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Explaining Responses to Volunteering: An Ecological Model
Abstract
The author examined responses to volunteering as expressed in satisfaction with volunteering and burnout. The research sample consisted of 275 volunteers (212 women and 63 men) in various types of social service organizations in Israel. Based on Bronfenbrenner's ecological model, the author examined the contribution of variables from three ecological systems to explaining the outcome variables: (a) the ontogenic system (gender, age, education, and economic situation) and personality characteristics (self-esteem and empowerment), (b) the micro system (family context and volunteer context), and (c) the macro system, including variables reflecting cultural norms, as expressed in ethnic origin. Empowerment, self-esteem, and sociodemographic variables were the main variables related to satisfaction and burnout.
... The advantages of volunteering are similar to those associated with gardening and being outdoors, including improved physical and mental health, self-esteem, social connectedness and decreased feelings of stress, depression and morbidity (Morse et al. 2022). Less well acknowledged is the fact that it can also lead to negative personal outcomes through the onset of burnout syndrome (Kulik 2007;Morse et al. 2022). Burnout syndrome is a feeling of emotional distress and disillusionment about work caused by a discrepancy between expectations and reality (Mealer et al. 2016). ...
... The previous lack of research on burnout among volunteers was due to the notion that it is easier for volunteers to resign from their roles without the same consequences as resigning from a stressful paid job (Kulik 2007). However, this assumption was not supported, as garden coordinators holding responsibility felt that their absence could result in the discontinuation of a project or a scheme that they had worked hard to build. ...
... This is a crucial step forward as previous literature does not distinguish between purely "hands-on" volunteers and volunteer coordinators who face considerably different and more demanding challenges. Kulik (2007) describes volunteering outcomes as binary, resulting in either burnout or satisfaction. What is clear from this study is that the two are not separate, but inextricably linked, with coordinators feeling both love for their work while simultaneously finding it overdemanding. ...
Participation in urban agriculture conducted through community gardens and allotments is known for its benefits to physical and mental health. Due to the recognition of these benefits, which include reduction of stress, depression and anxiety, such participation is increasingly being prescribed as a non-medical health intervention. Community gardens have the added advantage of immersion into a community, without the often-long waiting lists and level of commitment involved in allotment tenancies. What has not been explored is the demanding nature of the commitment required by volunteer coordinators, and ironically, the negative effects it can have on their wellbeing. In a study of food activism in Aberdeen, UK, we conducted 21 semi-structured interviews with participants from a range of bodies involved in the city’s food growing projects. From the spectrum of food growers, we found that volunteer coordinators of community gardens experienced the greatest burdens on their time and wellbeing, with their demanding multi-functional roles leading to fatigue and feelings of over-commitment. Other problems encountered by community gardeners were over-reliance on grant funding and the disproportionate impacts of COVID closures on vulnerable groups. Policy interventions are required to reduce dependency on competitive grant funding and to support both coordinators and the long-term sustainability of community gardens.
... Despite the apparent paradox in considering volunteerism and burnout, volunteers report burnout symptoms. Kulik (2007) noted that burnout among volunteers has received minimal empirical attention due to the misconception that voluntary work is just that, voluntary, and thus, volunteers can and will discontinue activities engaged in by choice if they experience distress. However, studies indicate that burnout does occur among volunteers (e.g., Kulik 2007). ...
... Kulik (2007) noted that burnout among volunteers has received minimal empirical attention due to the misconception that voluntary work is just that, voluntary, and thus, volunteers can and will discontinue activities engaged in by choice if they experience distress. However, studies indicate that burnout does occur among volunteers (e.g., Kulik 2007). In fact, burnout can occur in any role and in any context (e.g., marriage) when feelings of frustration, exhaustion, and dissatisfaction exceed the benefits accrued from the position. ...
... Although it may be relatively easy to quit a volunteer position as compared to a paid work position, volunteers' sense of commitment and acquired benefits may prevent discontinuing voluntary activities in the face of burnout. Levels of burnout reported in volunteer samples tend to be lower than those in work samples (e.g., Kulik 2007;Pines 1984); however, burnout occurs in volunteers and is an important factor to consider in understanding volunteers' motives, experiences, satisfaction, and retention. ...
Volunteering leads to many positive outcomes, especially when one’s reasons for volunteering are satisfied by one’s volunteer experience. But does this match between motive and experience mitigate against negative outcomes? This study examined whether congruence between reasons for volunteering (i.e., Volunteer Functions) and outcomes of volunteering (i.e., Volunteer Outcome Satisfaction) predicted lower levels of volunteer-related burnout in a sample of 512 adult volunteers. Congruence predicted significantly lower levels of burnout only for the Understanding and Values functions. Volunteers who were highly motivated to volunteer for Understanding and Values functions and experienced satisfaction in these domains reported significantly lower levels of burnout than their counterparts. Contrary to hypotheses, participants who reported low motivation for Enhancement or Social functions but who endorsed high satisfaction of these functions reported lower levels of burnout than those who reported congruence between these motivations and outcomes. Additionally, the congruence hypothesis did not hold true for the Protective or Career functions. Volunteer organizations are urged to attend to the importance of satisfying desired functions of volunteering and to help volunteers identify best-fitting opportunities.
... Table 1 provides a summary of the studies, classified by method of analysis, dependent variables and independent variables. Davis et al, 2003;Tang et al, 2010;Beirne and Lambin, 2013 Method: structural equation modelling Farmer and Fedor, 1999;Grube and Piliavin, 2000;Vecina and Chacón, 2005;Costa et al, 2006;Boezeman and Ellemers, 2007;Kim et al, 2007;Waters and Bortree, 2007;Peloza et al, 2009;Tang et al, 2010;Dwiggins-Beeler et al, 2011;Vecina et al, 2012;Huynh et al, 2012;Allen and Mueller, 2013;Dwyer et al, 2013;Haivas et al, 2013;Van Schie et al, 2015;Alfes et al, 2016;Malinen and Harju, 2017 Method: crosssectional correlations and regression Nelson et al, 1995;Cnaan and Cascio, 1998;Farmer and Fedor, 2001;Hager and Brudney, 2004;Peterson, 2004;Finkelstein et al, 2005;Wisner et al, 2005;Cuskelly et al, 2006;Hellman and House, 2006;Hobson and Heler, 2007;Kulik, 2007;Caldwell et al, 2008;Finkelstein, 2008;Karl et al, 2008;Millette and Gagné, 2008;Booth et al, 2009;Hidalgo and Moreno, 2009;Hustinx and Handy, 2009;Stukas et al, 2009;Tang et al, 2009;Garner and Garner, 2011;Stirling et al, 2011;Gazley, 2012;Nesbit and Gazley, 2012;Dwyer et al, 2013;Østerlund, 2013;Presti, 2013;Vecina et al, 2013;Hager, 2014;Newton et al, 2014;Gatignon-Turnau and Mignonac, 2015;Hager and Brudney, 2015;Studer, 2015;Erasmus and Morey, 2016;Hyde et al, 2016;Nencini et al, 2016;Rogers et al, 2016 Method: experiment Clary et al, 1994;Fisher and Ackerman, 1998;Boezeman and Ellemers, 2007, 2014a, 2014b Dependent variable: intent to continue volunteering Farmer and Fedor, 1999;Grube and Piliavin, 2000;Vecina and Chacón, 2005;Wisner et al, 2005;Hellman and House, 2006;Kim et al, 2007;Karl et al, 2008;Millette and Gagné, 2008;Hidalgo and Moreno, 2009;Stukas et al, 2009;Dwiggins-Beeler et al, 2011;Gazley, 2012;Huynh et al, 2012;Allen and Mueller, 2013;Vecina et al, 2013;Newton et al, 2014;Hyde et al, 2016;Nencini et al, 2016 Dependent variable: volunteer satisfaction Cnaan and Cascio, 1998;Boezeman and Ellemers, 2014a;Costa et al, 2006;Hellman and House, 2006;Hobson and Heler, 2007;Kulik, 2007;Craig-Lees et al, 2008;Finkelstein, 2008;Karl et al, 2008;Stukas et al, 2009;Dwiggins-Beeler et al, 2011;Garner and Garner, 2011;Vecina et al, 2012;Dwyer et al, 2013;Nencini et al, 2016 Dependent variable: time volunteered Cnaan and Cascio, 1998;Fedor, 1999, 2001;Grube and Piliavin, 2000;Jamison, 2003;Finkelstein et al, 2005;Waters and Bortree, 2007;Craig-Lees et al, 2008;Finkelstein, 2008;Randle and Dolnicar, 2009 ...
