Volunteer Functions Inventory Research Articles

Relationship Between Motivation and Organizational Commitment among Scout Volunteers in East Kalimantan

Numerous studies have been concerned on organizational commitment among profit worker oppositely organizational commitment’s studies which focused on nonprofit worker tend to be lack. Nonprofit employee generally recruit and involve volunteer to run their program. Several nonprofit organizations’ program is related to non-formal education. For that matter, this study was conducted to evaluate volunteer involvement which especially concern on non-formal education. The objective of this study is to examine relationship between motivation and organizational commitment among volunteer scout as well as find the best predictor affecting organizational commitment. This study used volunteer scout organization since this organization run within non-formal education area. The research used quantitative study to analyze the data. The instrument that has been utilized to collect the data was self administered questionnaire. The data was analyzed descriptively as well as inferentially. The questionnaire was divided into several parts: demographic, Volunteer Function Inventory (VFI), and Organizational commitment (OCQ). The data collection was taken in Samarinda city which located in East Kalimantan-Indonesia. The questionnaire was administered to 207 participants from scout movement center organization. The sample was taken by using random sampling technique and using Scout volunteer in Scout Center-Samarinda as the subject. Finally, the finding of the study revealed that overall motivation as well as the dimension was positively correlated to organizational commitment. Meanwhile, understanding dimension was considered become the best predictor affecting organizational commitment among volunteer scout in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Several implications were emerged from non-formal education view as well as nonprofit area.

(Is Volunteer Service Helpful to Job Application?)

Chinese Abstract: 本文尝试借助志愿服务功能量表来考察大学生参与志愿服务的动机，以及检验参与志愿服务是否对未来就业有所帮助。我们通过对来自上海世博会和来自人大经济论坛的（非）志愿者进行网上调查，发现了与以往文献一致的结论，即大学生参与志愿服务的目的在于完善自身的履历和提升自身的事业。然而，不论从参与志愿服务的广度还是强度进行衡量，均没能发现参与志愿服务能带来未来工资的提升，在控制了一些其他因素后甚至发现，参与志愿服务会对未来的就业产生负面影响。相比包括志愿服务在内的众多影响因素而言，大学生初次就业的收入很大程度上是由家庭收入所决定。English Abstract: This study attempts to examine the motives to the volunteering among college students by Volunteer Function Inventory analyses, and whether the volunteering is a good proxy for success in future employment. Micro-level data, collected by the online survey from the volunteers in World Exposition Shanghai China 2010 and the (non-) volunteers in RenDa Economics Forum, which is one of the main Chinese Social Networking Services websites, do find a consistent result as literature that the college students participate in volunteering to achieve outcomes that help them build their resumes and advance their careers. However, there is no statistically significant wage premium for the volunteering measured in extensive or intensive way, even a negative influence of volunteering on future employment exists when we control some other factors. In particular, family income largely determines the college student’s success in their first full-time income, compared with other factors including the volunteering as well.

Volunteering as a Means to an Equal End? The Impact of a Social Justice Function on Intention to Volunteer

ABSTRACT In the present study, we combined components of the theory of planned behavior and the functional approach to predict the social sector volunteering intention of nonvolunteers (N = 513). Moreover, we added a new other-oriented “social justice function” to the Volunteer Functions Inventory of Clary and colleagues (1998), which contains mainly self-oriented functions. We distinguished the social justice function from the other five measured volunteer functions in confirmatory factor analysis, and showed its incremental validity in predicting intention to volunteer beyond established constructs such as self-efficacy, subjective norm, and the five volunteer functions. This study suggests that emphasizing potential social justice improvements by means of volunteering may attract new volunteers.

