PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how the perceived benefits and costs of volunteering affect participation. Based on this rational choice approach, the research tests a multivariate model of the determinants of volunteering.Design/methodology/approachThe database for the empirical analysis is the 2005 Americans' Time Use Survey. To estimate the model of participation in volunteer activity, this research uses the complementary log‐log technique.FindingsThe findings support the central hypothesis that participation in volunteering decreases as the opportunity cost of volunteer activity increases. In addition, participation in volunteering increases as people perceive themselves as more embedded in their communities, thus suggesting that rational individuals make strategic assessments in their decisions to volunteer based on the level of trust in the exchange relationship.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings suggest that policies that promote a sense of embeddedness in the community, as well as those that link the workplace and volunteer opportunities, would help motivate rational individuals to volunteer. In‐depth interviews to ascertain people's motivations to volunteer would be useful to supplement the findings.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that policies that promote a sense of embeddedness in the community, as well as those that link the workplace and volunteer opportunities, would help motivate rational individuals to volunteer.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the understanding of volunteer behavior as a rational choice in an exchange relationship. Based on these findings, this research argues that policies that promote a sense of community embeddedness as well as those that link the workplace and volunteer opportunities, help motivate rational individuals to volunteer.

This study examines the relationship between a person's social media capital and civic engagement, focusing on the networks formed via two social network sites (SNSs) of Facebook and Twitter. The analysis of the survey data on young people's social media use and civic engagement in the U.S. shows that, although all three types of online social ties (Facebook Friends, Twitter followers, and people one follows on Twitter) are positively associated with civic engagement, there are differences across the different types of connections. The findings reveal that Twitter social capital is more strongly associated with participation in political organizations while Facebook social capital is more strongly associated with participation in non-political charitable organizations. Between Twitter followers and following, the number of people one follows is more strongly associated with participation in both types of organizations than the number of one's followers. These findings suggest that nonprofit managers take a platform-specific approach when using social media for marketing and stakeholder involvement.

The younger generation’s widespread use of online social network sites has raised concerns and debates about social network sites’ influence on this generation’s civic engagement, whether these sites undermine or promote prosocial behaviors. This study empirically examines how millennials’ social network site usage relates to volunteering, using the 2013 data of the Minnesota Adolescent Community Cohort Study. The findings reveal a positive association between a moderate level of Facebook use and volunteering, although heavy users are not more likely to volunteer than nonusers. This bell-shaped relationship between Facebook use and volunteering contrasts with the direct correlation between participation in off-line associational activities and volunteering. Overall, the findings suggest that it is natural to get mixed messages about social network sites’ impacts on civic engagement, and these platforms can be useful tools for getting the word out and recruiting episodic volunteers.

Despite the ever-increasing smartphone addiction of adolescents and a variety of consequent problems not much research has been conducted on the issue. It is time to prepare a set of countermeasures to protect them from the addiction. The central purpose of the current paper is to identify how use motives, self-control and social withdrawal affect their smartphone addiction. It was found (i) that the motives of information acquisition, social relationship, amusement and use of leisure time exert significant influence on smartphone addiction, (ii) that less self-control and greater impulsiveness result in greater addiction, and (iii) that social withdrawal of users also have significant effect on smartphone addiction. Such findings are expected to provide base data for any attempt to develop countermeasures against addiction. It is desirable that we had better check the play activities of adolescents and develop self-control programs to help them alleviate impulsiveness than simply impose strict restrictions on the use of smartphones.

Facing the potential leadership deficit and mounting pressures for performance and accountability, government and nonprofit organizations have become more interested in providing training and development programs for their executives. However, existing research falls short in explaining the utility of managerial development programs in achieving performance and accountability in public and nonprofit contexts. This study examines how executives’ participation in various managerial development programs is associated with the adoption of organizational practices for financial, client-service, and performance accountability, using a survey of nonprofit human services organizations. The results reveal that organizations whose executives participated in managerial development programs are more likely to have such practices. In particular, the results show that participation in general management and administration training and regular mentoring is positively associated with accountability practices in all three areas. Overall, the findings suggest that providing incumbent executives with training and development opportunities is as important as recruiting qualified individuals in ensuring organizational accountability and performance.