Corporate Volunteering Research Articles

Mediating role of corporate volunteering between entrepreneurial attitude and work engagement

BackgroundWork engagement and corporate volunteering attract significant interest among researchers. The entrepreneur-ial attitude is missing in research among diverse characteristics of employees predicting work engagement. The aim of the study is to fill this gap by verifying the model of the mediating role of corporate volunteering (work characteristics) between the entrepreneurial attitude (employee characteristics) and work engagement.Participants and procedureUtrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-17), an abridged version of the Entrepreneurial Attitude Orientation questionnaire (EAO), the Scale of Corporate Volunteering, and the Scale of Satisfaction with Financial Situation were applied in the study. The sample consisted of 111 employees of the public (27%) and business sectors (73%). The sample consisted of 42% (n = 47) women and 58% (n = 64) men aged from 23 to 61 years.ResultsThe model of work engagement was successfully verified. The entrepreneurial attitude proved to be a strong predictor of work engagement and corporate volunteering. Corporate volunteering plays a mediating role be-tween the entrepreneurial attitude and work engagement. Seniority and age, unlike in global studies, correlated negatively with corporate volunteering. Public sector employees were less engaged in work (lower Vigor and Absorption). However, their dedication to work was at the same level as employees in the business sector.ConclusionsWork enhanced with corporate volunteering leads to stronger work engagement, and thus to a psychologically healthier workplace. Measurement of the entrepreneurial attitude can be applied in the employee selection process as a predictor of work engagement.

Capabilities of Corporate Volunteering in Strengthening Social Capital

Corporate volunteering is becoming increasingly popular among the ways that companies manifest their social responsibility. Its popularity is due to the variety of benefits it brings to all parties. Among other things, it is capable of strengthening social capital, although specific phenomena and processes related to this remain largely unexplored. The aim of the paper is to identify how the frequency and intensity of contacts between volunteers and beneficiaries affect social capital building. The empirical study was based on a qualitative research approach and conducted in the form of individual semi-structured interviews with employees responsible for corporate volunteering in their companies. The results of the study suggest that corporate volunteering strengthens social capital regardless of the extent to which volunteers have contact with the beneficiaries of their volunteering work. However, the frequency and intensity of this contact may affect specific dimensions of social capital, leading to the strengthening of bonding social capital and/or bridging social capital.

The Causal Effects of Employee Participation in Corporate Volunteering: Field Experimental Evidence

Corporate volunteering has become a central component of organizations’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy, with more than 90% of corporations currently supporting some form of employee volunteering with nonprofits and charities. However, it is unclear whether such initiatives are strategic from a human capital management perspective, as research to date has been unable to establish a causal effect of such initiatives on important employee outcomes, and we have limited understanding of the mechanisms through which such initiatives might benefit the firm. Implementing a field experiment on a sample of 221 new employees in a large Latin American bank, we find that employees who participated in a corporate volunteering initiative were less likely to leave the company than those randomly assigned to the control group. These employees reported lower levels of work stress; an important employee outcome unexplored in the CSR literature to date. Employees who participated in the initiative also reported higher organizational identification and perceptions about the employer’s social responsibility. Moreover, we show that these CSR perceptions mediate the effect of employee participation in corporate volunteering on employee attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. We advance the literatures on micro-CSR and corporate volunteering by shedding light on the mechanisms through which corporate volunteering can benefit firms and contributing causal evidence of these effects.

Signaling and Social Influence: The Impact of Corporate Volunteer Programs

Corporate volunteer programs present opportunities for employees to contribute their time and skills to further important causes and help communities in need. The programs not only contribute to a better world, but the literature suggests they benefit participants themselves with participation associated with increased happiness, reduced stress, and better job performance. Despite these benefits, the uptake of these programs by employees is surprisingly low. And little is known about the affective reactions of employees that do not participate. We draw on signaling and social influence theory to examine the effects of corporate volunteer programs on employees who take part in a volunteering initiative, as well as those who do not. In a longitudinal field study at a large organization in the Northeast, we find that even when employee participation in volunteering is low, there is a significant influence on employees’ organization- and volunteer-related perceptions resulting from social sharing among coworkers. These positive effects are most prominent when employees are in positions that afford flexibility, and when coworker ties are close. Understanding these effects of corporate volunteer programs on employee outcomes is important as firms seek to provide a more enriching environment for their workforce.