Motivations of older volunteers in three European countries

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate older volunteers’ motivations, with special focus on country differences, considering the kind of activities carried out and age differences.Design/methodology/approachUsing the Volunteer Function Inventory (VFI), the authors measured motivations to volunteer of volunteers aged 50 or older, belonging to organizations engaged in the largest activity sectors of three European countries: The Netherlands (n=468), Germany (n=113) and Italy (n=279), for a total sample size of 860 subjects.FindingsAltruistic motivations are found to be more important for German older volunteers compared to Dutch and Italian older volunteers, but in the latter country they increase with ageing. Older volunteers engaged in selfless activities are more driven by altruistic motivations, especially in Germany and Italy, whereas egoistic motivations on selfish activities are important in all countries. As age increases, older volunteers’ emotional gratification goals are pursued especially in Italy, whereas the desire to pursue new knowledge is greater for younger‐old volunteers in general, but especially in The Netherlands.Practical implicationsThe findings are relevant for local, national and European policy makers and NGO‐managers concerned with the issue of recruiting and retaining older volunteers – a crucial issue for promoting active ageing outside the labour market. The results show how motivations influence the decision to volunteer in later life and will enable better planning of appropriate recruitment and retention strategies.Originality/valueThis research represents, to the authors’ knowledge, the first cross‐national investigation based on the VFI tool to specifically analyse the motivations of older volunteers across Europe.

Understanding Motivations for Volunteering in a Sample of Hospital Volunteers Within an Oncologic Context: Relationship with Psychological Well-Being and Quality of Life

Aim : Taking into account the increasing number of people who carry out voluntary activities, it becomes relevant to understand who these people are and what motivates them. Therefore, the present study aims at: (1) characterizing a sample of hospital volunteers within an oncologic context regarding socio-demographic variables, specific variables of a hospital volunteer and motivations for volunteering; and (2) analyzing the relation between motivations for volunteering, and indicators of psychological well-being and quality of life. Method : The sample is composed by 53 hospital volunteers, from Liga Portuguesa Contra o Cancro – Nucleo Regional do Centro, who work at the Instituto Portugues de Oncologia Francisco Gentil de Coimbra. The assessment tools included a socio-demographic and volunteering characterization questionnaire, the Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI; Portuguese version: Goncalves, Monteiro, & Pereira, 2011), the Psychological Well-Being Manifestation Measure Scale (PWBMMS; Portuguese version: Monteiro, Tavares, & Pereira, 2006), and the WHO Quality of Life-Bref (WHOQOF-BREF; Portuguese version: Vaz Serra et al., 2006). Results : From the results obtained, we highlight that the most valued motivational functions are “values”, “experience”, and “enhancement”. Additionally, there was a positive association between the “values”, “experience”, “enhancement” functions, and the psychological well-being subscales and global well-being; and a negative association between the “protective” function and psychological and environment domains of quality of life. Conclusion : Interpretations of the results as well as their implications are discussed in the light of relevant literature.

Volunteering for Research: A Test of the Psychometric Properties of the Volunteer Functions Inventory with Online Panellists

Volunteering for Research: A Test of the Psychometric Properties of the Volunteer Functions Inventory with Online Panellists

Volunteer Motivations and Constraints Among College Students

This research examined motivational factors of college students to volunteer in various capacities using the Volunteer Function Inventory. Volunteering characteristics, scope of volunteerism, volunteer segments, and type of contributions were investigated. In addition, constraints to participation based on the leisure constraint model were explored. Data were collected at a major university in the southeast United States. Results identified that the majority were involved in volunteerism in some capacity. Organizations that focused on human services were the most important type of organizations to volunteers. Families and teachers were responsible for introducing almost the majority to volunteerism. Also, more than half reported time as their most important contribution. The strongest motives were related to the values and understanding dimension which reflected helping others and expanding one’s own perspective on an issue. Structural constraints were most likely to limit volunteerism. Several associations between motivations and constraints were further examined and discussed.

