Altruists or Egoists? Retention in Stipended Service

2020

A vast amount of research exists on organizational development and leadership theory targeted for organizations with a paid workforce as well as literature that discusses volunteer motivation and management. However, existing literature fails to address leadership theory, practices in organizational development, and performance improvement for a volunteer-led workforce, one in which both volunteer and paid staff compose the workforce. A bridge of the gap in literature is needed to help inform training and development practices of the American Red Cross and other non-governmental organizations. In addition, high volunteer turnover and low satisfaction has a costly impact on organizations critical mission delivery, due to decreased productivity. Therefore, the following research question is explored: What characteristics are most effective motivating a volunteer workforce? Grounded in constructivism and using qualitative research methods, this question is addressed through interviews ...

ACR North American Advances, 2006

question of how and why people give is crucial in helping nonprofit organizations attract and retain donors and volunteers. The purpose of this study is to explore the ability of reasoned influences (e.g., attitudes, values, involvement and motives), unreasoned influences (e.g., habitual giving), and situational influences (e.g., income, education, etc.) to predict volunteer and donating behavior.The results show that attitudes and personal values were poor predictors in discriminating between volunteers and non-volunteers. Further evidence suggests that there may be a trade-off in how contributors decide on what they are going to give (time vs. money). Involvement, habitual giving tendencies, and motives to volunteer appear to serve as important predictors in volunteer versus donating behavior. Future research investigating such trade-offs in a repeated behavior framework is encouraged.The Act of Giving: Involvement, Habitual Giving, and Motives of VolunteerismCharitable organizations are under constant pressure to increase both financial and non-financial contributions. The question of how and why people give is crucial in helping non-profit organizations attract and retain donors and volunteers. Although the literature is rich in studies on helping behavior (c.f. Bendapudi, Singh and Bendapudi, 1996), research in consumer behavior provides little guidance in helping us understand motives of volunteerism (Fisher and Ackerman, 1998). Given that the number of voluntary organizations has increased in recent years, marketing techniques are playing an ever more important role in helping organizations recruit and retain volunteers (Bussell and Forbes, 2002). Understanding the psychological and behavioral aspects of volunteerism helps charities to identify characteristics of those most likely to volunteer, as well as target volunteer recruiting campaigns more effectively.The purpose of this study is to explore relations between various psychological and behavioral aspects and

2005

Volunteers are an important human resource for many organizations. Reasons to volunteers are attributed to factors such as the increasing number of nonprofit organizations, decreasing pool of volunteers, competition for volunteer recruitment among organizations, and problems in volunteers' retention to an organization. Groups of college students from six departments were stratified according to service oriented and non-service oriented majors. For this study, a two-part questionnaire, including the six scale of the Volunteer Inventory Functions (VFI) was administered to college students. The results showed differences between volunteers and non-volunteers, males and females, and service-oriented and non-service oriented majors in their motivations to volunteer.

Human Relations, 2012

In this article we test whether reasons to quit volunteering can be structured as the commonly used six functional motives to volunteer of . We conjecture that owing to volunteer involvement in an organization, additional contextual factors influence the choice to stop volunteering for that organization. Based on a literature review and a qualitative exploratory analysis, we present items respectively measuring motives to volunteer among active volunteers and reasons to quit among former Human Relations 65 volunteers in the context of the Scouts and Guides Organization in Flanders (Belgium). We test content-wise symmetry based on expert-rater agreement, while structural symmetry is tested based on factor analyses. Results show that no symmetry can be found. However, additional contextual factors clearly determine the decision to leave an organization. We theorize on how these individual, interpersonal and organizational factors are continuously traded off by volunteers during their involvement in a particular organization.

Voluntary Sector Review, 2020

This article reviews the literature on non-profit volunteering to argue that the concept of ‘work calling’ is critical to broadening our understanding of volunteer motivation and retention. As an emerging concept, work calling is generally used to explain how individuals satisfy their calling by doing meaningful work. This concept is introduced to the issue of volunteer motivation and retention to detail why volunteers decide to join non-profit organisations and then willingly stay longer. Current theories explain volunteer motivation and retention by focusing on individual factors (commitment and job satisfaction) and organisational factors (management practices, volunteer tasks and organisational reputation). This article integrates work calling with these theories and thus contributes two important insights: (a) volunteers may choose to engage in meaningful work and, therefore, experience self-satisfaction and meaningful life by volunteering; and (b) work calling improves current...