... Table 1 provides a summary of the studies, classified by method of analysis, dependent variables and independent variables. Davis et al, 2003;Tang et al, 2010;Beirne and Lambin, 2013 Method: structural equation modelling Farmer and Fedor, 1999;Grube and Piliavin, 2000;Vecina and Chacón, 2005;Costa et al, 2006;Boezeman and Ellemers, 2007;Kim et al, 2007;Waters and Bortree, 2007;Peloza et al, 2009;Tang et al, 2010;Dwiggins-Beeler et al, 2011;Vecina et al, 2012;Huynh et al, 2012;Allen and Mueller, 2013;Dwyer et al, 2013;Haivas et al, 2013;Van Schie et al, 2015;Alfes et al, 2016;Malinen and Harju, 2017 Method: crosssectional correlations and regression Nelson et al, 1995;Cnaan and Cascio, 1998;Farmer and Fedor, 2001;Hager and Brudney, 2004;Peterson, 2004;Finkelstein et al, 2005;Wisner et al, 2005;Cuskelly et al, 2006;Hellman and House, 2006;Hobson and Heler, 2007;Kulik, 2007;Caldwell et al, 2008;Finkelstein, 2008;Karl et al, 2008;Millette and Gagné, 2008;Booth et al, 2009;Hidalgo and Moreno, 2009;Hustinx and Handy, 2009;Stukas et al, 2009;Tang et al, 2009;Garner and Garner, 2011;Stirling et al, 2011;Gazley, 2012;Nesbit and Gazley, 2012;Dwyer et al, 2013;Østerlund, 2013;Presti, 2013;Vecina et al, 2013;Hager, 2014;Newton et al, 2014;Gatignon-Turnau and Mignonac, 2015;Hager and Brudney, 2015;Studer, 2015;Erasmus and Morey, 2016;Hyde et al, 2016;Nencini et al, 2016;Rogers et al, 2016 Method: experiment Clary et al, 1994;Fisher and Ackerman, 1998;Boezeman and Ellemers, 2007, 2014a, 2014b Dependent variable: intent to continue volunteering Farmer and Fedor, 1999;Grube and Piliavin, 2000;Vecina and Chacón, 2005;Wisner et al, 2005;Hellman and House, 2006;Kim et al, 2007;Karl et al, 2008;Millette and Gagné, 2008;Hidalgo and Moreno, 2009;Stukas et al, 2009;Dwiggins-Beeler et al, 2011;Gazley, 2012;Huynh et al, 2012;Allen and Mueller, 2013;Vecina et al, 2013;Newton et al, 2014;Hyde et al, 2016;Nencini et al, 2016 Dependent variable: volunteer satisfaction Cnaan and Cascio, 1998;Boezeman and Ellemers, 2014a;Costa et al, 2006;Hellman and House, 2006;Hobson and Heler, 2007;Kulik, 2007;Craig-Lees et al, 2008;Finkelstein, 2008;Karl et al, 2008;Stukas et al, 2009;Dwiggins-Beeler et al, 2011;Garner and Garner, 2011;Vecina et al, 2012;Dwyer et al, 2013;Nencini et al, 2016 Dependent variable: time volunteered Cnaan and Cascio, 1998;Fedor, 1999, 2001;Grube and Piliavin, 2000;Jamison, 2003;Finkelstein et al, 2005;Waters and Bortree, 2007;Craig-Lees et al, 2008;Finkelstein, 2008;Randle and Dolnicar, 2009 ...
... The next most commonly used dependent variable was volunteer satisfaction, which was used in 15 studies as either a dependent or an intermediate variable (Cnaan and Cascio, 1998;Boezeman and Ellemers, 2014a;Costa et al, 2006;Hellman and House, 2006;Hobson and Heler, 2007;Kulik, 2007;Craig-Lees et al, 2008;Finkelstein, 2008;Karl et al, 2008;Stukas et al, 2009;Dwiggins-Beeler et al, 2011;Garner and Garner, 2011;Vecina et al, 2012;Dwyer et al, 2013;Nencini et al, 2016). There was no generally accepted measurement of volunteer satisfaction. ...
This article reviews 81 articles that directly tested the effectiveness of volunteer management practices. Many articles measured volunteers' perceptions of the quality of management practices, not the practices themselves, making their utility to volunteer managers limited. Most articles used self-reported, cross-sectional surveys and subjective outcome measures such as satisfaction and intent to continue volunteering. Despite these limitations, current research supports the effectiveness of 11 best practices: liability insurance, clearly defined roles, job design, recruitment strategies, screening and matching, orientation and training, supervision and communication, recognition, satisfying motivations, reflection and peer support. No support has yet been found for three supposed best practices suggested by the practitioner literature: written policies, recordkeeping and individual evaluations. Future studies should use more rigorous methods, including validated measures, external ratings of volunteer effectiveness, field experiments and longitudinal surveys.
... The study of volunteer satisfaction has had considerable attention within the literature. The relationship between volunteer satisfaction and turnover and retention has been well documented; positive relationships have been identified to exist between volunteer dissatisfaction and turnover, as caused by burnout (Kulik 2007) and poor management (Osborn 2008); as well as volunteer satisfaction and retention (Smith and Lockstone 2009). Research shows that volunteer satisfaction is influenced by a number of factors, including role characteristics such as recognition, interaction and role congruence (Stevens 1991); quality of supervision (Silverberg et al. 2002); task and social cohesion (Doherty and Carron 2003); empowerment (Kulik 2007); having fun during volunteer tasks (Karl, Peluchette and Hall 2008); social contact with other volunteers (Osborn 2008), and providing a rewarding experience and acknowledging the contribution of volunteers (Smith and Lockstone 2009). ...
... The relationship between volunteer satisfaction and turnover and retention has been well documented; positive relationships have been identified to exist between volunteer dissatisfaction and turnover, as caused by burnout (Kulik 2007) and poor management (Osborn 2008); as well as volunteer satisfaction and retention (Smith and Lockstone 2009). Research shows that volunteer satisfaction is influenced by a number of factors, including role characteristics such as recognition, interaction and role congruence (Stevens 1991); quality of supervision (Silverberg et al. 2002); task and social cohesion (Doherty and Carron 2003); empowerment (Kulik 2007); having fun during volunteer tasks (Karl, Peluchette and Hall 2008); social contact with other volunteers (Osborn 2008), and providing a rewarding experience and acknowledging the contribution of volunteers (Smith and Lockstone 2009). ...
... Satisfaction may also be influenced by a number of work conditions which the volunteer manager must manage effectively in order to enhance satisfaction. Accordingly, the work itself (Reeser et al. 2005), positive working conditions (Locke 1976), matching volunteer needs, expectations and aspirations in work (Mumford 1991); recognition and contribution of the volunteer (Bennett and Barkensjo 2005); volunteer learning and training opportunities (Green and Blackett 2004); ongoing management and support of volunteers by management (Davis, Hall and Meyer 2003); quality supervision (Silverberg et al. 2002); task and social cohesion (Doherty and Carron 2003); empowerment (Kulik 2007); and clarity of volunteer roles and responsibilities (Sakires, Doherty and Misener 2009), have all been found to positively impact volunteer satisfaction. ...
This paper presents the findings of a study that explored the relationship between two specific elements of HRM (perceived organizational support (POS) and perceived supervisor support (PSS)) and the affective commitment (AC) and satisfaction of volunteers involved in a community cycling event. The findings indicate that volunteers' satisfaction can be attributed more to the informal support (or lack thereof) provided by their supervisor (PSS) than the formal procedures implemented by the organization (POS). Volunteers' AC however, can be attributed more to POS than PSS. These results suggest that for some volunteers the supervisor may embody the organization; the support provided by the supervisor on the day of an event can become more important than support provided by the organization prior to the event. A poor supervisor's performance in providing the requisite support may therefore impact more on a volunteer's satisfaction than any failings (or otherwise) of the overall HRM system.
... In this study, it might be an increase in GPA or English Proficiency score and other academic achievement. A study by Kulik, (2007) found that ability grouping gave significant effect on academic achievement in high ability classes rather than in average classes. Some lecturers also shared the same beliefs as evidence by Kulik, (2007). ...
... A study by Kulik, (2007) found that ability grouping gave significant effect on academic achievement in high ability classes rather than in average classes. Some lecturers also shared the same beliefs as evidence by Kulik, (2007). They sated that ability grouping will not affect the achievement of students from average classes much. ...
Ability grouping is a common educational practice which is intended to improve education quality by grouping students together according to their achievements. This research focuses on the attitude and believes of the students and lecturers of English Education Department toward grouping ability in term of confidence, achievement, expectation, competition, cooperation and respect. This is a descriptive qualitative research since it is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. The respondents of this research were students of academic year 2016, 2017 and 2018 and the lecturers. To collect the data, English proficiency test, questionnaires, and interview were used as the instruments. The findings from questionnaire and interviews mostly shows positive attitudes and believes toward ability grouping both from the students and the lecturers being investigated. There is little issue about respect experienced by some lecturers, yet, it is inconclusive. From the result, it is suggested that lecturers need to adjust materials, select appropriate techniques and methods to suit the students’ characteristics.
... Other factors related to volunteer satisfaction include volunteers' awareness that they are helping others (linked with altruistic motivation to volunteering), the relationships and connections developed while volunteering, the perception of having a voice (i.e. being able to provide feedback and opinions), and volunteers being older in age (Chevrier et al., 1994;Claxton-Oldfield & Claxton-Oldfield, 2012;Cnaan & Cascio, 1998;Kulik, 2007;Trent et al., 2020). Conversely, some of the aspects that can lead volunteers to feel dissatisfied include role ambiguity, being underutilised, unclear boundaries and limitations, feeling undervalued, negative experiences, and not being able to do as much as they would have liked to in their role (Claxton-Oldfield & Claxton-Oldfield, 2008, 2012Hurst et al., 2019;Tang et al., 2010b). ...
... Conversely, some of the aspects that can lead volunteers to feel dissatisfied include role ambiguity, being underutilised, unclear boundaries and limitations, feeling undervalued, negative experiences, and not being able to do as much as they would have liked to in their role (Claxton-Oldfield & Claxton-Oldfield, 2008, 2012Hurst et al., 2019;Tang et al., 2010b). Factors causing dissatisfaction such as lack of training or role ambiguity as well as younger age are associated with higher rates of burnout and compassion fatigue, a more complex phenomena of burnout which accounts for the emotional investment of caring for another (Figley, 2002;Kulik, 2007;Morse et al., 2020). ...