The Importance of Tourism Motivations Among Sport Event Volunteers at the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Stuttgart, Germany

The main aim of this research is to explore the importance of tourism within the motivation of volunteers, focusing on a case study of the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. Volunteers have mostly been ignored as a subject of research in almost all fields and there is a need for a deeper understanding of the diverse nature of sport event volunteer tourism. The study on 225 volunteers at the Championships investigated a range of 50 motivations framed by Pearce's (2005) Travel Career Pattern, as well as Snyder's (1993) Volunteer Function Inventory, Farell et al.'s (1998) volunteer classification and Stebbins' (1992) work on serious and project-based leisure. Overall, the results indicated volunteer-based motivations that are generally more important than the tourism-based considerations. The age and gender of the volunteers had an influence on more of the volunteer-based motives compared with tourism. A considerable proportion of volunteers perceived themselves to be a tourist, and there was a desire to further take part in tourism activities, in addition to their volunteering duties, while at the event. Destination managers and volunteer event co-ordinators should be aware that the link to tourism may strategically help to increase commitment and experience satisfaction levels among the volunteers, who are less obvious and thus a potential tourism market.

The Influence of Past Experiences on the Motivation of Adult Volunteers

From its’ conception, 4-H has encouraged volunteerism and utilized volunteers to accomplish its’ mission - to assist youth in acquiring knowledge, developing life skills, and forming attitudes that will enable them to become self-directing, productive and contributing members of society. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the factors that motivated [state] 4-H camp volunteers to volunteer with 4-H youth. The Volunteer Functions Inventory was used as the theoretical base for this study. The Values construct (M=3.68) of the VFI was the highest motivating factor of adult 4-H volunteers. The Understanding construct (M=3.39) ranked the second highest motivational factor in volunteerism followed by Social construct (M=3.28), the Enhancement construct (M = 3.05) and the Protective construct (M=2.78). The Career construct (M=2.61) was the least motivating factor to adult volunteers. It was also found that participants that were not involved with 4-H as a youth volunteered more days per year than did participants who were former 4-H members.

The functions and norms that drive university student volunteering

Abstract Young adult volunteers are vital to the current and future operations of nonprofit organizations yet many countries report low and declining volunteer participation by this group. Moreover, university students are a particularly under‐utilized and under‐researched segment of potential young adult volunteers. As such, the current study examines the functions and norms that drive university students to volunteer. A survey of 282 students indicates that the Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI) does not adequately explain the volunteering of today's university students. For instance, t‐tests reveal that the importance of the VFI functions among current students differs significantly to the importance of the functions among the previous generation of students. Also, factor analysis shows that the structure of the VFI model is unstable for the current sample while multiple regression reveals that the VFI explains only 11% of university student volunteering. In contrast, χ2‐tests indicate that volunteering by university students is dependent on the observed volunteering of primary reference group members (i.e., parents, siblings, close friends). The results suggest that nonprofit organizations may need to revise their recruitment strategies for today's university students: rather than appealing to the functional benefits of volunteering, positioning volunteering as the ‘normal’ thing to do may be more successful. Further research is needed to develop a richer understanding of reference group influences on the volunteering behavior of today's young adults. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A Functional Analysis of Secondary School Students’Motives for Volunteering

This investigation examined whether or not a functional analysis was useful in understanding the motives for secondary school students’ motives for volunteering. Specifically, we coded comments from fifteen student interviews into the following five functions: value-expressive, social-adjustive, ego-defensive, knowledge, and social-affirming. We calculated the percentages of students whose responses included each of the five functions and found that the students’ responses were consistent with a functional analysis. The implication of these findings for the creation of a Volunteer Functions Inventory for students is discussed.

Animal Welfare Volunteers: Who Are They and Why Do They Do What They Do?

