Why Be a TreeKeeper? Connecting Involvement to Volunteer Characteristics and Motivations

The study aimed to: Identify the level of the motives of rural volunteers (Preventive, Values, Functional, Social interaction, Understanding, Progress and success) for institutional volunteer work, Test the significance of differences in the motives of rural volunteers for institutional volunteer work according to the gender variable, Identify the most important obstacles (personal, social and cultural, financial, administrative and organizational, and legislative) that hinder institutional volunteer work from the point of view of the researched, And to identify the most important suggestions for activating institutional volunteer work from the point of view of the researched. The study was conducted using the social survey method, and were selected Resala Charity Organization Branch, and Resala Charity Organization Negm Branch by the simple random sampling method. The sample size of the volunteers reached 130 volunteers in the two societies, including 90 volunteers in Belbeis branch, 40 volunteers in Deirb Negm branch. Data were collected by using an electronic questionnaire via Google Forms during the period from the beginning of August until end September 2020. Data were analyzed and presented using frequencies and percentages, mean, weighted average, Cronbach's Alpha coefficient, T-test. The results showed that the motivations of the volunteers' in descending order according to the weighted average is: Values Motives, protective motives, social interaction motives, understanding motives, success and progress motives, and functional motives, where the weighted average value was 61.3, 57, 53.5, 50, 45 and 30.2 respectively. Also the result showed significant differences at the level of 0.01 in each of the social interaction motives, the preventive motives of rural volunteers for institutional volunteer work for the benefit of the female with the highest mean of 30.45 and 30.21, respectively. Also the results indicated that the order of the obstacles that hinder institutional volunteer work from the viewpoint of the rural volunteers is: Financial obstacles, Social and cultural obstacles, legislative obstacles, administrative and organizational obstacles, and personal obstacles, where the weighted average value was 275.6, 269.4, 268.6, 249.6, and 245.6, respectively.

The influence of motives for volunteering on frequency of volunteering by elders was examined. A secondary analysis was conducted on data from the Marriott Seniors Volunteerism Study. It was hypothesized that the number of major motives for volunteering would be positively related to frequency of volunteering. Contrary to the hypothesis, a stepwise logistic regression analysis revealed that specific motives for volunteering—to feel useful or productive and to fulfill a moral obligation—were significant predictors of frequency of volunteering. Each increment on the motives for volunteering scale (from 0 to 2) multiplied the odds of volunteering 2 or more times a month by 2.11 for feeling useful or productive and by 1.38 for fulfilling a moral obligation. It was suggested that some older adults use frequent volunteering as a strategy to sustain their self-esteem.

BackgroundOne factor that influences nursing students' decision to engage in volunteer activities is volunteer motivation. It is important to understand the motivations of nursing students to volunteer. However, the majority of current studies have concentrated on the present level of nursing students' motivation to volunteer.ObjectivesTo identify subgroups of nursing students' volunteer motivation and its influential factors.MethodsFrom January to February 2022, a cross-sectional online study was conducted, and 2569 nursing students from 10 provinces in China were recruited. Participants completed the General Information Questionnaire, Volunteer Functional Inventory (VFI), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS). We explore the categories and characteristics of volunteer motivation using latent profile analysis. Then, we determined factors that affect undergraduate nursing students' volunteer motivation using multinomial logistic regression.ResultsThe volunteer motivation score of the nursing students was 77.65 (15.22). The study found that volunteer motivation could be divided into three categories: low-low protective volunteer motivation group (9.3%), general-high career values volunteer motivation group (37.5%), and high volunteer motivation group (53.2%). Perceived social support scale score, perceived stress scale score, gender, and grade significantly influenced the volunteer motivation of nursing students in different categories (both P < 0.05). Women were more likely to have higher motivation to volunteer than men, and fourth-year nursing students were more likely to be in general-high career values volunteer motivation group.ConclusionsThe study highlights the significant heterogeneity in volunteer motivation among nursing students. Higher volunteer motivation was associated with higher perceived social support and lower perceived stress. In addition, gender and academic year were significant influencing factors. Nursing educators should develop targeted volunteer management plans based on the typological characteristics of the population to motivate nursing students to volunteer and promote the development of individual physical and mental health and social well-being.Trial registrationThe survey was approved by the Biomedical Ethics Committee of the Department of Medicine, Xi’an Jiaotong University (No. 2022–0006).

