THE ROLE OF SOCIAL FACTORS IN MANAGEMENT OF STUDENT VOLUNTEERING

Abstract

The managerial aspects of studying factors of student volunteering are considered in this article. The role of analyzing factors of volunteering (individual, motivational, contextual etc.) allows for enhancing quality of volunteers’ work, and attracting new members in volunteer organizations. The specific of organization of volunteering at the university is engagement of this activity in the processes of education and upbringing. In this research, two methods were used: student survey and semi-formalized interviews with the representatives of volunteer center of Udmurt State University. For the analysis of factors of volunteering, three groups of factors were chosen: factors of social status (gender, year of study, level of study); socio-psychological characteristics (altruism, collectivism), and social factors (having volunteers among relatives and friends, social activity, previous experience of volunteering). The analysis has demonstrated that students’ social characteristics do not significantly correlate with volunteering. Among socio-psychological factors, the altruism was the most significant. As the social factor, the social activity in different spheres of student life, and previous experience of volunteering were important correlates of volunteering. Stimulation of volunteering must be connected with other forms of student activity: education, research, and development, and with preparation for the future job.