Volunteers are critical to supporting health care systems worldwide. For organisations that rely on volunteers, service to clients can be disrupted when volunteers leave their roles. Volunteer retention is a multi‐layered phenomenon. In this mixed methods case‐control study, we compared two naturally‐occurring volunteer groups supporting a complex primary care‐based programme for older adults in the community: volunteers retained by the programme, and volunteers that left. Our objectives were to describe differences between the groups and also understand how compassion changed over time for those that stayed. We collected quantitative data on demographics, the UCLA Geriatric Attitudes Scale, the Professional Quality of Life Index, the Basic Empathy Scale, the Reasons for Volunteering subscale of the Volunteerism Questionnaire and the 5‐level EQ‐5D. Qualitative data were collected through focus groups/interviews. Overall, 78 volunteers completed surveys and 23 participated in focus groups/interviews. Volunteers that stayed were more likely to be a little older and were a slightly higher proportion male than those who left. They also had significantly less positive attitudes towards older adults, descriptively lower Cognitive Empathy and descriptively higher Secondary Traumatic Stress. Compared to volunteers who left, volunteers retained were more likely to have said they were volunteering for Enhancement or Social purposes; however, these differences were non‐significant. Over time, Compassion Satisfaction decreased with a medium effect size for those that stayed, and Burnout decreased with a small effect size. Volunteers that stayed described more logistical and client‐related aspects of the programme were working well. We recommend that volunteer programmes communicate positive programme impacts that could enhance volunteers’ development, communicate any client impacts to volunteers to reinforce volunteers’ purposes for volunteering (thus reinforcing that their work is meaningful), and ensure logistical aspects of volunteer role work well.
... In addition to links between community service and health at the individual level, community service is a critical aspect of societal well-being. 10,11 Framing community service as a health behavior gives researchers and public health practitioners additional perspective, raising the question of how to encourage and maintain engagement in community service. 12 The Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change (TTM) provides a framework for considering how participation in community service can be understood and promoted at appropriate levels. ...
... 4,11 Future studies might consider measuring community well-being while tailoring interventions to communityspecific needs. Additionally, given the positive relationship between community service and community health, 10 it is arguable that increased community service resulting in positive systemic changes may then ultimately impact a greater number of community members at the individual level. 11 It should be noted that constituents of communities already thriving and receiving systemic benefits are most poised to engage as a result of their contextual circumstances. ...
Purpose
Engaging in community service, or unpaid work intended to help people in a community, is generally associated with greater overall well-being. However, the process of beginning and maintaining community service engagement has been sparsely examined. The current study applied the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) of behavior change to understanding community service readiness among young adults.
Design
Cross-sectional design using an online survey.
Setting
Participants were undergraduate students recruited at a mid-sized Northeastern US university in Spring 2018.
Sample
Participants (N = 314) had a mean age of 20.36 years (SD = 3.69), were primarily White (78%), female (72%), and from moderately high socioeconomic backgrounds (as measured by parental level of education).
Measures
Socio-demographics including age, gender, race-ethnicity, and parental level of education; readiness, pros, cons, and self-efficacy for community service; civic engagement behavior; well-being.
Analysis
Participants were classified into very low (n = 62), low (n = 59), moderate (n = 92), high (n = 46), and very high (n = 55) readiness for community service groupings. A MANOVA was conducted to assess relationships between groupings and community service TTM constructs, civic engagement, and well-being.
Results
There were significant differences between readiness groupings on all main outcome variables, F(20, 1012) = 10.34, p < .001; Wilks’ Λ = 0.54, η² = .14. Post-hoc Games-Howell tests showed that those exhibiting higher levels of readiness reported fewer cons, greater pros, higher self-efficacy, more overall civic engagement, and greater well-being compared to lower readiness individuals.
Conclusion
Consistent with previous TTM applications, self-efficacy and the importance of pros increased across readiness groupings while the importance of cons decreased. Study findings may be used to inform readiness-tailored interventional work for increasing community service. This area of study would benefit from longitudinal research examining community service readiness beyond the college environment.
... However, they recommended analyzing internal and external social motives separately. Kulik's (2007) ecological model of volunteer burnout likewise distinguished between the family and volunteer context. Despite acknowledgement that 'research into volunteer retention will need to analyse complex situations and multiple factors' (Locke et al., 2003: 81), we still lack empirical examples that show how volunteers negotiate collections of commitments. ...
... The findings also indicate the importance of volunteers' families and friends in the commitment process. Maintaining commitment to refugees, Refugee Services, or both required participants' family members to support VSWs' continued presence (Kulik, 2007). Stebbins ' (2000: 155) study showed that objections by significant others as to how volunteers prioritized everyday commitments with respect to their volunteer work created friction, which was not tenable long-term. ...
As members of local host communities, volunteers play an important role in effective long-term refugee resettlement. This study investigated the nature of volunteer commitment by organizational volunteers who were assigned a front-line role in organizing material assistance and providing information about cultural practices for newly arrived refugees. Using interview data from volunteers, organizational representatives, and organizational recruitment and training documents, the study found that volunteers’ commitment was structured by the presence and absence of volunteer coordinators, the organization’s clients and volunteers’ significant others. While insufficient ties to the organization or strong, competing ties from significant others led volunteers to detach themselves from the organization, overly strong affective ties with refugees displaced organizational ties, leading to volunteers’ organizational exit. This study problematizes an individual-centric, psychological notion of commitment; instead, it situates commitment as a collective communicative process whereby relevant stakeholders negotiate the relationships that tie them together. It thus expands the range of voices present in decisions about commitment and provides new data on how organizational and relational others impact sustainable volunteer management.
... General satisfaction with volunteering was tested by one question: ''Indicate the extent to which you are generally satisfied with your volunteering during Operation Protective Edge,'' in which the participants were asked to rank their answers on a 5-point Likert scale, from 1 (not at all) to 5 (to a great extent). This question was used in a previous study (Kulik 2007) for assessing general satisfaction with volunteering among volunteers in the social services in Israel. ...
... Regarding differences in the background variables that explain satisfaction with volunteering, the volunteer's age was negatively related to the general satisfaction with volunteering only among the organized volunteers. This finding is contrary to the findings of studies in which a positive relation was found between satisfaction with volunteering and age among volunteers during routine situations (Kulik 2007;Van Willigen 2000) and may stem from the greater difficulty of older volunteers to recruit the resources necessary for acting effectively when volunteering during an emergency, compared to younger volunteers. The sense of satisfaction with volunteering of the older volunteers is therefore lower during the emergency situation than among their younger peers. ...
The study aimed to identify factors that explain general satisfaction with volunteering among volunteers in Operation Protective Edge, in Israel, through a comparison between organized volunteers affiliated with volunteer organizations and spontaneous volunteers who arrived at the scene independently. Based on the social exchange theory as the theoretical framework, the contribution of several variables to explaining general satisfaction with volunteering was examined: satisfaction with the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards of volunteering, personal sacrifice in volunteering, and motives for volunteering (social solidarity, personal empowerment, and escape from reality). The findings revealed that among organized volunteers, satisfaction with the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards of volunteering mediated between motives for volunteering and general satisfaction with volunteering. Among spontaneous volunteers, the motives of social solidarity and personal empowerment as well as satisfaction with intrinsic and extrinsic rewards were the main variables that explained general satisfaction with volunteering. In contradistinction, the main variables that explained general satisfaction with volunteering among organized volunteers were the motive of personal empowerment and satisfaction with the extrinsic rewards of volunteering.
... Previous studies identified some factors that prevent volunteers from taking voluntary stewardship actions. Among those factors were a lack of knowledge and skills (Lowndes et al., 2006;Reed, 2008), lack of empowerment and inclusion in decision-making (Chess & Purcell, 1999;Florin & Wandersman,1990;Videira et al., 2006), lack of rights and responsibilities given to local groups to promote and participate in co-management governance (Grafton, 2005), burnout (Chirico et al., 2021;Morse et al., 2020), lack of fit with the environment, context, task, and resources (Englert et al., 2020;Lewig et al., 2007;Ramos et al., 2015), and lack of satisfaction with volunteering experiences (Bozeman & Ellemers, 2009;Cheng et al., 2018;Kulik, 2007). The research shows that the action-taking capacity and experiences of volunteers can negatively be affected by a lack of competency (Alfes & Langner, 2017), lack of efficacy (Bandura, 1982;Bandura et al., 1999;Strong & Harder, 2011), lack of knowledge of the community problems (Pan et al., 2018;Schirmer & Dyer, 2018), and lack of motivation (Newberry & Israel, 2018;Strong & Harder, 2011). ...
The current study investigates the relationship between volunteer stewardship action-taking, motivation toward engagement in volunteer activities, and the ability to teach others during the COVID-19 pandemic. The final data set included 1,196 responses from the Penn State Extension Master Gardeners and Master Watershed volunteers, which provided a response rate of 39.9%. The results of this study showed that approximately 15.1% of the variation in volunteer stewardship action-taking experiences could be explained by volunteers’ motivation toward engagement in volunteer activities and their ability to teach others. Most findings are in line with previous research. Extension and outreach educators and volunteer coordinators can better prepare their Master Gardeners and Master Watershed volunteers for effective responses to their community needs, especially in times of uncertainty. More research is needed in volunteer stewardship action-taking experiences during times of uncertainty and change.
... Due to the above limitations, we do not consider our findings the ultimate theory behind volunteering in the Russo-Ukrainian War. Secondly, our study did not explore the negative aspects of volunteering, including burnout 49 . Thirdly, there were significantly more women than men in the sample. ...