Sport participation and volunteering can make important contributions to good health. Sporting organisations need volunteers to deliver their participation opportunities and for many years the sector has faced challenges to volunteer recruitment and retention, especially due to the increased bureaucratic and compliance demands in operating community sports clubs. As sporting organisations pivot to adapt to COVID-safe sport we can learn about their experiences to inform volunteer recruitment and retention policies and practices. This research examined volunteer intentions and motivations in coaching and officiating in basketball and explored factors influencing their decision to return to COVID-safe basketball. Data was collected via an online survey that drew on theoretical frameworks of volunteer motivations (i.e. modified Volunteer Functions Inventory VFI) in sport as well as sport policies related to COVID-safe guidelines for return to sport. Data was collected in Victoria Australia during July 2020 before basketball had the chance to return from the first Australian-wide COVID-19 lockdown. Volunteers had positive intentions to return to basketball following COVID-19 restrictions because it was fun, to help others, or because friends/family were involved. Volunteers were most concerned that others will not comply with COVID-safe policies particularly around isolating when feeling unwell (95%), but also reported concerns about the inconveniences of some COVID-safe policies introduced to return to organised sport (e.g. social distancing, density limits, and enforcing rule changes). Understanding these volunteer intentions, motivations and factors influencing the decision to return to COVID-safe basketball can help inform recruitment and retention strategies to support volunteers in sport. Practical implications for sport policy and practice are discussed.

The current study meta-analytically examined empirical studies to assess the gender differences in volunteer motivation, using the volunteer function inventory (VFI), and investigated the moderating effect of volunteering context (sport vs. non-sport events) on the relationship between volunteer gender and motivation. A total of 19 studies, published from 2007 to 2017, met the inclusion criteria, and were reviewed by two readers. Cohen's Kappa was calculated for the reliability between the two coders and all meta-analyses were conducted using the comprehensive meta-analysis (CMA) program. Results from this meta-study suggested that women scored higher than men on three of the six subscales of the VFI instrument, particularly social, understanding and value-related motivation. Moderator analyses indicated the type of volunteering context is a meaningful moderator of the relationship between gender and motivation. The results also suggested the volunteering context influenced the magnitude and direction of gender differences in all motivational dimensions, except social motivation.

Relationship between benefit finding and volunteer motivation among nursing students: The mediating role of perceived social support

Global biodiversity is under pressure from human activities, and the effort for nature conservation and restoration and the allocation of economic resources for biodiversity policies remain insufficient. In such a context, volunteers can play an important role as a resource in nature conservation projects if their recreational activities interact with the objectives of nature management. In recent years, the number of volunteers in conservation work has increased in Denmark, with more people volunteering to contribute to nature conservation projects. Ensuring that volunteers remain motivated and engaged is crucial for the success of such conservation projects. In this study, we evaluated the motivation among members of grazing organizations, an activity that represents the most prominent voluntary nature conservation initiative in Denmark. We applied an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and an ordinal regression to analyze survey data from 25 Danish grazing organizations. We found that five motivational factors determine the engagement of the volunteers, namely social, nature value, instrumental, identification, and personal benefit. Whereas the social, nature value and personal benefit are factors also identified in the existing literature, the instrumental and identification factors add new perspectives to the motivation of environmental volunteers. We found that place attachment is an important driver, and that the chairpersons/coordinators of the grazing organizations especially emphasized the sharing of values and knowledge with their members as a driver. Lastly, volunteers were reluctant to support the idea of forming a more formal setup in terms of a “grazing organization union”.

