The Influence of Past Experiences on the Motivation of Adult Volunteers

Marcus Eason,John C Ricketts,A Christian Morgan,Dennis W Duncan

doi:10.5195/jyd.2011.198

Abstract

From its’ conception, 4-H has encouraged volunteerism and utilized volunteers to accomplish its’ mission - to assist youth in acquiring knowledge, developing life skills, and forming attitudes that will enable them to become self-directing, productive and contributing members of society. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the factors that motivated [state] 4-H camp volunteers to volunteer with 4-H youth. The Volunteer Functions Inventory was used as the theoretical base for this study. The Values construct (M=3.68) of the VFI was the highest motivating factor of adult 4-H volunteers. The Understanding construct (M=3.39) ranked the second highest motivational factor in volunteerism followed by Social construct (M=3.28), the Enhancement construct (M = 3.05) and the Protective construct (M=2.78). The Career construct (M=2.61) was the least motivating factor to adult volunteers. It was also found that participants that were not involved with 4-H as a youth volunteered more days per year than did participants who were former 4-H members.

Highlights

The vision of National 4-H is to “connect young people with caring adults leading to positive outcomes for youth” (National 4-H Headquarters, 2007, p.3)
Research conducted by Pennington and Edwards (2006) compared 4-H with other youth development organizations and addressed two specific questions – (1) Does 4-H make an impact on the civic engagement of adults? (2) Do former 4-H members view the impact as being greater than that of other programming? The study was based on a population sample of 356 former Oklahoma 4-H Key Club members
Individuals serve as 4-H adult volunteers for many reasons, but a major driving force behind 4-H volunteerism is that adult volunteers view the 4-H club as a credible, worthwhile, useful, and beneficial organization through which they enjoy making a difference in the lives of youth and receive satisfaction by helping others and becoming a part of the 4-H family (White & Arnold, 2003; Culp, 1997)

Summary

Introduction

The vision of National 4-H is to “connect young people with caring adults leading to positive outcomes for youth” (National 4-H Headquarters, 2007, p.3). A number of studies have been conducted to determine if participation in 4-H as youth effect member’s volunteerism tendencies as adults (Ladewig & Thomas, 1987; Maass, Wilken, Jordan, Culen, & Place, 2006; Pennington & Edwards, 2006). Wilken, Jordan, Culen, & Place (2006) surveyed 223 Oklahoma 4-H alumni to determine how they attribute their life skills to membership in 4-H and other youth development organizations. Individuals serve as 4-H adult volunteers for many reasons, but a major driving force behind 4-H volunteerism is that adult volunteers view the 4-H club as a credible, worthwhile, useful, and beneficial organization through which they enjoy making a difference in the lives of youth and receive satisfaction by helping others and becoming a part of the 4-H family (White & Arnold, 2003; Culp, 1997)

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