2. Volunteers are individuals who make a conscious
decision to work as an unpaid member of an
organization without external obligations to remain.
Whether or not a volunteer remains committed to an
organization is influenced by non-extrinsic
motivating factors
◦ Intrinsic needs
Self-efficacy
Pride
Respect
Perceived support
Affective relatedness
◦ Job Satisfaction
◦ Organization commitment
Chacon, Vecina, & Davila, 2007
3. Corporation for National and Community Service, 2014
Washington State 2012
•34.5% of residents volunteer
•In 2012 volunteers contributed
254 million hours of service
Volunteer workers allow agencies to staff
unskilled positions with unpaid staff allowing
allocation of fiscal resources to be distributed
to facility management, program development,
and compensating skilled positions.
4. Exploring what retains volunteer workers is
important because volunteer turnover can
◦ Reduce productivity
◦ Induce negative staff moral for paid employees and
volunteers
◦ Degenerate rapport with service recipeients
◦ Increase recruitment costs
◦ Decrease service quality
5. Indirect Predictors Direct Predictors Outcome
Intrinsic need satisfaction
Importance of work
Pride
Respect
Affective Relatedness
Self-efficacy
Perceived support
•Stated intent to remain
•Job Satisfaction
•Organizational Commitment
•Affective Commitment
•Normative Commitment
Actual duration of service
6. Independent Variable(s):
◦ Intrinsic Needs
Pride, Respect, Importance of work, Affective Relatedness,
Self-efficacy, Perceived support
◦ Job Satisfaction
◦ Organization Commitment
Dependent Variable(s):
◦ Job satisfaction
◦ Organization Commitment
◦ Reported volunteer intentions to remain after 3, 6, and
12 months from time of the survey
7. Design and Sampling
◦ Exploratory
◦ Quantitative data
◦ Convenience sample of volunteers presently associated to
agency List-serve
After data collection participants who indicated they held a paid
position were removed from the analyzed data
Measures
◦ 10 questions related to demographic data
◦ 47 questions all of which use ordinal likert-type scales to
measue each item
24 questions related to intrinsic needs
13 questions related to organization commitment
7questions related to job satisfaction
3 questions related to respondent’s intention to remain as a
volunteer at the organization
8. Data Analysis
◦ Multiple bivariate correlation tests
◦ Intent to remain was the primary dependent
variable with intrinsic needs, job satisfaction, and
organization commitment as the independent
variables
◦ I also looked at job satisfaction and organization
commitment as dependent variables relative to
intrinsic needs and the ‘Intrinsic need’ subscale
9. 43 individuals responded to and completed
the survey
◦ Of those 3 participants’ results were removed as
they indicated they currently helpd paid positions at
the agency
Overall response rate was ~8%
11. Initial motivation for
volunteering at ROOTS
Frequency of volunteer
shifts
1. Have opportunities for
new experiences
2. Self-development
3. Gain job experience
related to social
services.
4. Have opportunities to
meet people and make
friends.
5. Learn leadership and
interpersonal skills.
14.29%
14.29%
16.67%38.10%
11.90% 4.76%
How often do you volunteer
at Roots
Less than monthly
1-2 times per month
3-4 times per month)
Weekly
1-3 times per week
More than 3 times per
week
12. Statistics
Intrinsic
Needs
Satisfaction
Scale
Organization
Commitment
Scale
Intent to
remain
after 3
months
Intent to
remain
after 6
months
Intent to
remain
after 12
months
N Valid 40 40 40 35 34 33
Missing 0 0 0 5 6 7
Mean 4.3570 5.7571 5.1189 4.4857 4.3529 4.0909
Std. Deviation .37656 1.05535 .87274 .65849 .69117 .84275
Skewness -.158 -2.376 .182 -.928 -.603 -.179
Std. Error of
Skewness
.374 .374 .374 .398 .403 .409
Correlations
Satisfaction Scale
Organization
Commitment Scale
Intrinsic
Needs
Satisfaction
Scale
Pearson Correlation 1 .221 .314*
Sig. (2-tailed) .171 .049
N 40 40 40
Organizatio
n
Commitme
nt Scale
Pearson Correlation .221 1 .542**
Sig. (2-tailed) .171 .000
N 40 40 40
Intent to
remain after
3 months
Pearson Correlation .271 .668** .665**
Sig. (2-tailed) .115 .000 .000
N 35 35 35
Intent to
remain after
6 months
Pearson Correlation .331 .722** .737**
Sig. (2-tailed) .056 .000 .000
N 34 34 34
Intent to
remain after
12 months
Pearson Correlation .226 .497** .511**
Sig. (2-tailed) .205 .003 .002
N 33 33 33
13. Correlations
Respect Pride
Perceived
Support Importance of Work Relatedness Self Efficacy
Satisfact
ion
Scale
Pearson
Correlation
.236 .295 .336* .160 .250 .144
Sig. (2-tailed) .143 .064 .034 .323 .120 .374
N 40 40 40 40 40 40
Organiz
ation
Commit
ment
Scale
Pearson
Correlation
.509** .318* .392* .485** .194 .491**
Sig. (2-tailed) .001 .046 .012 .001 .231 .001
N 40 40 40 40 40 40
Intent to
remain
after 3
months
Pearson
Correlation
.520** .532** .571** .508** .450** .470**
Sig. (2-tailed) .001 .001 .000 .002 .007 .004
N 35 35 35 35 35 35
Intent to
remain
after 6
months
Pearson
Correlation
.592** .561** .590** .572** .411* .602**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .001 .000 .000 .016 .000
N 34 34 34 34 34 34
Intent to
remain
after 12
months
Pearson
Correlation
.483** .312 .473** .301 .367* .360*
Sig. (2-tailed) .004 .077 .005 .089 .036 .039
N 33 33 33 33 33 33
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
14. Focus volunteer retention efforts on aspects that
are most significantly related to long-term
intentions to continue volunteering
◦ Respect
◦ Perceived Support
Discuss via qualitative inquiry what do various
elements look like or mean to the volunteers
External demographic characteristics may not
significantly impact volunteer retentions
Given that the volunteer work being done is
direct service these volunteers may have higher
initial organization commitment than other
populations because of the type of work/direct
interaction with service recipients
15. Sample Size
Geographic distinctions
◦ Volunteer behaviors locally versus other regions or
national statistics
Agency specific
◦ Type of work
◦ Volunteer population
Initial motivations for volunteering
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Seattle, WA. Retrieved from Volunteering and Civic Life in America: www.volunteeringinamerica.gov
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Editor's Notes
If a volunteer feels that their needs or goals are not being met, within their role or the organization, they are well positioned to exit the organization in search of more fulfilling opportunities; thus it may be beneficial for organizations to foster volunteer commitment through positive experiences in order to reduce turnover behaviors (Laczo & Hanisch, 1999).