1985

Volunteerism is increasing today and helps to fill in the gaps created by funding and staff cutbacks in service-oriented agencies. It is critical not only to recruit new volunteers but to retain volunteers. This study examines hospice volunteers for motivation and rewards. Previous studies have found motivations to include altruism and self-actualization and rewards to include social interaction and recognition. Forty hospice volunteers (29 females and 11 males) completed a questionnaire and Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale. Participants were asked what kinds of activity they performed and their primary reason for volunteering. Fifty-two percent cited inner-directed reasons indicating personal interest or benefit. Thirty-eight percent cited other-directed reasons indicating concern for others. Other respondents combined inner-and other-directed reasons or did not cite reasons. The hospice volunteer directors were questioned about rewards. Rewards included certificates of appreciation, banquets, service pins, bookmarks, free meals, and free parking. Little relationship was found between volunteer motivations and reward structure. Agencies could be more creative by taking into account the needs and talents of the volunteers when creating job descriptions and roles thereby probably reducing volunteer burnout. It is also probable that supervision as needed over and above the supervision regularly supplied provides the support, encouragement and rewards most valued by these volunteers. (ABL)

Voluntary Sector Review

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to further the understanding of how evolving volunteer trends impact upon volunteering intensity. The aim is to provide clarity by integrating to the volunteer literature a theoretical framework which can be adapted to different ways people volunteer and thus may inform subsequent empirical work. First, we address academic debates concerning the measurement of volunteer effort. Second, we propose using Public Service Motivation (PSM) theory as a means to understand the motivation of volunteers across sectors. We suggest that different PSM dimensions may be more dominant in different volunteer settings and incorporate person-organization fit as a means to understand the relationship between PSM and volunteering intensity. Finally, this article proposes directions for future research.

2009

This article draws upon a sample of nonprofit and state government managers to examine the role that service motivation plays in both sectors. The research addressed three main questions: 1) what are the main motivational types and constructs of managers in the public and nonprofit sectors? 2) what differences exist between these sectors in terms of level of motivation? And 3) what are the long-term and short-term consequences of different types of motivation? Our findings suggest that in many ways public and nonprofit managers are similar in terms of the importance of intrinsic versus extrinsic rewards. Public and nonprofit managers show both of the similarities and differences in terms of the consequences of motivation leading to increased job engagement and increased civic and volunteer activity. The results provide further evidence about relations among the antecedents, moderators, and consequences as well as the role of motivation, mentoring, and interpersonal communication. Additionally, our research also points to important moderating factors such as mentoring and interpersonal communication that may act to increase both motivation and enhance outcomes. Implications of this research are also discussed

Differences and similarities between 130 volunteers who remain for more than eight years in the same non-profit organization and 110 volunteers who quit during the first year were analyzed in this paper. Both groups were chosen from a sample of 851 volunteers that were working as volunteers when we assessed the independent variables (Time 1). After a 12-month follow-up (Time 2), 209 (25%) of them had dropped out and 642 (75%) continued in the same organization. Using the previous time, we formed two groups made up of those who dropped out and had been in the organization less than a year and those who continued and had been in the organization more than 8 years. Results show that differences and similarities between both groups are coherent with the three-stage model of volunteer’s duration (Chacón, Vecina, & Dávila, 2007). This model includes the functional approach of volunteers’ motivations (Clary & Snyder, 1991), and the role identity approach (Callero, 1985), and indicates that people will remain as volunteers insofar as this satisfies the motivations that are relevant for them at the first stage, they develop organizational commitment at the second stage, and they develop role identity as volunteers at the third stage. More specifically, results show that it is possible to predict 85% of the cases correctly using seven variables. Volunteers who remain after eight years feel a higher level of emotional exhaustion, a higher level of organizational commitment, and a strong role identity as volunteers. They are also highly satisfied with the friendships in the organization and have a stronger intention to remain at the long term (2 years).

Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 1991