The Costs and Benefits of Volunteering Programs in the Public Sector: A Longitudinal Study of Municipal Governments

Abstract

Public sector volunteering is an increasingly common phenomenon that has attracted public administration scholars’ attention for several decades. Previous literature suggests that one of the main advantages of citizen involvement in public service delivery is related to subsequent cost savings. However, a lack of longitudinal data has limited our ability to test this proposition and constrained our understanding of the subject. The main goal of this study is to fill this lacuna and analyze the relationship between volunteering and the level of spending as well as the number of paid employees in city governments across 10 years. The empirical findings indicate that volunteer involvement is indeed significantly and negatively associated with the level of spending and the number of paid employees, with the number of services unaffected. The cost savings, however, may come with delays most likely because it takes time and resources to properly train volunteers. This may also drive up administrative costs.