What makes employees participate in volunteering programs? The role of organizational support

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify some of the critical organizational support factors and efforts that facilitate better employee participation in corporate volunteering (CV) programs. There is a growing interest to understand the role of organization in enhancing better employee participation in volunteering programs. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted an empirical investigation with (n = 461) employee volunteers, who participated in company sponsored volunteering programs. The authors tested the hypothesized relationship using structural equation modelling (SEM). Findings The SEM results indicate that cultural fit, organizational CV communication and implementation of CV programmes facilitate better employee participation. Research limitations/implications This study provides insights for organizations in terms of increased internal communication and alignment of organizational values with CV programmes to attract better employee participation in volunteering programmes. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature on the phenomenon of employee volunteering by examining various organizational efforts that facilitate better employee participation in volunteering programmes.

Integrating the Bright and Dark Sides of Corporate Volunteering Climate: Is Corporate Volunteering Climate a Burden or Boost to Employees?

Conventional wisdom is that a corporate volunteering climate should be beneficial to employees. We challenge this perspective by integrating person–environment fit and conservation of resources theories and providing an integrative model that examines how and when corporate volunteering climate produces positive and negative consequences for employees. Using a two‐wave time‐lagged study of 283 employees in 42 companies, our multilevel model shows that positive emotions mediate the relationship between corporate volunteering climate and work engagement, and perceived role overload mediates the relationship between corporate volunteering climate and work–family conflict. Employees’ communal orientation moderates the positive relationship between corporate volunteering climate and positive emotions, whereas competitive orientation moderates the positive relationship between corporate volunteering climate and perceived role overload. Communal orientation moderates the indirect effect between corporate volunteering climate and work engagement via positive emotions, but competitive orientation moderates the indirect effect between corporate volunteering climate and work–family conflict via perceived role overload. Our study provides balanced insights to help understand the benefits and costs of corporate volunteering climate in work and non‐work domains.

Organizational outcomes of corporate volunteering: the qualitative study

Purpose : The aim of this paper is to identify benefits of corporate volunteer programs gained on employee behaviors’ side. Specifically, the following research question is posed: what benefits of corporate volunteer projects are there observed by employees participating in them? Methodology/approach : The paper is based on a qualitative study conducted in the form of semi-structured in-depth individual interviews with employees participating in volunteer programs. Findings : The study shows that corporate volunteering leads to positive effects on employees, including increased work meaningfulness, competence development and strengthen interpersonal relationships at work. Simultaneously, the study suggests that work meaningfulness plays focal role in the overall process. Implications : Results of the study deliver practical implications for companies implementing corporate volunteering. Volunteer programs should be organized in a way giving employees full autonomy in crafting their projects. The programs should also support and intensify employee interactions and favor volunteer actions requiring wide range of skills. Originality/value: The study contributes to theory development in the field of both corporate social responsibility and organizational behavior. Specifically, it gives an insight on how responsible business practices may strengthen employees’ sense of meaningfulness of work and subsequently improve their competences and mutual relations.

Exploring Corporate Social Responsibility under the Background of Sustainable Development Goals: A Proposal to Corporate Volunteering

The research into corporate volunteering (CV) has been prolific, although few studies have focused their approach on senior and retired workers under the framework of the corporate social responsibility (CSR). The social participation of retirees in CV activities contributes to the businesses’ socially responsible performance and can be intimately connected with the global commitment pursued by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the year 2030. This article aims to explore the key issues that might have influence the effective implementation of CV programs to integrate retired and pre-retired workers, promoting a participatory and healthy aging. Based on the interface of internal and external corporate social responsibility, we discuss how CV can achieve social legitimacy, influencing the health and well-being of workers beyond the employment relationship. The main contribution of this article to the state of art is to extend the literature on CSR and CV by elaborating a theoretical model that integrates both perspectives with the focus on the SDGs. The results suggest that SDGs represent an opportunity and a frame of reference for CSR strategies. Companies engaged in senior CV activities could enhance their corporate and social images within the strategic action of social responsibility, indisputably improving people’s health and well-being.

