Motivations to volunteer: The role of altruism

The purpose of this paper is to identify the different types of motivations in hospital volunteers. We present a literature review about different types of motivation and we collect data from hospital volunteers through a questionnaire. Four different motivation categories are identified: development and learning, altruism, career recognition and belonging and protection. The main motivations expressed are development and learning, followed by altruism. Belonging and protection, followed by career recognition are the least cited motivations. Career recognition is negatively correlated with age, and belonging/ protection is negatively correlated with education. That is, younger volunteers present more career recognition motives and less educated volunteers have more from protection and belonging. This study encompasses hospital volunteers and their motivations. The paper is useful to policy makers aiming to develop targeted approaches to attracting and retaining volunteers.

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Motivationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Motivation among hospital volunteers: an empirical analysis in Portugal

Ferreira

Proença

2012

“…By asking participants to rate the distress felt for the person being interviewed, Batson et al (1997) found that imagining how a person in need felt evoked relatively pure empathic emotion, which suggested altruistic motivation to help another person. Likewise, Burns et al (2006) suggested that altruism appeared to be a strong motivator of volunteerism among young people.…”

Section: Conceptual Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 97%

A structural equation modeling study of helping behaviour from the perspective of person-by-situation design and feelings

Guo

Huynh

Bhatnagar

et al. 2011

The existing literature has identified that empathic concern for another person who is in need can induce helping behaviour. However, as people may experience more than one feeling in a given helping situation, it is possible that other feelings (e.g., pride or guilt) may also elicit helping behaviour. From the perspective of person-by-situation design, the present study shows that empathic concern, which predicted helping behaviour, was positively correlated with both the cost of the situation and dispositional empathy. In addition, the analysis of structural equation modeling (SEM) shows that negative feeling anticipated as a result of not helping (i.e., guilt) and positive feeling anticipated as a result of helping (i.e., pride) also played a mediating role in forming helping behaviour. In the total sample, negative feeling anticipated as a result of no helping was correlated with both the cost situations and dispositional empathy while positive feeling anticipated as a result of helping was only correlated with dispositional empathy. In addition, both types of feelings were correlated with dispositional empathy in the sub-sample for low-cost situation but not in the high-cost counterpart.Keywords Empathic concern . Positive feelings as a result of helping . Negative feelings as a result of not helping . Empathy . Latent-variable modeling Int Rev Public Nonprofit Mark (2011) 8:131-148

“…The general motivation to volunteer has been investigated in several studies. These studies showed that people volunteer because of altruistic or egoistic motives, e.g., helping others or achieving goals (Cnaan and Goldberg-Glen 1991;Clary et al 1996;Thoits and Hewitt 2001;Peterson 2004;Burns et al 2006;Pajo and Lee 2011;Ferreira et al 2012;Do Paço et al 2013;Vázquez et al 2015). Further motives included personal dispositions, such as empathy or prosocial attitudes (Clary et al 1998;Davis et al 1999;Penner 2002;Hustinx and Lammertyn 2003;Peloza and Hassay 2006).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Good deeds revisited: motivation and boundary spanning in formal volunteering

Rombach

Kang

Bitsch

2018

The study investigates the motivation of volunteers to serve at the Federal Association of German Food Banks and volunteers' interactions with food donors, food pantry managers and users. Social exchange theory is used as a frame to investigate volunteers' interactions in the context of boundary spanning. Twenty in-depth interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed through qualitative content analysis. Volunteers are predominantly socially motivated to work at the German Food Bank, but this is not necessarily reflected all their interactions with food pantry users. Even though the authority in these interactions rests with the volunteers, they still feel uncomfortable in some interactions. Volunteers' interactions with managers are essential, because managers tell volunteers, which tasks to carry out in which manner. But the volunteers do not necessarily respect the instructions in all cases. The interaction with food donors are negatively affected through a mismatch in the perception of authority within the collaboration. In some interactions, both parties believe they have authority within the interaction, even though they are rather equal partners. The study provides best practice recommendations on how to train volunteers to avoid interaction problems with food pantry users and donors.