The Russo-Ukrainian War has led to a humanitarian crisis, and many people volunteered to help affected refugees. This cross-sectional survey study investigates the relationships between the psychological impact of participation, coping mechanisms, and motivational functions of volunteering during the Russo-Ukrainian War among 285 Ukrainian and 435 Polish volunteers (N = 720). Multivariate linear regression was used to examine relationships between motivational functions and psychosocial and demographic characteristics. Ukrainian volunteers reported significantly higher Hyperarousal and Avoidance, Depression, Anxiety, and Stress, Problem-focused, Emotion-focused, and Avoidant coping, as well as total scores of Hardiness and Psychological Capital than Polish counterparts. Linear regression analysis found that Impact of the Event Scale results, Coping with Stress, being a female, unemployed, and religious were significantly associated with higher motivational functions. Ukrainian volunteers could significantly reduce negative feelings and strengthen social networks and religious faith by volunteering, while Polish volunteers were significantly more likely to gain skills and psychosocial development from helping others.
... Volunteering is defined as 'the act of giving one's time to deliberate and freely chosen helping activities that continue over time and that are engaged in without the expectation of reward or other compensation' (Snyder and Omoto, 2008: 3). It is a leisure activity that constitutes part of a healthy life at every age and that is considered to be especially critical for adolescents (Kulik, 2007;Ross, 2011). Bonnesen (2018: 160), however, notes that the 'voluntary sector often mirrors social inequalities based on education, social class, gender, race, and ethnicity that are typically manifested in the traditional labor market', with those possessing economic capital, family support, higher education, and stronger networks and contacts in a better position to take advantage of opportunities that lead more directly to volunteer work (Gaby, 2017). ...
This article aims to provide a theoretical framework for working with excluded youth as active partners in non-profit organisations. Using the Youth-Adult Partnership model, we propose three strategies for creating partnerships with youth in the realm of volunteerism: (1) group volunteering; (2) mentoring as a managerial strategy; and (3) management councils. Each strategy is a means of relying on youths’ knowledge and expertise, and assigning volunteers and practitioners joint authority to lead the services. Based on Bourdieu’s (1986) theory of capital, we argue that such partnerships serve not only as a means of reducing the inequality of young people experiencing social exclusion as volunteers, but also as an opportunity to demonstrate the social capital of youth as service providers stemming from their marginalisation. Such recognition by adults and staff, who are the service providers of the youths as clients, can change the rules for both the youth and the organisations.
... According to Bronfenbrenner's ecological model (1994), individuals' behaviour and development are influenced by factors in different systems, namely the macrosystem, mesosystem, microsystem, and ontogenic system (Kulik, 2007). Factors in the microsystem are the individuals' immediate relationship and activities, and interactions with parents can be a significant factor in the microsystem affecting the development of children (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). ...
... In terms of TS volunteering, many studies have explored the satisfaction of volunteers (Cnaan and Goldberg-Glen 1991;Galindo-Kuhn and Guzley 2001;Kulik 2007;Chacón et al. 2017; Perić-Prkosovački, Brkić-Jovanović, and Čubra 2021) identifying different conditioning factors or dimensions. All these contributions could be summarised in three dimensions that must be tended to: (1) the personal sense of reward that volunteers get when carrying out their tasks; (2) the treatment they receive from the organisation (reciprocity in the relationship with professionals, training received, alignment between tasks and expectations, recognition of their work …); and (3) the usefulness they perceive of their action in others (users or professionals). ...
The origin of the Third Sector (TS) in Spain is rooted in the defence of social rights and demands made of the State regarding social transformation. With the development of the Welfare State, the role of the TS has progressively changed, becoming primarily a provider of services to Public Administrations (PAs), and moving away from its roots advocating and demanding social justice. This article examines the distance between the original intentions (‘ought’) and the current day-to-day actions (‘is’) of the TS in the case of the region of Andalusia (Spain), focusing on a three-dimensional analysis: the objectives that mark its action, its funding model, and relations within the organisation. Using a qualitative methodology based on Thematic Content Analysis, the discourses of actors involved in the TS (managers, professionals, volunteers, users, public administration professionals, and other actors) have been analysed and linked, concluding that the gap generated between intention and deed, or ‘ought’ and ‘is’, are the result of external contextual elements, but also of decisions made within the TS.
... The new responsibility must allow for volunteers to test their skills and knowledge or be placed in diverse contexts where they can learn from others. Kulik (2007) maintains that creating learning and growth opportunities may lead to higher perceived levels of empowerment, which may lead to greater volunteer satisfaction and lower levels of burnout. ...
Despite the growing interest in student volunteerism, few students volunteer, and volunteer organisations struggle to retain those who do. We explore motivating factors, expectations, and demotivating factors as they relate to retention in student volunteerism Participants were selected from six volunteer projects associated with three South African universities in the Western Cape region. Seventy active volunteers (N = 70) responded to four open-ended questions, analysed using thematic analysis. Volunteer leadership is central to student volunteers' expectations and demotivating factors. Good leadership fulfilled student volunteers' expectations, but student volunteers were demotivated in the face of poor leadership. Six indicators of good leadership were identified. This included efficiency, regular and effective communication, being organised, passionate, and dedicated along with being supportive and facilitating volunteer growth. We argue for the importance of including contextual factors such as volunteer leadership when designing a student volunteer retention framework.
... The model posits that individuals and their behaviours are nested within broader systems in their social environment (e.g., family, employer, community, economy, society), which they influence and are influenced by. Although the ecological systems theory has been used to understand the antecedents and responses to formal volunteering (Kulik, 2007a(Kulik, , 2007b, little attention has been given to this model in the context of ESV. ...
There remains a knowledge gap regarding the factors that drive the development of business-nonprofit partnerships in the context of employer-supported volunteering—especially in small and medium enterprises. Furthermore, there is a need to consider how enterprises operate in their cultural contexts to better understand how they support volunteering trends in Canada. This study aimed to improve understanding of the multi-level factors that foster the development of business-nonprofit partnerships in the context of employer-supported volunteering. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with community and small business actors in a semi-rural setting in Francophone Québec. Results challenged the traditional view of volunteer support as a distinct activity, showing an integrated system of inter-dependence. Results suggest the relevance of conceptualizing small enterprises’ support of volunteering as part of an inclusive approach to community engagement.
RÉSUMÉ
Les facteurs liés au développement de partenariats entre entreprises et OBNL dans le contexte du bénévolat appuyé par l’employeur sont méconnus – particulièrement au sein des petites et moyennes entreprises. Il est également pertinent de considérer le contexte culturel pour mieux comprendre les tendances canadiennes du bénévolat appuyé par l’employeur. Cette étude vise l’obtention d’une meilleure compréhension des facteurs multiniveaux associés au développement de partenariats entreprises-OBNL dans le contexte du soutien au bénévolat. Quinze entretiens semistructurés ont été effectués auprès d’acteurs du secteur communautaire et des petites entreprises dans un milieu semi-rural francophone-québécois. Les résultats repositionnent la notion d’activités distinctes et témoignent plutôt d’un système intégré d’interdépendances. Les résultats suggèrent de conceptualiser le soutien au bénévolat des petites entreprises au sein d’une approche inclusive d’engagement communautaire.
... When volunteers feel that their work is not worthwhile and they do not perceive the utility for others that they expected, it is very likely they stop making such efforts. Research shows that burnout was more likely among volunteers who felt they were wasting their time (Kulik, 2007) and participation efficacy was related to satisfaction and predicted intention to remain (Galindo-Kuhn & Guzley, 2001). Bekkers (2010) presented a series of scenarios involving both costs and perceptions of the efficiency of help, finding that intentions to volunteer were greater for more efficient activities. ...
Volunteering is a helping behavior with more benefits for those who receive it than for those who offer it. After more than two decades of intense research focused on isolated variables, this paper focuses on the subjective balance between costs and benefits that make volunteers remain in non-profit organizations. A short instrument of 22 items is validated using a sample of 205 volunteers engaged in 10 non-profit organizations working in the social sector. Confirmatory Factor Analysis provided a 3-factor model of benefits (Benefits from the activities, Benefits of giving and Benefits of sharing) and a 3-factor model of costs (Costs of impotence, Costs from the organizational context and Costs from lack of competence) with a good fit to the data. The General Index of Benefits presented a positive pattern of significant relationships with psychological and subjective well-being, satisfaction with volunteering, organizational commitment, volunteer engagement, role identity as a volunteer and intention to stay as a volunteer in the same organization. The General Index of Costs presented negative relationships with the same mentioned variables. The numerical difference between both General Indexes was called the Subjective Index of Benefits in Volunteering (SIBiV) and can be interpreted as the positive balance of benefits at any time for any volunteer when it is greater than 0. This instrument can help to manage this positive social phenomenon that benefits those who receive the help, volunteers themselves and society as a whole in many different ways.
... 7,8 Those who feel underappreciated or taken for granted report increased levels of frustration, burnout, and lack of satisfaction with volunteering. 18,19 These outcomes suggest that feeling appreciated may be a mechanism by which volunteering results in favourable psychological health outcomes. ...
Issues addressed
While the psychological health benefits of older people’s engagement in formal volunteering are well‐documented, there is limited research assessing how volunteering may produce these favourable outcomes. To guide the development of volunteer positions that optimise outcomes, this study examined (i) which aspects of the volunteering experience are most strongly associated with favourable psychological health among older adults and (ii) whether relationships between these aspects and psychological outcomes are moderated by sociodemographic characteristics.
Methods
A sample of 293 volunteers aged 60+ years (69% female, mean age=73.33 years) completed measures assessing their engagement in volunteering, various aspects of their volunteer experience, and their psychological health.