This article being a continuation of the work published in the Bulletin of the Institute of Sociology (2021. Volume 12. No. 4) analyses the motivation of volunteers operating in emergency situations (ES). The participation of volunteers is seen as a real effective tool to help official services respond to emergencies (floods, fires, people missing in natural and urban environments). At the same time, the activity of volunteers is associated with physical and emotional stress, risks to life and health, and therefore it is important to know what motivates these people to get involved in this activity and stay in it for a long time. The authors show that this topic remains little studied in Russia.&#x0D; To search for the most adequate methodology for studying the motivations of Russian volunteers, the authors have analysed the existing theoretical approaches, as well as a number of qualitative and quantitative empirical studies on the relevant issues.&#x0D; The results of a mass survey conducted by the authors demonstrate that motives common in Russia are similar in meaning to the typology of motives proposed by E.G.Clary and M. Snyder. The most common motives are altruistic (the need for gratuitous help to people) and personal (characterised by the need of self-development). Russian volunteers most often receive symbolic rewards for their activities: diplomas, official gratitude, or the opportunity to participate in training seminars. At the same time, they note that they do not expect anything at all in return for their help. When choosing a volunteer organisation, volunteers most often focus on the range of problems this organisation deals with, as well as on the opportunity within this organisation to realise their own potential. The analysis also showed that almost half of the respondents once had thoughts of quitting volunteer activities, and first of all, due to emotional burnout. However, in their plans for 3–5 years, almost all respondents do not plan to stop volunteering. The results obtained are analysed from the standpoint of theories of motivation by A.Maslow, L.Hustinx and F. Lammertyn.

While volunteers are widespread in U.S. local food systems, they have not been the focus of data collection or research. As a result, we have limited understanding of the perspectives and motivations of local food volunteers. In this reflective essay, I describe my insights from volunteering in Alexan­dria, Virginia. The two initiatives that I focus on were to establish a “Power of Produce” program at my local farmers market and an after-school culinary and gardening program at a private ele­mentary school. The former program I have been able to sustain for three years (as of this writing), whereas the latter program was discontinued after two eight-week sessions. In this essay, I describe my motivations in conceptualizing and organizing these programs. I also describe challenges I encoun­tered due to inexperience or capacity constraints as a volunteer. I conclude by discussing how additional research that examines the roles and motivations of volunteers could be valuable.

Using self-determination theory, this study examined the autonomous motivation and regulatory styles of volunteers. The Volunteer Motivation Scale (VMS) is one of the main instruments available to assess these constructs, but it requires validation and adaptation for different contexts. Therefore, the goal of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the 12-item VMS in a sample of Portuguese volunteers. The sample consisted of 207 volunteers, mostly women (74.4%), aged from 14 to 81 years, from various areas of volunteering. The measures included self-regulation, basic psychological needs, causality orientation, and autonomy support. Confirmatory factor analysis using the lavaan package in R was performed to test a four-factor model and a two-factor model. The results indicated that the four-factor model had a better fit to the data. The VMS showed good internal consistency, discriminant validity, and convergent validity. The VMS can be viewed as a valuable tool for professionals and a promising avenue for future research on the motivations of volunteers.

ObjectivesThis study aims to assess the volunteer motivation and stress load of patient volunteers in the Fangcang shelter hospitals (FSHs), examine their associations, and explore the potential influence factors of...

This paper focuses on the motivational factors that influence the volunteering acts of Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) students from the Foundation Management course by using factor analysis. The volunteering programme at the university are vastly expanded in the form of charity works, funding, sports activities, events, and other aspects by which the main and primary volunteers are students. This study was conducted to identify students’ volunteer motivation that complement the programme organiser goal and objectives. This is a quantitative research by using factor analysis method and questionnaire survey is conducted on the UUM students (n=204). In this study, only variables with factor loading of greater than 0.4 is included in the analysis. From extraction sums of squared loading, 5 factors with eigenvalues higher than one were extracted. The volunteer’s motivation of UUM students may be summarized in 5 factors which represents 61.49% of total variance explained. Research findings reveal only four main reasons that influenced students’ volunteer motivation. The main factor that influenced students’ volunteer motivations was self-enhancement. The other factors that follows were expression of values, career orientation, and interpersonal contacts. In the future, any volunteering programme that is planned needs to consider the students interests in order to fully maximize the students’ participation which concurrently would help the organiser to achieve the desired objective and outcome of the programme itself.

