An expectancy theory perspective of volunteerism: the roles of powerlessness, attitude toward charitable organizations,
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An expectancy theory perspective of volunteerism: the roles of powerlessness, attitude toward charitable organizations, and attitude toward helping others James J. Zboja 1
& Ralph
W. Jackson 2 & Marsha Grimes-Rose 3
Received: 12 June 2020 / Accepted: 11 August 2020/ # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract The attraction and retention of volunteers are vital components to the operation of a nonprofit organization (NPO). Understanding the motivations of volunteers is an important step to recruiting and retaining them. To add to our understanding of volunteer motivation, this research seeks to contribute to the nonprofit literature by applying an updated version of Vroom’s (1964) expectancy theory of motivation to volunteerism to determine whether individuals who regularly volunteer and who volunteer in groups feel less powerlessness and have more positive attitudes toward charitable organizations and toward helping others. Analysis of 210 surveyed consumers in a metropolitan area of approximately one million people in the midwestern U.S. found that individuals that volunteer on a regular, ongoing basis have significantly more positive attitudes toward charitable organizations and toward helping others in general. The results also indicated that individuals that volunteered as part of a group held more positive attitudes toward charitable organizations. Implications of these findings, limitations of the study, and directions for future research are provided. Keywords Nonprofit . Volunteerism . Expectancy theory . Powerlessness . Charitable
organizations . Helping others
* James J. Zboja [email protected] Ralph W. Jackson [email protected] Marsha Grimes-Rose [email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article
J. J. Zboja et al.
1 Introduction Given their limited resources and desire to do more with less, nonprofit organizations (NPOs) rely on volunteers who share their goals and values to help execute their missions. While overall volunteer hours and fundraising totals have hit record highs in recent years, research by the University of Maryland’s Do Good Institute has also indicated that the percentage of Americans who volunteer and donate to nonprofits is at its lowest in twenty years (Ahmad 2018). These results were culled by an analysis of data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics and included in a report titled “Where are America’s Volunteers?” Even more concerning is their finding that volunteerism’s decline is “surprisingly more prevalent in states historically rich in social capital” (p. 1). The group norms provided by social networks would be thought to generally buck the decline of volunteerism trend; however, this is currently not the case. Reliance on a smaller number of volunteers is not likely to be a winning strategy for the long-term. Additionally, over one-third of volunteers don’t return to any nonprofit due to poor management and lack of recognition, adding up to an estim
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