Results
Being adequately appreciated for one’s contribution, perceived social and mental intensity of the volunteer role, and believing that others benefit from one’s volunteering efforts were found to be associated with higher levels of psychological health.
Conclusions
Ensuring the contributions of volunteers are explicitly recognised, providing opportunities for engagement in social and cognitive activities, and informing volunteers of the benefits others experience constitute potential means of enhancing volunteer outcomes and may assist with volunteer retention.
So what?
This study builds upon the limited research assessing which aspects of the volunteering experience are most strongly associated with favourable psychological health among older adults. The findings point to the potential importance of four specific aspects of the volunteer experience in enhancing psychological health outcomes.
... Only scattered answers exist. Much of the research that has been done is this area focuses on the limits of the volunteers' roles (Fox 2006;Haski-Leventhal and Bargal 2008;Mellow 2007), the impact of volunteers on clients (Wuthnow 1995), and how particular contexts affect volunteer performance and feelings (Hustinx and Handy 2009;Kreutzer and Jäger 2011;Kulik 2007;Taylor, Mallinson, and Bloch 2008). ...
This dissertation interrogates practices of grassroots homeless service organizations in St. Louis, MO. Like many other contemporary U.S. cities, St. Louis has struggled to cope with a large homeless population. According to the annual point-in-time count, 1,798 people were counted as experiencing homelessness in St. Louis City and St. Louis County on a single night in January 2017. Of those counted, 77% identified as black (HUD 2017a, 2017b). With city and county governments failing to provide adequate human services and shelter in the St. Louis Metropolitan Area, a number of grassroots homeless service groups have taken to “the streets” in an effort to combat the problem.
Based on participant observation of these efforts, this dissertation makes three interlocking arguments. First, much is known about the antecedents and benefits of volunteering, but little has been written about the actual practice of volunteering. I argue that volunteering should be seen as a practice of meaning making. Homeless service provision provided volunteers with an opportunity to interact with a poor and predominantly black population. Then, based on their service experiences and conversations with other volunteers, their ideas about race, poverty, and place could be reinforced and modified.
Second, the project draws attention to the limits of white ally discourse. I argue that even volunteers who saw their work as a form of anti-racist activism struggled to see how their race was important in daily life. When asked how their race might inform interactions with people of color experiencing homelessness, white, “color conscious” volunteers were usually quick to admit that it must. However, they were also unable to say exactly how or provide examples. This inability to speak about interracial interactions, despite many experiences to reflect upon, highlights the pervasive power and privilege embedded in the taken-for-granted nature of whiteness. Although this group displayed strong knowledge of systemic racism and/or antiracism literature, their own whiteness remained “invisible” to them.
Third, I argue that perception of, access to, and interaction in nonwhite, urban space was shaped by the privileges and power embedded in volunteers’ social statuses (e.g. white, middle-class). While the slum/poverty tourism literature more frequently explores international tourism and volunteering (e.g., Frenzel 2015; Steinbrink 2012), I repeatedly observed volunteers profess interest in “urban decay” and take photos with such frequency that one volunteer jokingly asked another if she “ever feel[s] like a Japanese tourist.” In these moments, volunteers sought to explore the poverty of their home city in a way few others of their class status would. Through this process, which was observed to be racialized, volunteers emphasized the difference between themselves and those “on the street.”
... This aligns with the findings that younger volunteers pursue more skill-, qualification-and network-oriented motives and regard volunteering as an appropriate way to invest in their own human and social capital (Nichols and Ralston, 2016;Wollebaek et al., 2014). In contrast, Kulik (2007) showed a positive correlation between age and volunteer satisfaction, whereas Swierzy et al. (2018) found no age effects on volunteer engagement. Although the literature review suggests that age and gender might play a minor role in volunteer satisfaction, we integrated both factors as control variables, and thus the following research question will also be analyzed: How far are gender and age relevant factors for the satisfaction of volunteers in sports clubs? ...
Regular voluntary engagement is a basic resource for sports clubs that may also promote social cohesion and active citizenship. The satisfaction of volunteers is an imperative factor in this engagement, and the purpose of this article is to explore individual and organizational determinants of volunteer satisfaction in sports clubs. Theoretically, our study builds on the actor-theory concepts where volunteer satisfaction depends on subjective evaluations of expectations and experiences in a sports club (‘logic of situation’), so that positive evaluations lead to higher satisfaction and, hopefully, retention of volunteers. This research uses a sample of 8131 volunteers from 642 sports clubs in 10 European countries, and is the first analysis to combine determinants at the level of the club and the volunteer (multilevel). Results show that the most important determinants of satisfaction are the conditions of volunteering (recognition, support, leadership and material incentives) and the workload of volunteers. Surprisingly, club characteristics, size or having paid staff are not significant determinants of volunteer satisfaction. The results of this analysis can assist more effective volunteer management in sports clubs that are facing challenges of individualization and professionalization.
... Ambiguity of task requirements, inefficient use of time and lack of appreciation by the organisation have been reported to contribute to lower volunteer satisfaction in previous work [31,54]. In the current study, several volunteers felt they were being treated as employees rather than volunteers by the organisation and issues with formal and informal recognition also arose, e.g., not being consistently recognised for their work via certificates or not being thanked for coming into the phone counselling office despite using their free time to help the wider community. ...
Volunteers in non-government organisations are increasingly providing mental health support due to increasing demand and in the context of overstretched publicly-funded mental health services. This descriptive, cross-sectional study explored a knowledge gap in the literature of mental health telephone counselling by examining the motivation and retention determinants of helpline volunteers. In total, 25 participants were recruited across four focus groups and five individual interviews from a non-government organisation which provides a national phone counselling service to callers in New Zealand. Interviews were electronically recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed. Volunteers were found to have a high regard for their role and enjoyed many aspects including initial training, ongoing supports (formal/informal) and nature of the phone calls. However, organisational priorities/communication, disconnectedness, technological issues, lack of recognition and lack of a sense of belonging were reasons cited for intention to leave but previous mental health experiences, autonomy/flexibility, self-discovery/skills development and being there for someone else were key factors for volunteers to start and remain in their role. Understanding these crucial factors may help modulate volunteer satisfaction and retention in mental health organisations but may also potentially be relevant to other types of volunteer organisations.
... This becomes a complex challenge for entrepreneurs because, while paid employees are expected to comply with managerial demands, volunteers are free to abruptly withdraw their labor, for instance when strategic decisions of the organization conflict with their own preferences (Eckstein, 2001;Royce, 2007). Concomitantly, Kulik (2007) shows that organizational ambiguity with regard to work tasks and work requirements can stress volunteers and reduce their commitment. In their reflections upon this management challenge for prosocial ventures in the UK retail sector, Liu and Ko (2012) find that workforce turnover rates are higher when both employees and volunteers are present, instead of cases including only employees. ...
This study develops an understanding of the role of emotional connectivity for volunteer retention in prosocial business venturing. By embedding it in organizational ambivalence theory, our analysis of four volunteer-dependent community ventures reveals two mechanisms through which entrepreneurs strengthen volunteers’ emotional connectivity. We first identify emotion-focused practices that form volunteers’ emotional attachment to the venture, and then demonstrate how duality-focused practices, in the form of managing inherent organizational duality, complement emotion-focused practices to foster volunteers’ emotional loyalty to the venture. Theorizing from our findings, we introduce a model of managing volunteers’ emotional connectivity, and conclude by discussing its implications for prosocial venture research on volunteerism and affective commitment.
... For example, organization-related reasons, such as wrongful demands from the organization towards the volunteer or unfulfilled expectations of the volunteers make people quit (Hustinx, 2010;. Also, other negative experiences, such as conflicts with other volunteers or lack of learning opportunities can create volunteer burnout, in turn causing people to leave the organization (Capnar & Caltabiano, 1993;Haski-Leventhal & Bargal, 2008;Kulik, 2007;Snyder, Omoto, & Crain, 1999;Willems et al., 2012). ...
Research on volunteering has mainly focused on the explanatory demographics and functional motives to volunteer, but little is known about the reasons that people might have not to volunteer. However, these reasons need more academic attention, as they form the barriers that organizations have to overcome when attracting new volunteers. We examine a sample of 1248 respondents on whether they volunteer, are interested in volunteering, or have no interest to volunteer. We verify whether demographic differences exist between these groups. By means of an exploratory factor analysis, we analyze the reasons not to volunteer for those who have no interest to volunteer. This complements earlier research by focusing on the barriers that people might have, instead of the benefits of volunteering that have extensively been documented.
... Potential causes of fatigue among disaster response volunteers like those who serve with the American Red Cross are understudied-they range from the nature of a given disaster (scope, cause, fatalities) to interactions with victims, management practices (supervision, record keeping), levels of social support (from family, friends, and organizational sources), and physical work conditions (hours, housing) (Figley 1995 ;Jaffe et al. 2012 ;Kulik 2007 ;McCaslin et al. 2005 ;Stirling et al. 2011 ;Yanay and Yanay 2008 ). Very little is known about strategies these volunteers employ to prevent or reduce feelings of fatigue or the extent to which organizations provide support, but colleagues ( 1995 , 1998 ) developed and tested a model of formal intervention with American Red Cross volunteers at the close of their service during the 1991 Oakland Hills fire and 1994 Los Angeles earthquake responses. ...
