Supposeyoubecomealeaderinanorganization.It'sverylikelythatyou'llwanttohavevolunteerstohelpwiththeorganization'sactivities.Todosoitshouldhelptounderstandwhypeopleundertakevolunteerworkandwhatkeepstheirinterestinthework.
Let’sbeginwiththequestionofwhypeoplevolunteer.Researchershaveidentifiedseveralfactorsthatmotivatepeopletogetinvolved.Forexamplepeoplevolunteertoexpresspersonalvaluesrelatedtounselfishnesstoexpandtheirrangeofexperiencesandtostrengthensocialrelationships.Ifvolunteerpositionsdonotmeettheseneedspeoplemaynotwishtoparticipate.Toselectvolunteersyoumayneedtounderstandthemotivationsofthepeopleyouwishtoattract.
Peoplealsovolunteerbecausetheyarerequiredtodoso.Toincreaselevelsofcommunityservicesomeschoolshavelaunchedcompulsoryvolunteerprograms.Unfortunatelytheseprogramscanshiftpeople'swishofparticipationfromaninternalfactor(e.g.“Ivolunteerbecauseit'simportanttome”)toanexternalfactor(e.g.“IvolunteerbecauseI'mrequiredtodoso”).Whenthathappenspeoplebecomelesslikelytovolunteerinthefuture.Peoplemustbesensitivetothispossibilitywhentheymakevolunteeractivitiesamust.
Oncepeoplebegintovolunteerwhatleadsthemtoremainintheirpositionsovertime?Toanswerthisquestionresearchershaveconductedfollow-upstudiesinwhichtheytrackvolunteersovertime.Forinstanceonestudyfollowed238volunteersinFloridaoverayear.Oneofthemostimportantfactorsthatinfluencedtheirsatisfactionasvolunteerswastheamountofsufferingtheyexperiencedintheirvolunteerpositions.Althoughthisresultmaynotsurpriseyouitleadstoimportantpracticaladvice.Theresearchersnotethatattentionshouldbegivento“trainingmethodsthatwouldpreparevolunteersfortroublesomesituationsorprovidethemwithstrategiesforcopingwiththeproblemtheydoexperience”.
Anotherstudyof302volunteersathospitalsinChicagofocusedonindividualdifferencesinthedegreetowhichpeopleview“volunteer”asanimportantsocialrole.Itwasassumedthatthosepeopleforwhomtheroleofvolunteerwasmostpartoftheirpersonalidentitywouldalsobemostlikelytocontinuevolunteerwork.