Sustaining emergency volunteer workforces: Exploring the interplay between leader behaviour and volunteer satisfaction

Abstract

Disaster response and community resilience depend on the service of emergency volunteers, particularly those who fulfil roles that entail long-term and consistent time commitment. Given the critical role emergency volunteers play, it is vital to understand how to improve their satisfaction and commitment to continue volunteering. This paper explores the relationships between four different types of leader behaviour (task, relations, change-oriented, and external) and volunteer satisfaction and organisational commitment within the emergency volunteering context. Adopting a mixed-methods approach, we analysed 431 survey responses using structural equation modelling, followed by an analysis of more than 200 free-text responses. Somewhat surprising given extant leadership literature, our findings indicate that external leader behaviour is the only variable that is significantly related, both directly and indirectly, to volunteers’ organisational commitment through the mediation of volunteer satisfaction. Moreover, volunteer satisfaction fully mediates the relationship between task-oriented leader behaviour and organisational commitment. Despite the primary influence of external and task-oriented behaviours, qualitative responses regarding good leadership reveal that aspects of relations- and change-oriented behaviours are also valued. The triangulation of quantitative and qualitative findings highlights a broad spectrum of leader behaviours that are crucial in enhancing the satisfaction and commitment of emergency volunteers. This study offers implications for both research and practice across Australian and international contexts, underscoring the multifaceted functions of volunteer leadership.