The American Red Cross is the most active nonprofit organization involved in disaster planning and response in the United States. The organization deployed nearly 50,000 volunteers to provide essential support to victims of some 125,000 domestic disasters, including home fires, hurricanes, wildfires, and floods, in a recent two-year period. This study asks how American Red Cross disaster response volunteer experiences function to cultivate satisfaction and, at the other end of the spectrum, the kind of dissatisfaction that leads people to quit; it pays particular attention to ways in which volunteer management shapes dissatisfaction and fatigue because of implications for volunteer retention. Paradoxically, the Red Cross facilitates the highly satisfying act of helping victims, but volunteers feel dissatisfied when management practices get in the way of helping. The study suggests voluntary organizations that rely on skilled, long-term volunteers to deliver services should evaluate and strengthen their communication strategies, recognition practices, and support systems for volunteers in distress.
... Technically, voluntarism can be identified through the existence of eight values which are divided into four key dimensions: the first one is free choice (free will versus obligation to volunteer), the second is nature of the remuneration (no remuneration at all versus low pay), the third is the organizational context (formal versus informal), and the fourth is the intended target group (helping others versus benefiting one self) (Cnaan & al., 1996). Thus, the hard core of voluntarism would be characterised by freedom of choice, absence of remuneration, formal structure and pure altruistic motives (see also the three-dimensional model of Anheier & Salamon, 2001, the sociological modernization perspective of Hustinx & Lammertyn, 2003, the phenomenological analysis, Yeung, 2004, the model of psychographic heterogeneity, Dolnicar & Randle, 2007 and the ecological model, Kulik, 2007). Nonetheless, the wider ranging criteria apply to volunteer activities as well in both theory and everyday practice. ...
Voluntarism remains globally importantfor many social issues and one of themis social cohesion. Historically, Greece’sCivil Society was weak and dependent onthe political parties. Voluntarism is totallyabsent from the Greek public sector andhardly developed within the Church. Themain voluntary activity is channeled throughVoluntary Organizations. This article focuseson formal, private, non-profi t distributing,self-governing voluntary organizationswhose main activity is in the fi eld of socialprotection. We argue that the sector issmall and weak and has not succeeded inadapting itself to the changing environment.Membership declines and all indicatorsshow that the sector will shrivel further inthe future.
... This characteristic is important because of the possibility that individuals are trading off volunteering with paid work in an effort to increase human capital or life satisfaction. It is also important because of the alternative possibility that the employed volunteer at higher rates (see Kulik 2007). In some regressions, employment was alternatively used as an outcome variable in its own right as discussed in the sections that follow. ...
In this analysis, I examine the effects of community-level volunteering on an individual’s choices regarding time – whether to work and whether to volunteer. In order to better explain the decision to volunteer, a classic pure public goods structure is contrasted with a less restrictive impure public goods model that admits other possible private motivations. The results of this study undermine the neoclassical notion that volunteering can be understood solely as a pure public good that is provided less when others are seen to be contributing. In fact, individuals are found to be more, not less, likely to volunteer when others in their communities do so. An innovative instrumental variables strategy is used to account for reflection bias and the possible endogeneity caused by selective sorting of individuals into neighborhoods, which allows for a causal interpretation of these results. Employment regressions provide preliminary evidence that average volunteering relates, to some extent, with the decision of whether to participate in the labor force. Variations in the effect of average volunteering across age and gender are also explored. The present work is unique by virtue of its use of a large and representative dataset, along with rigorous statistical testing. I use United States Census 2000 Summary File 3 and Current Population Survey (CPS) 2004–2007 September Supplement file data and control for various individual and community-level characteristics.
... Taigi apibendrindami galime remtis P. John (2005) mintimi, kad analizuoti lyties skirtumus yra labai svarbu, tačiau tyrimai šiuo klausimu pateikia labai skirtingą informaciją, ir tikrai nėra aišku, ar pati lytis sukelia šiuos skirtumus. Tačiau kaip bebūtų, tiek vaikinai, tiek merginos vienodai jaučiasi patenkinti savo aktyviu dalyvavimu mokyklos veikloje ir įnešamu indėliu į visuomenės gerovės kūrimą (Kulik, 2007). ...
... In this study, variables in the ontogenic system were applied for understanding university students' risk-taking attitudes. Variables in the ontogenic system were considered as intra-individual factors, such as gender, age, education, economic situation, and personality characteristics (Kulik 2007). The proposed model suggests that 'human development takes place through processes of progressively more complex reciprocal interaction between an active, evolving biopsychological human organism and the persons, objects and symbols in its immediate environment' (Bronfenbrenner 1995, 620). ...
This study investigated the risk-taking attitudes of 305 Chinese university students in Hong Kong by the prediction of sensation-seeking. To further understand the prediction of sensation-seeking, emotional intelligence (EI) was applied. First, the 30-item DOPSERT scale was used to examine the risk-taking attitude of students in different domains (ethical, financial, health/safety, social, and recreational). Then, a 12-item sensation-seeking subscale taken from the UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale was applied to examine the participants’ levels of sensation-seeking. In this study, sensation-seeking was divided into the categories of exciting activities seeking and novel activities seeking (NAS). Finally, the 16-item Wong and Law’s Emotional Intelligence Scale was applied to examine participants’ use of self-emotion appraisal, others’ emotion appraisal, use of emotion, and regulation of emotion. The results of this study showed that for this group of Chinese university students, the use of emotion and regulation of emotion could significantly predict exciting activities seeking. NAS, however, could predict recreational risk-taking attitude and health and safety risk-taking attitude. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model was applied to understand the relationships among EI, sensation-seeking and risk-taking attitudes. The variables of EI and sensation-seeking were considered as factors within an ontogenic system of the ecological model. Few studies to date have focused on the relationship between EI and risk-taking. The results of this study provided support for a clear relation between EI and risk-taking. To be more specific, the use of emotion and the regulation of emotion had an effect on exciting activities seeking. This study also indicated how educators and counselors can make use of the findings to better control the risk-taking attitudes of young people, so they will be less likely to engage in risky behaviors.
... The scholarly literature is full of research-based advice on how to treat volunteers so as to optimize their utility, satisfaction, commitment, and perseverance (Cnaan & Cascio, 1999;Farmer & Fedor, 1999;Gidron, 1985;Kulik, 2007;Marx, 1999;Sherr, 2008;Wilson, 2012). The advice can be grouped under two categories: effort investment to support volunteers and the inclusion or integration of volunteers into the organization. ...
This study examines factors associated with Israeli social workers’ investment of effort in, and inclusion of, volunteers in their work. The variables are drawn from three theories: status characteristic theory, psychological contract theory, and organizational culture theory, and from claims regarding training in working with volunteers. The sample consisted of 118 randomly selected direct social workers in 26 municipal social service departments in Israel. The instruments were designed specifically for the study.
Findings
Social workers’ effort investment and inclusion increased when they: (a) viewed volunteers as contributing to social workers and the organization; (b) expected themselves to invest effort in their volunteers; (c) believed their volunteer met their expectations with regard to service users and social workers; (d) trusted their volunteer; (e) perceived their managerial culture, peer culture, and artifacts as encouraging effort investment and inclusion; and (f) received training in working with volunteers.
Implications
On a theoretical level, the findings expand our knowledge about factors that may impact on social workers’ investment of effort in volunteers and their inclusion. On a methodological level, instruments with good psychometric properties were developed to examine the associations studied and these can serve in future research. On the practical level, the findings highlight the importance of training in working with volunteers and underscore the value for managers and volunteer coordinators discussing the workers’ psychological contract with them and of fostering an organizational culture that encourages effort investment in, and inclusion of, volunteers.
... Many studies discuss volunteering behaviors based on demographics such as age, gender, marital status, income, and education (Latting 1990;Mesch et al. 2006;O'Neill 2001;Wilson 2000). Recently, others have found that psychological characteristics, including social anxiety (Handy and Cnaan 2007), social cognition, instrumental consideration (Lindenmeier and Dietrich 2011), self-effi cacy (Lindenmeier 2008), and self-esteem (Kulik 2007) are also important predictors for volunteering. Specifi cally, Lindenmeier and Dietrich (2011) used social dilemma theory to examine whether instrumental considerations infl uence people's volunteering decisions. ...
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.
... Furthermore, volunteering is strengthened through social interactions [18]. Social ties also affect responses to volunteerism: Kulik [19] demonstrated that volunteers who enjoyed family support enjoyed their volunteer work more and suffered less burnout than those without family support. Wilson and Musick [18] observed that volunteers with more frequent attendance at meetings of religious or charitable groups were less likely to drop out of volunteer activities. ...
... Prouteau and Wolff, 2008), factors predicting satisfaction, commitment or burnout (e.g. Kulik, 2007) and perseverance or dropping out (e.g. Yanay and Yanay, 2008). ...
The study's aim is to better understand what may foster social workers' work with volunteers, by comparing workers who work
with volunteers (n = 118) and those who do not (n = 169) on four dimensions: perceptions of volunteers' status and contribution, organisational culture, training to work with
volunteers, and personal experience of volunteering. The sample consisted of 287 social workers in twenty-six randomly sampled
municipal social service departments in Israel. Almost all the sampled workers were Jewish women. A third had a BSW; two-thirds
had an MSW or were studying for one. The findings show that social workers who worked with volunteers differed on almost all
the dimensions from those who did not. They perceived volunteers as making greater contributions; were more inclined to view
volunteering as having no less value than salaried work; tended to perceive their organisation's managerial and peer cultures
as more supportive of work with volunteers; and were more likely to have had experience of volunteering themselves. These
differences, albeit small, suggest that greater use of volunteers may be encouraged by raising social workers' awareness of
the value and contribution of volunteers' work, and by developing an organisational culture that supports work with volunteers.