Corporate volunteering in the large enterprises’ social mission – the case of a post-Soviet Russian industrial region

Abstract The paper focuses on the main features of corporate volunteering in companies from the Sverdlovsk region (Russian Federation), with a population surpassing 4.5 million inhabitants. Corporate volunteering is analyzed in the context of the trend characteristic for the post-Soviet space. The article systematizes approaches to the definition and study of this phenomenon, implemented by researchers from different countries. The main goal of the article is to identify the specific features of corporate volunteering in a large Russian region, considered typical for industrial territories in post-Soviet areas, seen through the social value that local communities attribute to corporate volunteering. The paper is based on the results of a public opinion poll and structured interviews, carried out in the Sverdlovsk region, where there is a concentration of enterprises of “hard” industries. The responses obtained in the poll were further subjected to analysis using statistical methods. The data are supplemented with information collected through the qualitative interviews. Interviewed experts are the top managers of enterprises and the deputy directors for HR, GR, or social issues. The study shows that in Russian industrial cities, where large enterprises are the main employers for most residents, many questions on the implementation of social policy fall under the responsibility of these enterprises, and not of the local government. Researchers argue that corporate volunteering is not widespread in the large Russian regions. It most often develops within the framework of event planning and environmental projects, managed by enterprises in cooperation with social and cultural institutions of local communities and not with the non-profit sector. The traditions of the organization of mass social work formed during the socialist period are still deeply rooted in enterprises, and managers rarely identify volunteering as a new managerial tool, thus being untangled from the global trend of promoting corporate volunteerism as a means of building corporate culture.

The Public Service Motivated Volunteer: Devoting Time or Effort?

Non-profit organizations, corporate volunteer programs, and government workplace schemes are asking volunteers for their time and effort. But, with the changes in how people volunteer, such as episodic, micro, and cyber volunteering, those managing volunteers need to understand whether they should focus on encouraging volunteers to donate more time or effort. Using public service motivation to measure volunteer’s propensity to engage in volunteering, we compare three outcomes: time spent volunteering, frequency of volunteering, and volunteering intensity. In a sample of 411 volunteers, we find public service motivation is associated with more time spent volunteering, increased frequency, and higher levels of volunteering intensity. However, volunteering intensity explains the most variance. These findings suggest that how the individual perceives they exert volunteering intensity may be useful among public service motivated volunteers.

Work engagement and financial satisfaction: The role of corporate volunteering and age

BACKGROUND: Work engagement and corporate volunteering increasingly draw the attention of researchers and practitioners because they significantly and positively contribute to individual and organizational outcomes. However, it is not clear whether employee age and financial satisfaction contribute to higher levels of employee engagement and volunteering. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the mediating role of corporate volunteering between financial satisfaction and work engagement, and to explore work engagement and financial satisfaction relations with regard to age and corporate volunteering. METHODS: The study encompassed 1,109 multi-occupational employees of business and public sector in Poland. Work engagement (UWES), corporate volunteering and financial satisfaction measures were applied online. We investigated work engagement, corporate volunteering, and financial satisfaction interaction by means of two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and straightforward mediation analysis using PROCESS. RESULTS: Our results indicate the importance of corporate volunteering as a mediator between financial satisfaction and work engagement: employees participating in corporate volunteering had higher levels of financial satisfaction than those not participating. CONCLUSIONS: Firstly, corporate volunteering should be included in job design to increase work engagement; and secondly, organisations should increase employee financial satisfaction to facilitate corporate volunteering.

Corporate volunteering as a form of social innovation

Corporate volunteering (CV) is a new phenomenon in the activities of Russian companies. Based on the use of diachronic analysis, a comparative study of the transformation of the essence and content of corporate volunteering in the works of foreign and domestic scientists and specialists has been carried out. There has been revealed a shift in emphasis from CV as an element of corporate social responsibility, to CV as an independent business process. Due to the novelty of this phenomenon, as well as the complex of characteristics determined on the basis of the use of synchronous analysis, it has been proved that CV can be defined as one of the forms of social innovation.

