Employee Volunteering Research Articles

Demographic shifts call for new strategies for encouraging employee volunteerism

Demographic shifts call for new strategies for encouraging employee volunteerism

Top Charities for Employee Volunteering

Top Charities for Employee Volunteering

Gaining Perspective: Leveraging Employee Volunteering to Improve Inclusive Behavior

Research points to the importance of establishing inclusive workplaces. Yet, the same research also suggests that getting employees to buy in and engage in these sorts of inclusive behaviors can be a challenging endeavor. While the current literature offers some practical suggestions for garnering inclusion among employees, most recommendations center on programs and contexts with direct ties to inclusion (e.g., diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings), which at times have limited success. Our article diverges from this approach by considering the impact of employee volunteering—a practice without explicit inclusion-related objectives—on employees’ inclusive behaviors. Drawing on a set of theories about cognitive processing, we propose that employee volunteering presents an opportunity to foster inclusive behavior by enhancing perspective taking. We further suggest that these benefits are contingent upon an individual’s motivation for volunteering—in particular, that the perspective-taking potential of volunteering is best realized when employees volunteer for prosocial motives and not for self-protective motives. We find support for these predictions in a combination of a laboratory experiment, a quasi-field experiment, and a multisource field study. The results advance our understanding of the types of unconventional activities—such as employee volunteering and volunteer motives—that can be leveraged into more inclusive behavior among employees.

Data show corporate volunteerism rates saw major growth in 2023

A new research study shows that companies around the world have dramatically increased their employee volunteerism programs as they struggled in recent years to keep their full‐ and part‐time telecommuting workers engaged and connected to the workforce.

AR-enabled safety precautions and employee volunteerism in fast-food restaurants: the pivotal role of adoption intention

ABSTRACT This paper highlights the potential effect of safety practices on employee citizenship behaviour through work engagement. Further, this paper examines the moderation effect of augmented reality (AR)-based safety at work app adoption intention. The study sample included a total of 358 fast-food restaurant employees in the Riyadh and Al-Madinah regions of Saudi Arabia. SmartPLS findings proved that AR-based workplace safety app adoption intentions strengthened the linkages between safety practices, employee citizenship behaviour, and work engagement. The study offers useful insights for food and beverage marketers who are willing to boost their innovation capacities to support their survival in global supply chains, as AR adoption is beneficial for enhancing employee engagement and promoting a safety culture.

The Positive Spillover of Managers’ Ally Work: Perceptions of Manager Liberalism and Its Effect on Employee Volunteering

The Positive Spillover of Managers’ Ally Work: Perceptions of Manager Liberalism and Its Effect on Employee Volunteering

Fostering employee volunteering in public organizations through inclusive leadership

Fostering employee volunteering in public organizations through inclusive leadership

Corporate giving continued post‐pandemic drop in 2022, study shows

During the COVID‐19 pandemic, the nonprofit sector saw dramatic changes in the types and levels of support from all quarters, especially the corporate sector, which responded to the pandemic with a surge in cash and product donations. But in 2021 and 2022, new research shows, corporate philanthropic giving has dropped off considerably, with 2022 total community investment—which includes cash, product and pro bono giving—down 14% from 2020. That's according to the latest Giving in Numbers report from Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose, formerly the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy. The report looks at the full spectrum of corporate community investments, including cash, in‐kind and employee volunteerism for 2022.

The Learnings of OCB and Employees’ Psychology from Indian Mythological Tales - An Empirical Study

Organizational Citizenship Behavior has been premeditated by various distinguished scholars and managerial connoisseurs for the last few decades. Be it Dennis Organ who disseminated the theory in 1988 or any other well-known academician, the interrogation of how much volunteerism is too much volunteerism always triumphs. The concerned study purposes to afford a lucid view of the various potentials that an employee must possess to underwrite willingly to the organization. The study also furnishes investigated primary data to accept/reject its hypotheses. The research article affords minuscule niceties regarding the central perceptions of OCB. It also aims to retort the various characteristics of emotional interactive personalities in human beings through applied Indian mythology so that an evocative supposition can be accomplished on employee volunteerism.

From self-avoidance to help others: Exploring why and when feedback avoiding behavior promotes volunteering

Feedback avoiding behavior is considered undesirable by organizations. Nevertheless, we know little about whether it can have benefits outside the workplace. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, we explore why and when participating in feedback avoiding behavior may possess benefits. The results from two experiments and a field study illustrate that engaging in feedback avoiding behavior is associated with decreased emotional exhaustion, which then spills over into employee volunteering behavior. Moreover, regulatory focus moderates the observed effects. Specifically, the negative relationship of feedback avoiding behavior with emotional exhaustion and the positive indirect effect of feedback avoiding behavior on volunteering behavior via emotional exhaustion is stronger when the employee prevention focus is high. Theoretical contributions and practical implications as well as future research directions are presented.

