More is less? The volunteer stewardship framework and models

Abstract

Scholars have devoted substantial attention to developing conditional models of volunteer administration and management, but no consensus surrounds the criteria underlying the different models or the rationale. The literature reveals a welter of possibilities but no clear choice. This study conceives the primary managerial challenges as securing access to and guiding volunteer energy into productive volunteering, and the volunteer administrator as the central actor in this process. Based on how volunteers are accessed and guided in their roles, we develop the Volunteer Stewardship Framework, which distinguishes volunteer administration according to two key dimensions: organizational access to volunteer energy (private resource vs. common pool) and guidance of volunteers (unitary vs. shared). Results of a survey of volunteer administration practitioners in the Netherlands show that respondents working under the four models emanating from the Framework recognize different elements of volunteer administration as “Very Important.”

Designing “National Day of Service” Projects to Promote Volunteer Job Satisfaction

“…Mounting evidence suggests that different styles of volunteering require different management strategies (Brudney et al, 2019;Brudney & Meijs, 2014;Studer & von Schnurbein, 2013). A comprehensive review of the volunteer administration literature demonstrates that successful volunteer management entails aligning organizational settings to volunteers' needs (Studer & von Schnurbein, 2013).…”

The belonging model of trust

“…Nonetheless, our belonging model of trust is novel, and our results may be further generalized. As previously mentioned, perceptions of belonging are not exclusive to employees (e.g., Lapalme et al, ), and nonprofit organizations frequently engage external stakeholders (e.g., Hoefer & Twis, ), collaborators (e.g., Kim & Peng, ), donors (e.g., James, ), and volunteers (e.g., Brudney, Meijs, & van Overbeeke, forthcoming) in an intimate manner. It is possible that perceptions of belonging and trust are similarly important for these nonemployee groups.…”

Enhancing volunteers capacity in all‐volunteer nonprofit organizations: The role of volunteer leaders' reliance on effective management processes and (de)motivating leadership

“…To this end, it is important that volunteer leaders adjust these practices to the specific all‐volunteer nonprofit context. Many studies emphasized hereby the importance of applying traditional human resources practices such as effective recruitment and selection (Alfes et al, 2017; Hager & Brudney, 2011), training and development (Alfes et al, 2017; Cuskelly, Taylor, Hoye, & Darcy, 2006; Walk, Zhang, & Littlepage, 2019), and recognition of volunteers (Alfes et al, 2017; Cuskelly et al, 2006; Walk et al, 2019), or more up‐to‐date approaches including the Volunteer Stewardship Framework (see the recent study of Brudney, Meijs, & van Overbeeke, 2019).…”