Quarantining With(out) the Houston Astros, Part 2: Astrodome Addition/Edition

Quarantining With(out) the Houston Astros, Part 2Astrodome Addition/Edition Phillip Luke Sinitiere (bio) For the recent "Baseball is …" special edition of NINE, I wrote of the complex love and longing I experienced for my hometown Houston Astros during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. I used a July 1978 photograph of me at fifteen months old in the Astrodome as a historical artifact to search for my Astros affection that had largely disappeared in the wake of the team's historic cheating scandal. In the mist of several baseball memories spanning from childhood to adulthood I found love again.1 After finishing the article, I returned to the Astrodome photo. I peered further into the image and realized I had more to say about what "Baseball is" to me during the pandemic, most specifically about the Astrodome. Below, I entangle some of the Dome's history with more of my Astros memories. So, even though this essay appears after NINE's special edition, think of this article as a second installment, an Astrodome addition to my previous reflections. Although my 1978 Astrodome photo remains the primary lens through which I located more of my "Baseball is" musings below, I discovered the Astrodome edition of this essay along a pathway of memories that led through Minute Maid Park, the Astros' current home. Let me explain. I dedicated my previous NINE article to the memory of Stan F. Curtis (1929–2020), one of the biggest baseball fans I had the pleasure of knowing. Stan passed away just as I started writing my first Astros essay. I've thought a lot about him recently and in so doing realized that my memories of him compelled me to compose something more about quarantining with(out) the Astros. Additional recollections surfaced as I reread Stan's 2010 book Covering All the Bases: One Fan's Quest to See a Game in Every Major League Ballpark throughout the late spring and summer of 2020. I met Stan sometime in the mid-1990s through the Houston Golf Association (HGA). He worked for the Shell Oil Company, which was the title sponsor [End Page 45] of the PGA Tour's Shell Houston Open at the time. Stan was member of the HGA and worked as a corporate volunteer in its junior golf division by helping to run youth golf tournaments during the summer months. I competed on the HGA's junior golf circuit throughout my high school years, and it was in this context that I got to know him. During my college years, I worked as a junior golf coordinator during the summer months; I helped to plan, organize, and direct tournaments on the same circuit where I once competed. Stan still served as a volunteer, so our conversations continued. They expanded to sports beyond golf and we chatted frequently about baseball. While the specific details of those conversations disappeared with time, Stan's smile, kindness, and thoughtfulness stand out to me now. Yet I found one specific memory of his generosity: in the summer of 2000, Stan invited me to an Astros game at the club's brand-new ballpark, Enron Field, where he had season tickets. I have struggled to remember who the Astros played during my inaugural visit to what is now Minute Maid Park (renamed after the infamous 2001 Enron corporate scandal that rocked Houston and the nation), although I'm certain it was a night game.2 However, other events in my life that summer—I got married in August—provided me reasonable confidence to suspect that Stan and I attended a game sometime in July, probably late July. Based on the Astros schedule that year, it is most likely I saw them play either the Cincinnati Reds or St. Louis Cardinals. During a five-game home stretch in late July, the Astros faced the Reds twice and had a three-game series with St. Louis. They split the series with Cincinnati, but beat the Cardinals twice, scoring ten runs and fifteen runs, respectively.3 If it was the Cardinals, several names on the roster that year would have caught my eye: Mark McGwire, Eric Davis, Shawon Dunston...

Contact With Beneficiaries as a Success Factor of Corporate Volunteering

Contact With Beneficiaries as a Success Factor of Corporate Volunteering

Experts call for more skills‐based volunteerism in disaster philanthropy

Leading experts in the field of corporate volunteerism are calling for companies to leverage the skills and knowledge of their employees in the disaster philanthropy arena, an area where most companies' giving extends only to cash and product.

CSR strategies in banks. Case study: Erste Group

Starting from the major change of the banks’ current status into the economy, which is primarily marked by the systematic concern for the contribution to the common good, this paper proposes an insight in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy of the leading financial group on the Romanian market: Erste Group. Unlike Banca Comercială Română (BCR), Erste Group proves an assumed involvement in the CSR process, deeply connected to the organizational structure and introducing the term of sustainability as a corollary of environmental themes, diversity, community involvement and corporate volunteering. The case study demonstrates the group's influence on the CSR strategy of BCR by creating sustainable value for community. The comparative analysis highlights a significant influence of the CSR practices in the educational field developed by BCR through Erste Group. The parent-group contributes with a unitary vision to the CSR mechanism, being connected to the realities of the socio-cultural context in the Central and Eastern Europe. The present paper creates the basis for a complete understanding of the main factors underlying the CSR construction in Romania, pointing out the reporting differences, the benefits and the limits of this approach.