Power Distance Belief and Employee Volunteering: The Moderating Effect of Leader-Member Exchange

Power Distance Belief and Employee Volunteering: The Moderating Effect of Leader-Member Exchange

Does the Practice of Employee Volunteerism Affect Workforce Reduction and Defective Product Issues? Evidence from India

This study examines employee volunteerism’s effect in preventing workforce reduction and reducing product quality issues in India. The study used the social identity theory to explore the relationship between employee volunteerism and workforce reduction and product quality issues. A sample size of 800 firm-year observations between 2010 and 2019 was utilised. Descriptive analysis, probit regression and panel probit regression were employed for data interpretation. The study shows that employee volunteerism does not prevent but instead increases workforce reduction of listed firms in an emerging economy. The research also shows that employee volunteerism is insignificant in reducing product quality issues.

Relevance of CSR for building affective commitment of employees: a multilevel approach

PurposeDrawing on both social identity theory and signalling theory, this paper aims to theorize and empirically examine a moderated mediation model that investigates the underlying mechanism through which perception of Corporate social responsibility (CSR) influence employee affective commitment (AC) (micro-CSR) in case of companies that are among the highest spenders on CSR initiatives targeted at external stakeholders (macro-CSR).Design/methodology/approachThe hypotheses were tested on 444 employees of top five banking and four information technology Indian companies. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to test the measurement model, whereas moderated mediation analysis was done through Hayes PROCESS Macro (v.4).FindingsFindings suggest that employees develop a positive attitudinal disposition towards organisations CSR activities even when targeted only at external stakeholders. The research findings support advancement of CSR literature by suggesting that expenditure on CSR initiatives of business sends strong signals to employees of the care and empathy it has for stakeholders and due to prestige, that comes along with it, their self-concept gets accentuated. Lack of influence of employee volunteering (EV) on CSR outcomes highlights the need of integration of CSR initiatives with CSR strategy and human resource policies.Originality/valueResults indicate that perception about CSR is directly related to AC, but its influence improves if it is routed through perceived organisational support and organisational trust in that order. Furthermore, the serial mediation of the model is not moderated by EV.

“I’m Not Doing It for the Company”: Examining Employee Volunteering Through Employees’ Eyes

This article contributes to research on employee volunteering (EV) by focusing on the experiences of individuals to address the current overemphasis upon collective organizational outcomes. Drawing on qualitative research with employees and corporate social responsibility managers across seven companies, it demonstrates why employees’ experiences are central to understanding the complex mechanisms that link EV with organizational outcomes. The article reveals how both positive and negative organizational outcomes are influenced by the complex relationship between personal motivations and employees’ volunteering experiences—within their organization and within their community—combined with their broader reflexive interpretation of their employing organization and its values.

The evolution and determinants of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in a developing country: extent and quality

PurposeThis paper examines the evolution and determinants of the extent and quality of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in a developing country (Mauritius).Design/methodology/approachCSR disclosures from annual reports of all listed companies were hand-collected for a 12-year period (2007–2018). The extent of disclosure was measured using a dichotomous index (41 items) while the quality of each disclosure item was assessed on a three-point scale. We rely on organisational legitimacy and resource dependence theories to investigate (1) trends in CSR disclosure extent and quality (2) the role of selected board and firm characteristics, namely the business qualifications of board members, extent of cross-directorships and the firm’s use of employee volunteering scheme, on CSR disclosure.FindingsCSR disclosure extent, notably in relation to environment and human resources, gradually increased to an overall score of 45%. Comparatively, the quality of disclosures was low, with an average score of 20%. The proportion of business-qualified directors is only positively associated with CSR disclosure extent. The extent of cross-directorships is negatively associated with CSR disclosure quality while employee volunteering is positively associated with disclosure extent and quality.Originality/valueThe findings reveal the relatively low quality of information being disclosed, and in spite of CSR and governance reforms, there seems to be limited influence from the board of directors and their networks; prompting a call to foster greater board engagement on CSR matters. The results also highlight the need for a multi-dimensional assessment of CSR disclosure.

Volunteering Improves Employee Health and Organizational Outcomes Through Bonding With Coworkers and Enhanced Identification With Employers.

