Our analysis focuses on the potential of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act (2009), the most sweeping volunteer legislation in U.S. history, to raise the level of volunteering and national service in the United States, particularly among young people, older people, and minorities—the primary target populations of the act. The Serve America Act aims to increase service‐learning opportunities and national service placements substantially. However, the long‐term impact of these changes on the rate of volunteering and the composition and character of the volunteering population remains unclear. Using data from the Current Population Survey's annual Supplement on Volunteering, we examine a variety of reasonable policy scenarios to see how the Serve America Act might affect future volunteering through the year 2050. The findings suggest that even if the Serve America Act is fully funded and implemented, it is unlikely to have a long‐term impact on the overall volunteering rate and, consequently, that altering the national volunteering rate might be an unrealistic public policy goal. Nevertheless, the analysis shows that because of naturally occurring changes in the population, the composition of the volunteer pool is likely to change as we move toward 2050—a demographic shift that will present increased challenges for volunteer managers. We discuss these challenges and how managers might deal with them effectively.     

Understanding media constructions of volunteering: an Australian perspective

This paper explores the Australian public's understanding of volunteering from a media perspective. A content analysis of 137 news articles published in The Australian newspaper revealed that volunteering in Australia is framed in terms of eight perspectives by nine claim makers. Since media-led images of volunteering tend to influence peoples' decision to volunteer, the findings have several implications for organizers of social development projects involving volunteers.     

A Study of Youth Services Networks from a Political-Economy Perspective

ABSTRACT

Volunteers play a vital role in modern societies by boosting the labor force within both the public and private sectors. While the factors that may lead people to volunteer have been investigated in a number of studies, the means by which volunteering contributes to the well-being of such volunteers is poorly understood. It has been suggested through studies that focus on the absence of depression in volunteers that self-esteem and sense of control may be major determinants of the increased well-being reported by volunteers. This is consistent with the homeostatic model of subjective well-being, which proposes that self-esteem, optimism, and perceived control act as buffers that mediate the relationship between environmental experience and subjective well-being (SWB). Using personal well-being as a more positive measure of well-being than absence of depression, this study further explored the possible mediating role of self-esteem, optimism, and perceived control in the relationship between volunteer status and well-being. Participants (N = 1,219) completed a 97-item survey as part of the Australian Unity Wellbeing project. Variables measured included personal well-being, self-esteem, optimism, and a number of personality and psychological adjustment factors. Analyses revealed that perceived control and optimism, but not self-esteem, mediated the relationship between volunteer status and personal well-being.     

Effects of International Volunteering and Service: Individual and Institutional Predictors

Despite unprecedented recent expansion of international volunteering and service (IVS), there has been relatively little research on impacts. This paper proposes a conceptual model for impact research based on existing research evidence published in English. The model suggests that outcomes for host communities, volunteers, and sending communities vary depending on individual and institutional attributes and capacity. How institutions structure and leverage individual capacity influences who participates and how they serve, and shapes the impact of volunteer action. The conceptual model provides directions for future research.

Internal Marketing,Negative Experiences,and Volunteers'Commitment to Providing High-Quality Services in a UK Helping and Caring Charitable Organization

Abstact This empirical study examined the effects of “negative' contact experiences with beneficiaries on charity volunteers' job satisfaction and organizational commitment within a helping and caring charitable organization that for 3.5 years had operated an internal marketing program. It was hypothesized that negative experiences downwardly moderated (i) the impact of the charity's internal market activities on satisfaction and commitment, and (ii) the influences of certain job attributes (autonomy, teamworking, and supervisory support) on these variables. Three personal characteristics (affect intensity, vulnerability to stress, and a person's reasons for having become a volunteer) were also posited to moderate the effects of negative experiences on job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Linkages between the last two variables and a volunteer's desire to provide high-quality client services were explored. The results indicated strong connections between job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and a volunteer's personal commitment to providing high-quality services. Levels of organizational commitment were influenced positively and significantly by the charity's internal marketing activities and negatively by the number of unpleasant client-contact experiences that a volunteer had to endure.     

Civil Society in Comparative Perspective: Involvement in Voluntary Associations in North America and Western Europe

Involvement in voluntary associations is analyzed from the perspective of questions raised in the debate about civil society. After demarcating the concept of civil society in relation to the community, the market, and the state, expectations are formulated about the negative effects of modernization and individualization on volunteering and the positive effects of volunteering on social capital and public discourse. World Values 1990 data are used for inter- and intranational analyses. Neither rankings of thirteen Western nations nor in-depth analyses of the U.S., the Netherlands, and Italy support worried reflections about the effects of modernization. The Idea that involvement in voluntary associations is conducive to social cohesion and political democracy finds empirical support. Both mere membership of an association and actual volunteering within such an association appear to be important in this respect.     

Volunteer Work and Hedonic,Eudemonic, and Social Well‐Being

Using two waves of panel data from the National Survey of Midlife in the United States (MIDUS), we examine the relationship between volunteer work and three dimensions of well‐being: hedonic (e.g., positive mood), eudemonic (e.g., purpose in life), and social (e.g., feeling of belonging to the community). We test for the effects of volunteering measured as a binary and a continuous variable. Results show that volunteering enhances eudemonic and social well‐being (but not hedonic well‐being) although the number of hours contributed makes no difference. Conversely, people who have greater hedonic, eudemonic, and social well‐being are more likely to volunteer and, in the case of hedonic and eudemonic well‐being, volunteer more hours.     

上市公司主动退市过程中的利益冲突及其法律规制——以中小股东权益维护为中心

上市公司主动退市过程中存在控制股东与经理阶层、行政干预与司法介入、大股东与中小股东等主体间的多重冲突,需要公司治理规范进行回应与调适。建构我国的上市公司主动退市制度,需要将维护中小股东权益作为核心价值理念,重点是要赋予股东大会对公司主动退市的决议权和赋予中小股东异议回购请求权。