Transitions Into and Out of Voluntary Work Over the Life Course: What is the Effect of Major Life Events?

The aim of the current study is to investigate which major life events are associated with transitions into and out of volunteering over the life course and, especially, why these associations exist. Social Production Function theory is used to derive hypotheses, which are tested using longitudinal data (adult subsample) from Lifelines. Associations between major life events and (a) volunteer take-up, nonvolunteer sample ( N = 59,773) and (b) volunteer cessation, volunteer sample ( N = 32,143) are studied by applying Linear Probability Modeling. Results show clear associations between specific major life events and starting and quitting volunteering. The influence on the latter is stronger than on the former. Most findings are in line with our theory-based expectations indicating that (a) voluntary work contributes especially to the fulfillment of the needs for status, stimulation, and behavioral confirmation and (2) life events causing losses (gains) in these needs are associated with a higher likelihood to take-up (quit) volunteering.

So tired, I can't even help you: how work-related sleep deprivation evokes dehumanization of organizational leaders and less organizational citizenship behavior

To unpack the relationship between employees' work-induced sleep deprivation and their organizational citizenship behavior, this study details a mediating role of their propensities to dehumanize their organizational leaders, as well as a moderating role of perceived job formalization. Survey data collected from employees who work in the oil distribution sector show that a critical reason that persistent sleep problems, caused by work, reduce the likelihood that they engage in voluntary work efforts is that they treat organizational leaders as impersonal objects. Perceptions of the presence of job formalization or red tape invigorate this detrimental effect. For organizational practitioners, this study accordingly reveals a notable danger for employees who have trouble sleeping due to work: They do not take on extra work that otherwise could add to their organizational standing. This counterproductive dynamic is particularly salient when employees believe that their work functioning is constrained by strict organizational policies and guidelines.

Linking ages – un/doing age and family in the Covid-19 pandemic

Objective: In this paper we ask how and through which social practices age and family are relationally being un/done in the course of the pandemic in Germany, and how these un/doings shape, shift or even break intergenerational relations. Background: The spread of the coronavirus and the attempts of governments to slow it down are severely affecting livelihoods worldwide. The institutionalised ageism underlying these government measures affects the youngest and oldest in society in particular (Ayalon et al. 2020; van Dyk et al. 2020). Intergenerational relations of social reproduction enacted, inter alia, through practices of eldercare, grandparenting, or voluntary work, are significantly limited in the current pandemic, as older adults are framed as an 'at-risk group', children as 'silent transmitters', and young adults as a 'risky group' (Ayalon et al. 2020; Stokes & Patterson 2020). These constructions contribute to the constitution, stabilisation and 'doing' of age in the pandemic. Method: We present findings from longitudinal research that was conducted through qualitative, problem-centred interviews between March 2020 and February 2021 with persons of different ages living in different household and care constellations in Germany. Results: Whereas in non-pandemic times doing age can be constitutive for doing family – as a constellation traditionally perceived to comprise multiple generations – we see the opposite happening in the pandemic: as age-based government measures to contain the spread of the virus limit intergenerational relations, older adults face the risk of being excluded from families. Hence, doing age can lead to a redoing or even an undoing of family. Conclusion: The paper outlines the potential of a 'linking ages' approach for the study of family lives and of intergenerational relations in times of crises.

Volunteering in the time of COVID-19. The Polish example for Europe

The subject of the article is the analysis of the possibilities of using the volunteering to counteract adverse effects of crisis situation based on the example of the coronavirus pandemic. The authors examine the Solidarity Corps for Seniors’ Support (pl. Solidarnościowy Korpus Wsparcia Seniorów) and the local system Warsaw Supports ( pl. system Warszawa Wspiera) applying the institutional and normative method, and case study method in an attempt to provide answers to the following questions: (1) How and under what rules was the volunteering potential used to support the citizens? (2) Did the actions based on volunteer activity undertaken in Poland efficiently complement the work of public authorities? (3) Is the implementation of the developed solutions and their usage within the European Solidarity Corps structure possible in similar cases in the future? The case study allows to conclude that Polish solutions proved to be efficient and allowed to formulate the proposals of establishing a broader cooperation between the EU Member States concerning experience sharing in voluntary work development in crisis situations.

Rational regulation of water-seeking effort in rodents

In the laboratory, animals’ motivation to work tends to be positively correlated with reward magnitude. But in nature, rewards earned by work are essential to survival (e.g., working to find water), and the payoff of that work can vary on long timescales (e.g., seasonally). Under these constraints, the strategy of working less when rewards are small could be fatal. We found that instead, rats in a closed economy did more work for water rewards when the rewards were stably smaller, a phenomenon also observed in human labor supply curves. Like human consumers, rats showed elasticity of demand, consuming far more water per day when its price in effort was lower. The neural mechanisms underlying such “rational” market behaviors remain largely unexplored. We propose a dynamic utility maximization model that can account for the dependence of rat labor supply (trials/day) on the wage rate (milliliter/trial) and also predict the temporal dynamics of when rats work. Based on data from mice, we hypothesize that glutamatergic neurons in the subfornical organ in lamina terminalis continuously compute the instantaneous marginal utility of voluntary work for water reward and causally determine the amount and timing of work.