Following a meta-analysis of the relations between age and volunteer motives (career, understanding, enhancement, protective, making friends, social, and values), the authors tested hypotheses derived from socioemotional selectivity theory regarding the effects of age on these volunteer motives. The Volunteer Functions Inventory was completed by 523 volunteers from 2 affiliates of the International Habitat for Humanity. Multiple regression analyses revealed, as predicted, that as age increases, career and understanding volunteer motivation decrease and social volunteer motivation increases. Contrary to expectations, age did not contribute to the prediction of enhancement, protective, and values volunteer motivations and the relation between age and making friends volunteer motivation was nonlinear. The results were discussed in the context of age-differential and age-similarity perspectives on volunteer motivation.

This study investigated the volunteers in the tourism industry are still regarded as a new venture in Malaysia especially in the East Coast states of Peninsular Malaysia. Strategic planning from international level has highlighted volunteerism in improving the quality of tourism around the world. Hence, volunteerism in Malaysia has been set up by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia to encourage foreign tourists to visit Malaysia by sharing information on the uniqueness of Malaysia. Therefore, it is very important for researchers to identify volunteer engagement motifs to enhance the motivation of volunteers in the tourism sector in the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. This survey uses survey methodology, interviews and analysis of documents as a means of gathering information that will involve 297 youth students from three Higher Education Institutions in the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Through this research, the researcher uses the Volunteer Functional Inventory (VFI) model developed by Clary et al., (1998) to test the individual motives of volunteering through an approach to Function Theory (Katz, 1960). The goal of this study is to identify volunteers' involvement motives with volunteer activities through the application of the VFI model with the motivation of volunteers to engage in voluntary activities. Conclusion, this study can help in giving an impression and contribution of new knowledge in the tourism industry, especially as a volunteer mosque tour guide to youth in the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Furthermore, it is hoped that this study will provide the basis for a more in-depth study on the motive of volunteer engagement and motivation of volunteers as well as uplifting the tourism industry in line with the goal of National Transformation 2050 vision.

Occupational therapy philosophy asserts a positive relationship between occupation and health and aims to promote and restore health through enabling occupation. This study aimed to explore volunteerism as an occupation and its possible relationship to health and wellbeing from an occupational science perspective and to consider how this knowledge might be used to inform occupational therapy practice. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used, with a sample of 109 volunteers. The qualitative data are presented here and comprise written responses to two open-ended questions. The first asked the volunteers about their motivations to volunteer (MTVs) and the second asked the volunteers to describe their personal experiences of volunteering (PEVs). These data were analysed to identify patterns of MTVs and themes relating to the costs and benefits of volunteering to health and wellbeing. The findings revealed a range of MTVs, both altruistic and egoistic, as well as many and varied benefits of volunteering, providing some support for a positive relationship between volunteerism and health and wellbeing. Volunteering appeared to exert its positive effects predominantly on aspects of mental health by providing opportunities to increase confidence and self-esteem, gain social support, replace lost roles and feel included in community life. The pattern of benefits seemed to reflect the volunteers' motivations, suggesting that benefits to health may be mediated by the MTV; this was consistent with the occupational therapy philosophy that occupations need to be meaningful and purposeful to hold therapeutic value. The article concludes that engaging in a volunteer role has many potential benefits to health and wellbeing, particularly to aspects of mental health. This may have implications for the occupational therapy profession. For occupational therapists working with clients experiencing mental health problems, there may be some therapeutic value in enabling their clients to engage in a volunteer role. Future research with occupational therapists working in this area could establish if volunteerism has been used as a therapeutic occupation and its outcomes, thereby informing occupational therapy practice.