While campus food pantries are growing increasingly popular as an intervention aimed
at improving student retention, little work has examined what it takes to start and
maintain these resources on the ground.We leverage data from 17 interviews with pantry
leaders, and social media posts and internal documents, to describe the creation and
institutionalization of the Grove Grocery at the University of Mississippi. Findings confirm the role of collaborative partnerships, the benefits of advisors serving as liaisons between student leaders and administrators, and the challenges of institutionalization within the higher education context, including university hesitancy, reliance on uncompensated student labor, lack of resource awareness, and stigma surrounding food insecurity.
This research examines the predictors of volunteer satisfaction in animal shelters. It assesses the relative importance of volunteer demographics, the attributes of the shelter, and the policies and procedures governing the volunteer experience. Volunteering takes place within organizational contexts creating a dynamic relationship between the individual and the organization. The study compares the importance of volunteer and organizational traits and organizational policies in volunteer satisfaction. Based on a survey of 651 animal shelter volunteers, it concludes that policies and procedures under the control of the organization are most important in contributing to volunteer satisfaction.
Compassion fatigue (CF) is a prevalent issue in both human- and animal-care-related industries and is a concern due to its negative effect on mental health and retainment in the profession. Individuals working in animal shelters are particularly at risk for CF from exposure to euthanasia, abandonment, and cruelty to animals. The effect of CF on animal shelter employees has been well-documented; however, volunteers may also be at risk yet have received relatively little consideration. The aim of the present study was to report the degree to which animal shelter volunteers may experience CF and to identify the personal and organizational factors that are associated with increased levels of it. All shelters in Michigan, USA were invited to participate in this study. Shelters were asked to distribute an online survey to their active volunteers that consisted of questions related to CF, satisfaction with their work, input on euthanasia decisions, relationships between staff and volunteers, type of work performed, time spent volunteering, and a variety of shelter-related and personal characteristics. Volunteers (n = 530) reported varying degrees of CF, with 61% indicating in response to a single question that they were consistently preoccupied with thoughts of animals in their care. A multivariate regression model found that CF was inversely associated with feelings of satisfaction related to their volunteer work (p < 0.0001), but positively associated with time per week spent volunteering (p < 0.001) and gratitude expressed by the shelter (p = 0.003). Finally, volunteers in shelters with lower live release rates and open intake reported increased CF (p < 0.001). Overall, the data suggest that animal shelter volunteers do experience CF, and shelter-level factors may be relatively stronger predictors of it compared with personal factors. These findings may be useful for animal shelters trying to retain volunteers while also ensuring their positive mental health and overall well-being.
Volunteers are a critical resource for many types of organizations and efforts need to be made to ensure they are satisfied with their experience. Using data from an online survey of 651 animal shelter volunteers this research explores the role of volunteer input or “voice” in the policies and practices of organizations, and its impact on satisfaction with the volunteer experience. The findings indicate that volunteers more negative about their opportunities for voice were significantly less satisfied with their experience overall. Further, there appears to be a relationship between the nature of the animal shelter and satisfaction with voice and the volunteering experience. Indeed, internal shelter factors are more important to volunteer satisfaction than the traits of the individual volunteer. Specifically, volunteers are more satisfied with their experience and with the extent of their opportunity for voice if they are at a limited intake shelter with higher save rates. Informed by survey data, this research recommends shelters implement several policies and practices to improve satisfaction with volunteer voice.
Conducting a study on a sample of 303 participants from the Novi Sad Voluntary Service we set out to validate the Volunteer Satisfaction Index (VSI) in the cultural context of the two European titles—Youth 2019 and Culture 2021. A battery of instruments was used for research purposes, Voluntary Satisfaction Inventory, Voluntary Function Inventory and Helping Attitude Scale. Our study is currently the only one in Serbia that evaluated volunteer satisfaction. The results support a volunteer model based on altruistic values, recognized and accepted, identifying volunteer benefits of personal gain and relationship with the organization. Since the Serbian version of the VSI scale was confirmed on the example of the Novi Sad Voluntary Service sample and has shown satisfactory psychometric properties, it can be used f
or the purpose of further monitoring and evaluating volunteer satisfaction, examining other factors on which volunteer satisfaction is based.
Volunteering research has long focused on the characteristics of volunteers and their motivations to highlight what drives them to dedicate their free time to good causes. More recently, researchers have turned their attention toward exploring the management practices that nonprofit organizations can implement to promote volunteers’ motivations and thereby improve their attitudes and performance. Our study contributes to this research by analyzing the extent to which combinations of human resource practices can be leveraged to influence volunteers’ level of engagement in their role. Survey results from 256 volunteers in five different nonprofit organizations in the Netherlands support our hypothesized model. Specifically, high-performance human resource practices are related positively to volunteer engagement, and volunteers’ organizational identification and psychological empowerment can account for a significant portion of variance in this relationship. Implications for research and the professional management of volunteers are discussed.
This study demonstrates the centrality of emotion work, especially sympathizing with beneficiaries of help, to sustaining volunteerism. Drawing on data from in‐depth interviews with 42 volunteers and paid volunteer coordinators, it explains how volunteers cultivate sympathy, and thus commitment to helping, by framing beneficiaries as deserving. Volunteers constructed recipients as “deserving” along three dimensions: neediness, blamelessness, and impressionability. However, challenges to deservingness disrupted sympathizing, thereby undercutting volunteers' commitment. But rather than quit, volunteers were able to salvage beneficiaries' deservingness by pointing to authority, elaborating on victimhood, relating beneficiaries to their family and friends, and universalizing risks. Engaging in emotion work reinvested volunteers in volunteering.
As participatory budgeting (PB) processes proliferate around the globe and within the United States, there remain questions regarding PB’s contested role as an empowering, pro-poor tool for social justice. This analysis of the New York City PB process focuses on the interactions between everyday participants in PB and city agency representatives, the bureaucrats involved in the process. In New York, PB has successfully broadened notions of stakeholdership for many constituents. Still, the agencies’ micropolitical practices—especially regarding contested politics and local versus technical knowledge—help to forward a model of managed participation, sidelining deliberative aspects of the process. Combined with a context of austerity, these practices limit the ability of such participatory institutions to retain volunteer participants, as well as the ability of constituents to substantively shape state priorities.
Volunteers are crucial to the functioning of nonprofit organizations. Thus, researchers in various disciplines investigate volunteer performance, broadly defined as the value of individual volunteers’ activities for the accomplishment of organizational goals. Yet a comprehensive overview is still missing. To structure this fragmented literature, the systematic review presented herein covers the antecedents and dimensions of individual volunteer performance in the light of organizational success discussed in 75 academic articles. With an integrated framework of volunteer performance, derived from theoretical considerations of organizational success and the ability–motivation–opportunity framework, this article suggests a systematic classification of current scientific knowledge about the antecedents and dimensions of volunteer performance. In turn, this review offers two instructive research avenues helping to develop a holistic picture of the antecedents and dimensions of individual volunteer performance. © 2017 International Society for Third-Sector Research and The Johns Hopkins University
This study is aimed to investigate the factors predicting the responses after volunteering activities among corporate volunteers. While positive responses to volunteering are conceptualized as both the degree of satisfaction from volunteering and the perceived contribution of volunteering, negative responses are conceptualized as the degree of burnout. Family supports, the volunteering support system of corporation, various human relations in volunteering sites are selected and empirically tested as variables predicting the differential responses after volunteer activities. Questionnaire data were collected from 250 corporate volunteers and analyzed through hierarchical regression analysis. The results showed that while family supports have no significant effects on volunteering responses, corporate support system of volunteering have significant effects. Additionally, human relations with clients and volunteers managers have strong and positive significant effects on positive responses including the degree of satisfaction and the perceived contribution. However, no significant effect has been found on negative responses represented by burnout. Findings from this study emphasized the importance of human relations management in volunteering sites for corporate and nonprofit volunteer managers to increase the positive response from corporate volunteers.
This chapter provides an overview of the existing research on board governance and internal structures in nonprofit membership associations (cf. Smith 2015a, 2015b). It reviews the various theories that have been proposed to model the governance of membership associations, including agency theory, stewardship theory, stakeholder theory, and resource dependence theory. We distinguish between larger associations with some paid staff and smaller, all-volunteer (grassroots) associations. Empirical research on membership incentives, member participation in governance, and democratic governance structures is discussed. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the most important theoretical and practical implications for governing nonprofit membership associations.
This chapter reviews how interpersonal influences, institutional influences, the volunteer experience, life events, and practical considerations affect starting or stopping formal volunteering. Interpersonal exchanges and relationships affect volunteering by providing an opportunity for people to be asked to volunteer, by providing an incentive to volunteer for organizations that benefit a friend or family member, by providing emotional and practical support for volunteering, and by socializing people into the volunteer role. Institutions directly influence volunteering by actively sponsoring or facilitating participants’ volunteering, socializing people to volunteer, and providing individuals with the skills and resources necessary for volunteering.
This chapter reviews research on leadership and management in three association types — grassroots-local, supralocal all volunteer, and paid-staff associations. Leaders within these associations may include board members and chairs, elected volunteer officers, committee Chairs, informal leaders, and other volunteer and paid-staff leaders. We review research pertaining to entry into leadership, leadership succession, leaders’ characteristics, leadership styles, leaders’ relationships to others (both within and outside the association), leader activities and management processes, and leader quality. Our key conclusion is that successful association leadership is usually very different from successful business, government, or nonprofit agency leadership and management. Associations must focus mainly on leading volunteers, not on managing paid staff, who have very different motivations and incentives. We close with usable knowledge, future trends, and research needed.
