Just another Society for Advancement of Management Chapter Sites site
SAM ADVANCED MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
Volunteering Motivation Among College Students
Michele Van Volkom and Janice C. Stapley
DOI:
Citation: Van Volkom, M., & Stapley, J.C. (2022). Volunteering motivation among college students. SAM Advanced Management Journal, 87(2),17-26.
Abstract
The purpose of the current studies was to examine the effect of benefits (social, career, or no benefit/control) of volunteering for a fictitious organization on likelihood to volunteer. A secondary purpose was to examine which, if any, demographic factors (e.g., gender, year in school) affected volunteer motivation. Study 1 had 134 college students view one of three flyers, containing one of the benefits of volunteering, and depicting an opportunity to work with children. Study 2 had 112 college students view one of the three benefits on a flyer about an opportunity to work with older adults. In both studies, likelihood to volunteer, hours willing to volunteer, and number of volunteer recruitment flyers willing to take to pass out to friends was assessed. In addition to providing demographic information, participants also completed the Volunteer Functions Inventory (Clary et al., 1998) which assessed six volunteer motivations: values, career, protective, enhancement, understanding, and social. Demographic effects on volunteer motivation were found, including numerous gender differences. In both studies, women were more likely to volunteer and willing to devote more hours to the organization than men. Viewing a social benefit to volunteering led to significantly more hours of volunteer commitment than viewing a career benefit in both studies. Implications of the findings for volunteer recruiters, as well as future research directions, are discussed.
References
Burns, D. J., Reid, J., Toncar, M., Anderson, C., & Wells, C. (2008). The effect of gender on the motivation of members of generation Y college students to volunteer. Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 19(1), 99–118. https://doi.org/10.1300/j054v19n01_05
Clary, E. G., & Snyder, M. (1999). The motivations to volunteer. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8(5), 156–159. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.00037
Clary, E. G., Snyder, M., Ridge, R. D., Copeland, J., Stukas, A. A., Haugen, J., & Miene, P. (1998). Understanding and assessing the motivations of volunteers: A functional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(6), 1516–1530. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.74.6.1516
Clerkin, R. M., Paynter, S. R., & Taylor, J. K. (2008). Public service motivation in undergraduate giving and. The American Review of Public Administration, 39(6), 675–698. https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074008327512
Darley, J. M., & Batson, C. D. (1973). “From Jerusalem to Jericho”: A study of situational and dispositional variables in helping behavior.. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 27(1), 100–108. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0034449
Finkelstein, M. A. (2010). Individualism/collectivism: ImplicatIons for the volunteer process. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 38(4), 445–452. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2010.38.4.445
Houle, B. J., Sagarin, B. J., & Kaplan, M. F. (2005). A functional approach to volunteerism: Do volunteer motives predict task preference? Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 27(4), 337–344. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15324834basp2704_6
Jones, J. A., Giles, E., & Carroll, E. (2019). Student volunteers in a college town: Burden or lifeblood for the voluntary sector? Journal of Service-Learning in Higher Education, 9, 1–20.
Lin, C. (2017). The relationship between deliberative belief, critical thinking and college students’ engagement attitudes in volunteering. College Student Journal, 51(4), 511–517.
Littlepage, L., Gazley, B., & Bennett, T. A. (2012). Service learning from the supply side: Community capacity to engage students. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 22(3), 305–320. https://doi.org/10.1002/nml.20056
McDougle, L. M., Greenspan, I., & Handy, F. (2011). Generation green: Understanding the motivations and mechanisms influencing young adults’ environmental volunteering. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 16(4), 325–341. https://doi.org/10.1002/nvsm.431
Moore, E. W., Warta, S., & Erichsen, K. (2014). College students’ volunteering: Factors related to current volunteering, volunteer setting, and motives for volunteering. College Student Journal, 48(3), 386–396.
Okun, M. A., & Schultz, A. (2003). Age and motives for volunteering: Testing hypotheses derived from socioemotional selectivity theory. Psychology and Aging, 18(2), 231–239. https://doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.18.2.231
Phillips, L. C., & Phillips, M. H. (2010). Volunteer motivation and reward preference: An empirical study of volunteerism in a large, not-for-profit organization. SAM Advanced Management Journal, 75, 12–39.
Shields, P. O. (2009). Young adult volunteers: Recruitment appeals and other marketing considerations. Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 21(2), 139–159. https://doi.org/10.1080/10495140802528658
Stukas, A. A., Snyder, M., & Clary, E. G. (1999). The effects of “mandatory volunteerism” on intentions to volunteer. Psychological Science, 10(1), 59–64. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00107
Stukas, A. A., Snyder, M., & Clary, E. G. (2016). Understanding and encouraging volunteerism and community involvement. The Journal of Social Psychology, 156(3), 243–255. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2016.1153328
Vecina, M. L., & Fernando, C. (2013). Volunteering and well-being: Is pleasure-based rather than pressure-based prosocial motivation that which is related to positive effects? Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 43(4), 870–878. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12012