How Dare to Demand This from Volunteers! The Impact of Illegitimate Tasks

The present study examined the effect of illegitimate tasks (Semmer et al. Appl Psychol Int Rev 59:70–96, 2010) within the volunteer context. A total of 191 Red Cross volunteers were surveyed to reveal the impact of unreasonable and unnecessary tasks on the volunteers’ work engagement and intent to remain at the non-profit organization (NPO). To shed light on the process through which illegitimate tasks affect outcomes, the mediating role of self-determined motivation was explored. Furthermore, the volunteers’ role orientation was assumed to moderate the relationship between illegitimate tasks and outcomes. The results showed that unreasonable tasks directly decreased the volunteers’ intent to remain. Unnecessary tasks, in contrast, had a more subtle effect in that they reduced the self-determined motivation of volunteers. Also, evidence was found for the moderating influence of the volunteers’ role orientation: Whereas unreasonable tasks were equally harmful for both groups, unnecessary tasks more strongly affected those volunteers who expressed more organizational ownership.