A multi-variable model for explaining long-term commitment to volunteering among COVID-19 volunteers.

Abstract

The aim of the study was to test variables that explain long‐term commitment to volunteering among volunteers in the first wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic in Israel. Long‐term commitment to volunteering was tested by the participants’ evaluation of the stability, consistency, and intensity of their volunteering over time. Two theoretical frameworks served for explaining commitment to volunteering: the social‐structural approach and the psychological characteristics approach. The sample was comprised of 504 Jewish participants: 173 men and 331 women. The data were collected via structured questionnaires distributed by nonprofit volunteer organizations. The most significant contribution to explaining long‐term commitment to volunteering, in all its forms, was for psychological characteristics reflected in emotions during the pandemic and in the motives for volunteering, the volunteer's gender, level of education, and tendency to volunteer during routine times. Volunteer organizations should focus on cultivating a large and motivated population of volunteers to maintain long‐term volunteering during emergencies and in routine times.