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Voluntary Work and its Benefit at the Workplace: A Study of Employees' Competencies from Volunteering

Authors:
Anna M. Moraß at Munich University of Applied Sciences
Anna M. Moraß
Manuela Sirrenberg at Bayerisches Landesamt für Gesundheit und Lebensmittelsicherheit
Manuela Sirrenberg
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References
Correspondence should be addressed to: Anna.Morass@ku.de; Manuela.Sirrenberg@lgl.bayern.de
Voluntary Work and its Benefit at the Workplace
A Study of Employees’ Competencies from Volunteering
Different competencies like technical and methodical
competencies, social competencies (e.g. communication
skills), and personal competencies (e.g. self-reflection)
can be acquired in volunteering. This depends i.a. on the
area of volunteering (Düx,2006). Most of these
competencies are of value for professional environments
(Hübner,2010). Voluntary work in the workplace, such as
organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB;Organ, 1988),
is also conducive to gainful employment.
§Are competencies acquired in voluntary work conside-
red relevant for a gainful employment?
§Do employees engaged in volunteering show OCB?
Sample:
§175 employed or studying volunteers
§110 women and 63 men with average age of
37.43 years (SD = 14.14 years)
§engaged in different areas of volunteering, the most
part in youth work and education
Online questionnaire with 75 items based on Kauffeld
(2010), Staufenbiel and Hartz (2000) i.a. about:
§the acquisition of methodical competencies, social
competencies and self-competencies in volunteering,
§their professional relevance, and
§the amount of OCB.
4. Conclusion
Düx, W. (2006). „Aber so richtig für das Leben lernt man eher bei der freiwilligen Arbeit“.
In T. Rauschenbach, W. Düx, & E. Sass (Hrsg.), Informelles Lernen im Jugendalter:
Vernachlässigte Dimensionen der Bildungsdebatte (S. 205-240). Weinheim: Juventa.
Hübner, A. (2010). Freiwilliges Engagement als Lern-und Entwicklungsraum: Eine
qualitative empirische Studie im Feld der Stadtranderholungsmaßnahmen.
Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
Kauffeld, S. (2010). KRI Kompetenz-Reflexions-Inventar. In W. Sarges, H. Wottawa, &
C. Roos (Hrsg.), Handbuch wirtschaftspsychologischer Testverfahren: Band II:
Organisationspsychologische Instrumente (S. 201-207). Lengerich: Pabst Science
Publishers.
Organ, D. W. (1988). Organizational citizenship behavior: The good soldier syndrome.
Lexington: Lexington Books D.C. Health and Company.
Staufenbiel, T. & Hartz, C. (2000). Organizational Citizenship Behavior: Entwicklung und
erste Validierung eines Messinstruments. Diagnostica, 46, 73-83.
3. Results
Extracted competencies:
Items of different competency dimensions were clustered
with factor analysis (table 1). The intern consistency
(Cronbach’s Alpha) is ≥ .73.
Table 1. Extracted subscales for each competency dimension.
Professional relevance of competencies acquired in
volunteering:
The results of one-sample-t-tests revealed that all areas
of competencies and the belonging subscales were (also)
acquired in volunteering by the participants. Furthermore,
competencies are relevant for their gainful employment.
All correlations between the acquisition and the
relevance of competencies were positive: r= .19 (p< .05)
until r= .47 (p< .01).
Organizational citizenship behavior:
Via one-sample-t-tests could be shown, that the volun-
teering participants show OCB.It means that they are
wide helpful, conscientious, uncomplicated, proactive and
do work as required.The duration of volunteering
correlates positively with OCB (r= .26,p< .01).
Dimension Subscale
methodical
competency
• problem recognition and problem
solving
•
communication and moderation
•
task coordination and reflection
social competency
self
-competency
•
taking responsibility and initiative
•
self-reflection
1. Background and research questions 2. Methods
Altogether, we highlighted that there are different forms of
benefit for organizations from employees’ volunteering.
On the one hand, acquired competencies are transferred
into gainful employment, which provides a framework for
personnel development. On the other hand, these
employees show a higher OCB. Nevertheless, it should
be mentioned that the results base on self-assessment
and show no causality. In sum, the data indicate that
volunteering could be an important characteristic in
personnel selection and human resource management.
A. M. Morass, Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt, Psychological Assessment and Intervention
M. Sirrenberg, Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Occupational and Environmental Medicine / Epidemiology
... The importance of volunteering as an informal educational activity provides an opportunity for the formation of not only soft, but also professional skills and competences [27]. With the help of volunteering, the formation of several groups of non-formal competences identified by the researchers is available: methodical (problem solving, the ability to communicate and moderation, coordination of tasks and reflection), personal (the ability to take responsibility and show initiative, self-reflection), communicative (oral speech, listening, dissemination of information, use of information technology), organizational (time management, delegation of tasks, recruiting and involvement), interpersonal (the ability to establish and strengthen interpersonal relationships, flexibility) [28]. The specificity of volunteering and its applied nature allow the allocation of special, "volunteer", non-formal competences, which are based on a combination of leadership and analytical thinking [16]. ...
«Non-formal competences» as an independent scientific category: a comparative analysis of approaches to the definition
Article
  • Nov 2021
Problem and goal. Russian and foreign discourse discusses the importance of non-formal competences for successful integration into the labor market, social life, etc. However, despite the popularity of the concept, there is no single definition of what non-formal competences are. The purpose of the study is an analytical review of approaches, methodology and research results, including those carried out using empirical data from different countries, devoted to the formation of non-formal competences. Methodology. The study was carried out by the method of qualitative content analysis of scientific works, methodological and other publications using more than 50 titles of sources and literature on the conceptually similar categories of non-formal competences, in particular, "soft skills", "social skills", "life skills", "corporate competences", etc. Results. The study shows how non-formal competences enhance labor mobility and increase the social activity of an individual. Shown is the ratio of "personal", "social", "life" skills in the model of non-formal competences, specific skills and competences included in the number of non-formal ones. It is noted that an individual with a wide range of non-formal skills will be able to successfully compensate for the lack of formal education due to his experience of self-education, as well as have the effect of increasing through non-formal skills on social and professional capital. Conclusion. In the course of the review study, the main blocks of non-formal competences were highlighted, covered in scientific and practical discourse. The revealed non-formal meta-competences embedded in the lifelong learning model take research to a new level and open up wide opportunities for further study.
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