The Relevance of Self-Determination for Corporate Volunteering Intentions

Corporate volunteering programs are increasingly used to bolster community involvement, address social issues and improve the reputation of organisations. Despite this growing trend, our understanding of what motivates corporate volunteers is scant. Drawing on self-determination theory, this study investigates motivational differences among employees engaging in different corporate volunteering types and in independent volunteering, and examines the relationships between these volunteering types and employees’ intent to volunteer in the future. Findings obtained from a survey of 318 employees suggest that higher levels of motivation to volunteer for reasons of ego enhancement or guilt prevention (introjection) were associated with a higher likelihood of participation in employer-organised, large-scale volunteering. Lastly, compared to the other types of volunteers, corporate volunteers had the highest intentions to volunteer through their company in the future, while independent volunteers had the highest intentions to continue volunteering in their own time without employer support. These results highlight the importance of offering various types of corporate volunteering opportunities to employees, as people engaging in corporate volunteering do not make up a homogeneous group, and that different corporate volunteering activities fulfil different motivational needs.

Estudio de las motivaciones de los voluntarios corporativos mediante pregunta abierta

El objetivo de la investigación fue identificar las motivaciones de los voluntarios corporativos y analizar si las mismas dependen de factores personales o contextuales. A diferencia de la mayoría de las investigaciones sobre este tema, realizadas mediante cuestionarios estructurados, las motivaciones se estudiaron mediante preguntas abiertas. Se aplicó una encuesta auto-administrada a 185 voluntarios de 8 empresas que en Uruguay implementan programas de voluntariado corporativo. Los resultados ratificaron algunas de las conclusiones de investigaciones realizadas mediante preguntas cerradas, cuestionaron otras y aportaron evidencia sobre motivaciones no identificadas en ellas. Se encontró además que las motivaciones son independientes entre sí, que no se asocian con factores personales de los voluntarios y que se registran diferencias importantes entre voluntarios de distintas empresas.

Employee Need Satisfaction and Positive Workplace Outcomes: The Role of Corporate Volunteering

Corporate volunteering (CV) is a fast-growing trend in voluntary action. As an increasing number of not-for-profit organizations receive help from corporations in the form of CV, it is important to build a “business case” for this important collaboration and to better understand why employees volunteer through their workplace. Borrowing from the existing literature and self-determination theory (SDT), we examine how satisfaction of psychological needs through CV affects job satisfaction and affective commitment. Drawing on a survey of 4,127 employees, volunteers show significantly higher rates of job satisfaction and affective commitment compared with non-volunteers. Among employees who participate in CV, relatedness and competence need satisfaction through CV positively affect job satisfaction and affective commitment. The results of this study contribute to the body of knowledge on CV and SDT and provide practical implications for companies and not-for-profit organizations.

Settling the Neoliberal Contradiction through Corporate Volunteering: Governing Employees in the Era of Cognitive Capitalism

Corporations are increasingly interested in promoting corporate volunteering, and their efforts are aligned with supportive nonprofits and public policies. The article seeks to understand the reasons for this growing interest. It is based on insights from an ethnographic exploration of corporate volunteering activities in a transnational nonprofit that involves highly skilled corporate volunteers in its programs of entrepreneurship education. A multi-sited fieldwork was conducted in the organization’s program offices and its corporate partners in the United States, Belgium, and Israel. The analysis demonstrates how corporate volunteering conjoins various elements—ideological, interactionist, symbolic, and ethical—to maintain the creative engagement of highly skilled employees in cognitive capitalism. The article thus argues that the increasing interest in corporate volunteering emerges from a classwide rationality that extends beyond instrumental interests of particular corporations, as corporate volunteering constitutes a governmentality technique that molds employees’ subjectivities and maintains their wider commitment to capitalism.