Exploring the value of organizational support, engagement, and psychological wellbeing in the volunteer context

Abstract

In Australia, young adults are more likely to experience psychological distress than other age-groups. Accordingly, volunteer work engagement may act as an important tool for supporting psychological wellbeing. The present study relies on the job demands–resources model and self-determination theory to help understand the negative consequences of high work demands and the importance of effective organizational support to enhance positive mental health outcomes. To address research gaps, the current study explores these concepts for the young adulthood cohort in not-for-profit organizations. The study aims to explore the relationship between psychological wellbeing, volunteer work engagement, and perceived organizational support. The study used a quantitative, cross-lagged, longitudinal method for collecting data from two online surveys completed 4 weeks apart. The inclusion criteria of participants were volunteers who worked a minimum of 4 h a month (on average), resided in Australia, and were between 19 and 40 years old (N = 202). The main study findings were that perceived organizational support mediated the relationship between psychological wellbeing at time point 1 and volunteer engagement at time point 2. However, perceived organizational support did not mediate volunteer engagement at time point 1 and psychological wellbeing at time point 2. There were no bidirectional effects between volunteer engagement and psychological wellbeing. The findings contributed to the existing literature, suggesting there are overlaps between support mechanisms and motivation between paid and unpaid work. The practical implications for not-for-profit organizations are the importance of providing organizational support for young adult volunteers to improve wellbeing outcomes. Limitations and future study recommendations are presented.

Volunteering on Heritage at Risk sites and wellbeing: A qualitative interview study

“…Their findings suggested that organisations may need to provide greater resources to support volunteer work engagement and wellbeing in younger adults. 37 These findings may be useful for not‐for‐profit organisations on advising how to develop better recruitment and volunteer retention strategies for younger or unrepresented adults.…”

“…Dekel et al 37 suggested that future research needs to include a range of measures that capture the motivational and behavioural factors in younger people, such as self‐reported measures of volunteer engagement, psychological wellbeing and perceived organisational support. Their findings suggested that organisations may need to provide greater resources to support volunteer work engagement and wellbeing in younger adults 37 . These findings may be useful for not‐for‐profit organisations on advising how to develop better recruitment and volunteer retention strategies for younger or unrepresented adults.…”

Transformational Leadership and Employees’ Psychological Wellbeing: A Longitudinal Study

“…The JD-R model [9] is widely used by researchers (e.g., [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]) and has helped eliminate some of the limitations of previous theoretical models (e.g., Karasek's job-demand-control model [20]) [21]. The authors of a meta-analytic review based on longitudinal studies concluded that the JD-R model provides a valuable theoretical framework regarding employees' wellbeing [22].…”