ABSTRACTAlthough the volunteerism literature has grown in recent years, our understanding of those who volunteer to help non-human animals rather than humans is lacking. In light of the continuing difficulty animal shelters face in recruiting and retaining volunteers, a better understanding is long overdue. The purposes of the current investigation were to develop a demographic portrait of animal welfare volunteers, to assess the functions served by volunteering with animal welfare organizations (e.g., animal shelters), and to determine whether the Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI; Clary et al. 1998) is a valid instrument to use with those who volunteer to help animals. The VFI measures volunteer motivations along six dimensions and has been used extensively in human-to-human volunteer contexts. A national sample of 426 animal welfare volunteers was given modified versions of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2007) annual “Volunteering in the United States” survey and of the VFI. Results suggest that the typical animal welfare volunteer is female, White, pet-owning, heterosexual, employed, childless, married or partnered, Democrat-leaning, between the ages of 40 and 59, has an income between $50,000 and $99,999, and is Protestant. Additionally, it was found that the modified VFI is indeed a valid instrument to use with this population and reveals that animal welfare volunteers are primarily motivated by a need to act on important values relating to animals. Implications for successful recruitment and retention of volunteers are also discussed.

Comparison of Volunteer Motivations in Different Youth Sport Organizations

Volunteers are a crucial component of the work force in the sport industry, particularly in youth sports. Understanding the factors that cause and sustain sport volunteerism would assist sport organizations in recruiting and retaining volunteers. The purpose of the current study was to compare motivation among volunteers at different youth sport organizations/events. Research participants (n=1,099) were four groups of volunteers working at international, national, local and special-needs youth sport organizations/events, who responded to the Modified Volunteer Functions Inventory for Sports (MVFIS) with six factors: Values, Understanding, Social, Career, Enhancement and Protective. A factorial (2×4) multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed that the mean vector MVFIS factor scores were significantly different among the various organization types and between genders. Follow-up analyses revealed that volunteers working at the international and special-needs sport events displayed higher motivations in all six factor areas than volunteers at the national and local organizations. Female volunteers were higher in Values and Understanding factors.

Exploration of the Factorial Structure of the Revised Personal Functions of the Volunteerism Scale for Chinese Adolescents

Participation in volunteer services can be regarded as an indicator of quality of life among adolescents. The Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI) has long been used to assess the underlying motives of volunteers. Owing to conceptual, methodological and empirical limitations, the VFI could not be fully endorsed to understand Chinese adolescent volunteerism. Another scale was devised, called the Revised Personal Functions of the Volunteerism Scale (R-PFVS). This study focused on the exploration of the factorial structure of the R-PFVS. The R-PFVS was administered to a large sample of Chinese adolescents (N = 5, 946). Data were split into two halves: one for exploratory factor analysis and the other for confirmatory factor analysis. The scale showed good factorial validity. Seven factors were revealed, namely, well-being, learning, socializing, pro-social competence, altruistic concern, future plan, and civic responsibility functions. The factors were highly correlated with each other. A second-order factor model was established, and all seven factors were loaded on this higher-order abstract factor. The R-PFVS subscales and the overall scale demonstrated good internal consistency. The findings were compared with the VFI. The R-PFVS can be used in assessing the underlying motives behind volunteerism among Chinese adolescents and in studies on the quality of life.

English

Few studies in urban forestry have examined the motivations of urban forestry volunteers. In this research, two social psychological theories (Volunteer Functions Inventory and Volunteer Process Model) are utilized to examine motivations for participating in tree planting activities. The Volunteer Functions Inventory can be used to examine the needs, goals and motivations that individuals seek to fulfill through volunteerism. The Volunteer Process Model sheds light on the antecedents, experiences and consequences of volunteerism at multiple levels (individual, interpersonal, organizational, and societal). An understanding of volunteer motivations can aid practitioners in the development and implementation of participatory urban forestry programs that are attractive to stakeholders. We conducted a survey of volunteers who participated in a MillionTreesNYC volunteer planting event and a focus group of urban forestry practitioners. Survey results reveal that volunteers have varied motivations and a limited knowledge of the community level impacts of trees. Results from the focus group reveal that providing education about the benefits of trees and maintaining long-term communication with volunteers are frequently used strategies for engagement. However, the public‘s lack of knowledge about urban forestry and an inability to connect to audiences are practitioner-identified challenges for recruiting stakeholders to participate in their programs.