To understand the consequences of employee volunteering and possible psychological mechanisms that produce these effects. Using data from more than 50,000 responses to Britain's Healthiest Workplace survey, we employed structural equation modeling to investigate the effects of people volunteering. Net of a number of controls, people who volunteered reported better self-reported health, less risk of depression, and higher levels of engagement and satisfaction. These results were partly explained by volunteering creating higher levels of interpersonal social bonding and greater identification with their employers. Employers Employers should sponsor volunteer activities and provide workplace flexibility, because employees who volunteer have greater individual wellbeing and also higher levels of pro-employer outcomes such as engagement and job satisfaction.

Understanding the Spread of Sustained Employee Volunteering: How Volunteers Influence Their Coworkers’ Moral Identity Work

Employee volunteering has become a common phenomenon in many organizations. However, it is unclear how sustained volunteering spreads between colleagues. Drawing on an empirical study set in the English legal profession, this study examines the processes through which existing employee volunteers influence their coworkers to internalize a volunteer identity. The study yields a theoretical model that specifies how coworkers may identify existing volunteers as moral exemplars. Five forms of social influence emanate, often unknowingly, from these exemplars: encouraging, evoking, edifying, enacting, and exemplifying. These forms of social influence inform coworkers’ microprocess of moral identity work through which they claim a volunteer identity. This study thereby shifts attention from the well-theorized outcomes of moral identities to the largely unexamined social influences on moral identities in the workplace, enriching our understanding of the development of the moral self that is foundational to theories of volunteering and identity.

What drives employee's involvement in corporate volunteering? Bright and dark side of consequences to organization

PurposeThis study assesses the relevance of both individual and contextual factors as an antecedent to employee participation in corporate volunteering (CV) activities and affective organizational commitment and inter-role conflict as an outcome of employee volunteering. This study draws from the functional theory of motivation, social exchange theory and role strain perspective to explain hypothesized relationship of the study constructs.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire survey was administered with 461 employee volunteers who had participated in company-sponsored volunteering programs. The authors adopted structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the study hypotheses.FindingsThe findings from the survey suggest that altruistic motives and organization CV capability will impact employee's participation in CV. The results highlight that employee participation in CV enhances affective organizational commitment, indicating that employee volunteering creates inter-role conflict.Research limitations/implicationsThough the study has identified inter-role conflict as a potentially unfavorable outcome, exploring when and how employee volunteering will create a negative effect will add significant value to organizations to protect the interest of their employees.Practical implicationsThis study provides insights to understand the relative effects of self- and other-oriented motives. The results suggest that organizations have more directed and carefully designed employee volunteering activities to enable more favorable benefits to employees.Originality/valueThis study contributes to expanding the knowledge on the phenomenon of employee volunteering by introducing and empirically validating an integrated framework of antecedents and consequences of employee volunteering.

Skills-based volunteering: A systematic literature review of the intersection of skills and employee volunteering

Skills-based volunteering programs sit at the intersection of corporate philanthropy and human resources (HR). These programs enable employees to volunteer their specialized skills to support non-profit organizations, while developing new skills along the way. While these programs are the fastest growing way that firms deliver on their corporate social responsibility strategy, the academic literature has all but ignored them. However, there is ample opportunity to build an understanding of skills-based volunteering from existing research that crosses the realms of employee volunteering and skills. This systematic literature review of 36 peer-reviewed articles forms the basis of this paper, where we provide a definition of skills-based volunteering, and offer a theoretical model to guide future HR research and practice on skills-based volunteering.

Corporate Social Responsibility in the Era of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Example of Companies from Poland, Belgium, and Ukraine

Purpose: This article aimed to identify CSR activities undertaken by companies from various countries during the pandemic. The authors have based their systematics of activities on empirical research conducted among the managerial staff of enterprises in Poland, Belgium, and Ukraine. Design/Methodology/Approach: To check how and whether the CSR strategy was implemented among socially responsible enterprises during the COVID 19 pandemic, pilot studies were carried out among middle and senior management in July - August 2020. These studies were carried out in Poland, Ukraine, and Belgium. Authors used a diagnostic survey, interview technique, and a research tool in the form of an interview questionnaire. Findings: Socially responsible enterprises should be mainly involved in the fight against Covid-19 in a pandemic. All respondents confirmed that their employer had taken extraordinary measures to protect the employees against the coronavirus. Practical implications: The article identifies the actions of corporate social responsibility undertaken and indicates the gap that has not been taken. According to the authors, this is especially important at the threshold of the fourth wave of the pandemic. Originality/Value: During the crisis, social expectations towards the most prominent brands are growing, conducive to gaining new customers and building ties. Customers and local communities appreciate all support activities used by companies around the world. Companies from Poland, Belgium, and Ukraine focus on initiatives that mitigate the effects of the crisis and support society. Undoubtedly, support in purchasing masks, respirators for hospitals, MS Teams training for teachers, or employee volunteering in nursing homes were significant.