Abstract
ABSTRACT Purpose: This paper aims to understand the motivations involved in volunteer tourism activities and the meaning of the experience to the volunteers in a post-modern context. Originality/value: Volunteer tourism is a response to the socioeconomic transformations of the 21st century. It is related to the contemporary search for meaning in the spheres of life and work. In this sense, the study proposes a new reflexive approach to the work debate, integrating issues involving the mobilization of subjectivity and post-modern perspectives. Design/method/approach: This study is a qualitative investigation with results collected through semi-structured interviews. Content analysis was used to analyze the transcripts. Findings: The participants are individuals who travel abroad seeking a meaningful tourist experience. As consumers, they welcome life experiences that represent particular aspects of their own identity, while also looking for ways to lend added value to their careers and increase their employability. The volunteer tourism industry mobilizes the production and consumption of such subjectivities, which are related to the search for meaning in the post-modern era. Self-realization, intercultural encounters, and a different perspective on reality are some outcomes of this activity. The meaning of work is itself now a merchandising instrument.
Highlights
Postmodern life presents a range of significant issues that affect many social spheres, such as impermanence, unstable relationships, dilution of traditional beliefs and values, weakening of religious and sacred aspects, and difficulties in maintaining bonds (Bauman, 2009; Freitas, 2000)
This paper aims to understand the motivations involved in volunteer tourism activities and the meaning of the experience to the volunteers in a post-modern context
This perspective considers that working life is inherent to the proper concept of volunteer tourism, because it is realized during a period of vacation when people escape their daily job routines (Wearing, 2001)
Summary
Postmodern life presents a range of significant issues that affect many social spheres, such as impermanence, unstable relationships, dilution of traditional beliefs and values, weakening of religious and sacred aspects, and difficulties in maintaining bonds (Bauman, 2009; Freitas, 2000). In this increasingly complex, mutable, and unpredictable environment, there are no more guarantees. Volunteer tourism has a different nature from the traditional touristic activities It involves situations in which the consumer faces an uncomfortable reality by experiencing life in a community living in poverty abroad. The methodological path and the main findings of the study are presented, concluding with the discussion
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