Volunteer’s motives and subjective well-being

Abstract

Previous research has analysed the role of volunteers’ motives on the time of permanence in the organization. The findings had shown that self-oriented motivations were more important than other oriented motivations. In this study, the main objective was to analyse the motives associated to the permanence in the voluntary service, as well as the volunteer’s subjective well-being. 153 volunteers (mean age: 36.20) completed a list about initial motives for volunteering and measures of life satisfaction, happiness, and positive and negative emotions. The time of permanence was associated to the desire of doing something useful, being at peace with themselves, moral obligation, request of the organization, previous experiences and self-actualization. Relationships between motives and subjective well-being varied in each indicator. Happiness was associated to the request of the organization, and negative emotions were related to previous private experiences. Relationships between motives of volunteering, life satisfaction and positive emotions were not found.