What motivates individuals to participate in employee volunteering programs?

Abstract

Employee volunteering programs are unique among other corporate social responsibility initiatives as their success entirely depends on the decisions of individual employees. Yet little research has examined when and why employees participate. Integrating a motivational perspective on volunteering with theories in boundary management, cognition, institutional theory, and behavioral reasoning theory, I introduce a model that explains how individuals' boundary management preferences, the type of volunteering programs offered, perceived interpersonal expectation on volunteering roles or organizational culture, and the content of reasons for volunteering given by the corporation are likely to influence employees' decisions to volunteer. I propose that individuals are more likely to volunteer when they prefer integration of their work and volunteer roles, perceive that programs align with their boundary management preferences and/or functional motives, perceived interpersonal expectations for volunteering at wo...