The study investigated the factors that could predict cheating of 205 university students in Macao. Personal factors, such as risk-taking and academic self-concept, and contextual factor, such as perceived autonomy support from teachers, were independent variables. Different scales were applied; for example, the cheating scale, the DOSPERT scale, the academic self-concept scale, and the perceived autonomy support scale. Different regression analysis models were run, and results showed that academic self-concept, ethical, and financial risk-taking were found significant in predicting cheating, but ethical and financial risk-taking were found to have more predictive power.
Using data from the European Values Study, this study applies the dominant status model of volunteering introduced by Smith (1994) to explain volunteering in Nordic countries. Consistent with the dominant status model, male gender, being married, and high educational attainment are important predictors of volunteering. However, this study also finds that in Nordic countries, neither income nor employment status has a statistically significant effect on an individual’s decision to volunteer.
To reveal the ameliorative impact of being away from job stressors on burnout, we compared 81 men who were called for active reserve service with 81 matched controls in the same company who were not called during the same period. Each reservist and his control completed questionnaires shortly before the reservist left work for a stint of service and immediately on his return. Analysis of variance detected a significant decline in job stress and burnout among those who served and no change among the control participants. Among those who served, quality of reserve service and degree of psychological detachment from work interacted in moderating the respite effects; the greater the detachment, the stronger the effect positive reserve service experience had in relieving reservists from stress and burnout. Reserve service is discussed as a special case of stress-relieving get-away from work that may be experienced as an ameliorative respite akin to vacation.
Volunteering is any activity in which time is given freely to benefit another person, group or cause. Volunteering is part of a cluster of helping behaviors, entailing more commitment than spontaneous assistance but narrower in scope than the care provided to family and friends. Although developed somewhat independently, the study of volunteerism and of social activism have much in common. Since data gathering on volunteering from national samples began about a quarter of a century ago, the rate for the United States has been stable or, according to some studies, rising slightly. Theories that explain volunteering by pointing to individual attributes can be grouped into those that emphasize motives or self-understandings on the one hand and those that emphasize rational action and cost-bene tit analysis on the other. Other theories seek to complement this focus on individual level factors by pointing to the role of social resources, specifically social ties and organizational activity, as explanations for volunteering. Support is found for all theories, although many issues remained unresolved. Age, gender and race differences in volunteering can be accounted for, in large part, by pointing to differences in self-understandings, human capital, and social resources. Less attention has been paid to contextual effects on volunteering and, while evidence is mixed, the impact of organizational, community, and regional characteristics on individual decisions to volunteer remains a fruitful held for exploration. Studies of the experience of volunteering have only just begun to plot and explain spells of volunteering over the life course and to examine the causes of volunteer turnover. Examining the premise that volunteering is beneficial for the helper as well as the helped, a number of studies have looked at the impact of volunteering on subjective and objective well-being. Positive effects are found for life-satisfaction, self-esteem, self-rated health, and for educational and occupational achievement, functional ability, and mortality. Studies of youth also suggest that volunteering reduces the Likelihood of engaging in problem behaviors such as school truancy and drug abuse.
The article examines the relationship between sex-typing of adult gender roles and children’s chores in Israeli society. Adult gender roles were examined from a general perspective, while children’s chores were examined in five distinctive areas - domestic chores, help with siblings, self-care, outside, and technical chores. The research sample consisted of 238 married and unmarried participants (81 men and 157 women). Specifically, sex-typing of adult gender roles and children’s chores was examined in relation to three sets of background variables: (1) personal background variables (age, religiosity, and ethnicity); (2) education and employment variables (level of education, extent of job position, and earning patterns); and (3) family variables (marital status, length of marriage, number of children, and age of children). The women tended to have less sex-typed attitudes than the men did with regard to children’s chores. However, no differences were found between the genders with regard to sex-typing of adult gender roles. In addition, the married women expressed more sex-typed attitudes toward adult gender roles than did unmarried women, whereas the differences between married and unmarried men were less significant. Among both genders, a correlation was found between sex-typing of adult gender roles and domestic children’s chores.
Volunteers increasingly seek career development over altruistic goals. Studes of volunteers have emphasized professional development, experience, and training; but potentially suffer from reliability and other measurement error. This study presents a new Gullman scale, developed from a survey of 1349 Red Cross volunteers. With a reproducibility coefficient of .93, it displays a high level of reliability. Conforming to the requirements of a scaling model, it has a scalability coefficient of .72. Overall, the scale is a valid model of career development. This Guttman scale could help tie volunteerism into broader theories of behavior, and aid in design and evaluation of programs which more effectively attract volunteers.
The purpose of this pilot study was to examine how the constructs of learned resourcefulness and self-esteem contributed to the experience of global, intimate, and social loneliness among a sample of U.S. ethnic minority college students (N=51) including Hispanics (N=32) and African Americans (N=19). Results of three Multiple Regression Analyses revealed that self-esteem was inversely related to all three types of loneliness (global, intimate, and social), while learned resourcefulness was directly related to intimate loneliness only. Implications for future research are discussed.
Empowerment is an important value orientation and intervention approach in social work and other disciplines. Viewed from an ecological perspective, a good fit between organizational characteristics and the life circumstances of individuals should provide empowerment benefits. By studying interaction effects of material resources and organizational characteristics on empowerment, this research sought to extend understanding of empowerment dynamics in community organizations. Using hierarchical regression analyses to investigate socio-economic status (SES) in a moderator model, findings of the study demonstrated that, among a diverse group of participants in two different faith-based community organizations, perceptions of organizational characteristics were more strongly related to empowerment for participants of lower SES. A substantive implication of the study is that community practitioners should attend to the fit between specific organizational processes and economic circumstances of community based organization participants. Strategies weighted toward attention to relationships among members linked to availability of and participation in a variety of organizational roles may be more salient for empowerment of the disadvantaged. Our findings are consistent with an ecological orientation to empowerment, and they add further support to the importance of ecological specificity in empowerment theory.
The study examines the relationship between husband-wife equality in late adulthood and two dimensions of marital quality: burn-out, and satisfaction with marriage. Husband-wife equality has been examined on the basis of marital power relations and the division of roles in three areas: in-home tasks, financial management, and social life. Equity theory provided the conceptual framework for the hypothesis that equality in various aspects of marriage enhances marital quality. The research sample consisted of 116 retired Israeli couples. Negative correlations were found between equality in family roles and burn-out among both husbands and wives. Surprisingly, equality in the performance of in-home roles correlated positively with burn-out among husbands. Moreover, equality in power relations correlated positively with marital satisfaction among wives. In addition, an interaction was found for wives' perceptions of equality in power relations and their husbands' level of burn-out. State of health correlated negatively with burn-out for both partners. Furthermore, husbands' religiosity explained a substantial percentage of the variance in their level of burn-out and marital satisfaction. On the whole, wives reported a higher level of burn-out and a lower level of marital satisfaction than did their husbands.
Volunteer activity is work performed without monetary recompense. This article shows that volunteering is a sizeable economic activity in the United States, that volunteers have high skills and opportunity costs of time, that standard labor supply explanations of volunteering account for only a minor part of volunteer behavior, and that many volunteer only when requested to do so. This suggests that volunteering is a 'conscience good or activity'--something that people feel morally obligated to do when asked but which they would just as soon let someone else do. Copyright 1997 by University of Chicago Press.
A comprehensive model of intrapersonal empowerment in the workplace posits that empowerment mediates the relationship between the social structural context and behavioral outcomes. The social structural context is operationalized as perceptions of role ambiguity, sociopolitical support, access to strategic information and resources, and work unit culture, whereas behavioral outcomes are operationalized as innovativeness and effectiveness. The model is examined on a sample of 324 middle managers from different units of a Fortune 50 organization. Survey data are examined using a series of regression analyses to assess the mediating effect of intrapersonal. Results suggest that intrapersonal empowerment mediates the relationship between some elements of workplace social structure and innovativeness, but not effectiveness. Although not a mediating mechanism for effectiveness, intrapersonal empowerment is nonetheless directly related to effectiveness (as assessed by the respondent's subordinates). Implications of the results are discussed as are study limitations and directions for future research.
This study examined the role of individual, interpersonal, and organizational factors in mitigating burnout among elderly Chinese volunteers in Hong Kong.
A total of 295 elderly Chinese volunteers were individually interviewed on their demographic characteristics, voluntary service experience, physical health status, general self-efficacy, social support, satisfaction and perceived benefit from volunteer work, and burnout symptoms. Exploratory factor analysis was first performed to determine the underlying dimensions of burnout experience. Correlation analyses were then conducted to explore associations among major variables. Hierarchical regression analyses were also performed to unearth the relative contribution of various factors in predicting burnout among elderly volunteers.
A two-factor structure of burnout, namely lack of personal accomplishment and emotional depletion, was found. Demographics, individual, interpersonal, and organizational factors were significant predictors of lack of personal accomplishment. In particular, personal accomplishment was best predicted by a long duration of voluntary work service and high levels of self-efficacy, work satisfaction, and perceived benefit. For emotional depletion, only demographics and individual factors were significant predictors. A low level of emotional depletion was best predicted by older age, a short duration of voluntary work experience, and good health.
Burnout experience was evident among elderly Chinese volunteers. There were different predictors of affective and cognitive components of burnout. Findings have significant implications to attenuate burnout symptoms among elderly volunteers.
What motivates rescuers?
- E Fogelman
The strain of living poor: Parenting, social support, and child mental health
- V C Mcloyd
- L Wilson
Handbook of stress: Theoretical and clinical aspects
- A M Pines
- Bronfenbrenner, U.