Motivos del Voluntariado: Categorización de las Motivaciones de los Voluntarios Mediante Pregunta Abierta

Most studies of volunteers’ motivations use standardized questionnaires with one of the most commonly-used being the Volunteer Function Inventory. Open-ended questions about what drives individuals to be volunteers are seldom used. We hypothesize that questionnaires tend to overestimate the number of motivations and to underestimate their variety. Therefore, in this paper we analyze the answers of 1515 volunteers to an open-ended question and categorize these answers. Results show that volunteers give an average of 2 motivations, fewer than the questionnaires, and that the Value motivation is the most frequently mentioned and the most important for volunteers. In addition, this motivation coexists with other motivations, which are lacking in the standard questionnaires, such as Organizational Commitment, Personal Development, Religiosity, Social Change or Interest in the Activity.

Psychometric properties of the volunteer functions inventory with Chinese students

AbstractThe authors report an evaluation of the psychometric properties of a Chinese version of the Volunteer Functions Inventory on a sample of university student volunteers. Reliabilities were high for four out of the six scales of the Inventory (Values, Career, Social, and Understanding) in terms of internal consistency. Items in these four scales also yielded a clean structure in an exploratory factor analysis. Making new friends was found to be a motive, which was separate from sustaining friendships and separate from other motives captured by the Inventory. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the superiority of a 6‐factor model over other measurement models such as unitary, bipartite, and second‐order factor models. Implications for the measurement of motives in volunteerism in general and refinement of the Inventory in particular, are discussed. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Modification of the Volunteer Functions Inventory for application in youth sports

The purpose of this study was to modify the Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI) to be specifically applicable to assess volunteer motivation in youth sport settings. Based on a comprehensive review of literature, the VFI items were first modified to reflect the context of youth sports. Testing of measurement properties was accomplished through two studies. In Study One, the modified VFI was administered to volunteers ( N = 515) of a nationwide youth soccer organization. Data were randomly split into two-halves: one for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with principal-axis extraction and oblique rotation, and the other for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with maximum likelihood estimation. In the EFA, six factors emerged which were consistent with the dimensions of the VFI; however, 12 items were eliminated due to double loading or misspecification, resulting in 18 items being retained. The CFA revealed that the data fit the 6-factor model well. In Study Two, the resolved scale was re-validated through a sample of 262 volunteers of local youth sport leagues. Overall, findings of these two studies suggest that the modified VFI for youth sports is a valid and reliable scale. This scale may be adopted to study various volunteer motivation issues associated with youth sport organizations and events.

Age and motives for volunteering: Further evidence

This work has explored the socioemotional selectivity theory (Cartensen, 1995) with the purpose of evaluating how people selectively optimize their activities involving social investments as they increase in age, investing more in self-relevant and emotionally meaningful goals. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to test hypotheses derived from the socioemotional selectivity theory regarding the effects of age on motives for volunteering. The Volunteer Functions Inventory (Clary et al., 1998) was completed by 214 volunteers affiliated with different organizations. Results indicated that, as age increases, career, understanding and making friends volunteer motivations decrease, while social and values volunteer motivations increase. Possible implications for volunteer management in organizations are analyzed.

Medical Students' Motivations to Volunteer: An Examination of the Nature of Gender Differences

A sample of medical students was surveyed using the Volunteer Functions Inventory, an instrument that assesses the importance of 6 possible motives to volunteer that range from altruistic and humanitarian concern for others to more self-interested, career-related motives. Researchers in the past have described mean differences and rank differences for gender. Profile analysis was conducted to assess the relative importance of each motive by gender. Women rated all motives higher than did men. The relative ranking of the importance of the motives was similar for both genders. Contrary to previous studies, women rated instrumental motives at least as high as did men. Both genders rated altruistic motives highly. The results of this study may be used to inform a training curriculum or advertising campaign aimed at increasing volunteer efforts.