Helping While Social Distancing: Pathogen Avoidance Motives Influence People’s Helping Intentions during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The behavioral immune system (BIS) theory suggests that pathogen avoidance motives relate to greater behavioral avoidance against social interactions that pose potential risks of pathogen transmission. Based on the BIS theory, pathogen avoidance motives would decrease people’s helping behavior towards others. However, would pathogen avoidance motives decrease all types of helping behavior towards others during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (i.e., COVID-19) pandemic indiscriminately? In the present study, we conducted a within-subjects design to compare people’s helping intentions toward voluntary work with and without social contact. Specifically, participants (N = 1562) completed an online survey at the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in China measuring pathogen disgust sensitivity, state anxiety, and intentions to perform volunteer work with and without social contact. Results revealed that pathogen disgust sensitivity negatively predicted intentions to perform voluntary work with social contact yet had no influence on intentions to perform socially distanced voluntary work. Moreover, the effect of pathogen disgust sensitivity on socially distanced volunteering preference was mediated by the state anxiety people experienced during the pandemic. The findings have implications for understanding people’s helping behavior during the pandemic.

Absolutely Positively Ageing: Positive ageing and volunteering in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand

<p>Population ageing is a key development issue worldwide, and governments around the world are working to address the changing needs that accompany this demographic shift (Vos, Ocampo & Cortez, 2008). In New Zealand, the Government and the Wellington City Council have developed the Positive Ageing Strategy (2001) and the Positive Ageing Policy (2012) respectively in response to population ageing. Both the Strategy and the Policy pay particular attention to the importance of the continued social inclusion of older people in their communities. One of the ways that this inclusion is encouraged is through older people’s participation in voluntary activities. This research explores the lived experiences of older people who volunteer in the Wellington region to understand the nature of the relationship between volunteering and positive ageing. The exploratory nature of the research necessitated a qualitative research design. Through semi-structured interviews with 12 members of the volunteer community I explored the underlying themes of this research project including motivations for participation in voluntary work, skills and knowledge brought to and developed through volunteering, challenges and barriers to participation in voluntary work, and the participants’ awareness of representations and stereotypes around ageing. The research findings illustrate the complexities inherent in the relationship between volunteering and positive ageing and show how volunteering was used by the participants as a means to resist and challenge negative stereotypes and representations of ageing. There was a fine balance between the promotion of volunteering as one of a multitude of ways in which older people can participate in their communities and overstating the benefits of volunteering to individuals and their communities without revealing the potential challenges.</p>

Absolutely Positively Ageing: Positive ageing and volunteering in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand

<p>Population ageing is a key development issue worldwide, and governments around the world are working to address the changing needs that accompany this demographic shift (Vos, Ocampo & Cortez, 2008). In New Zealand, the Government and the Wellington City Council have developed the Positive Ageing Strategy (2001) and the Positive Ageing Policy (2012) respectively in response to population ageing. Both the Strategy and the Policy pay particular attention to the importance of the continued social inclusion of older people in their communities. One of the ways that this inclusion is encouraged is through older people’s participation in voluntary activities. This research explores the lived experiences of older people who volunteer in the Wellington region to understand the nature of the relationship between volunteering and positive ageing. The exploratory nature of the research necessitated a qualitative research design. Through semi-structured interviews with 12 members of the volunteer community I explored the underlying themes of this research project including motivations for participation in voluntary work, skills and knowledge brought to and developed through volunteering, challenges and barriers to participation in voluntary work, and the participants’ awareness of representations and stereotypes around ageing. The research findings illustrate the complexities inherent in the relationship between volunteering and positive ageing and show how volunteering was used by the participants as a means to resist and challenge negative stereotypes and representations of ageing. There was a fine balance between the promotion of volunteering as one of a multitude of ways in which older people can participate in their communities and overstating the benefits of volunteering to individuals and their communities without revealing the potential challenges.</p>

Persiflages van “Jiskefet” als lesondersteuning

The satirical television series Jiskefet ran from 1990 to 2005 at the VPRO channel. While the popular satirical television series Kooten & De Bie focused more on political parody, Jiskefet was more absurdist and mainly made parodies of certain subcultures. In this article, I want to look at how these timeless parodies can be used as course materials. Not only is Jiskefet itself part of Dutch culture, but the parodies also magnify typical Dutch cultural elements. Examples include student associations, the culture of voluntary work, nursing homes that often appear in the news, and the office culture with the inevitable lunch box and office humor. Furthermore, the parodies constitute interesting linguistic material in the form of neologisms, which have enriched the Dutch language and will also be discussed here. Finally, the fact that stereotypes and prejudices are used in parodies offers the possibility of discussing the subject with students.

Voluntary Work in Digital Contexts as Gift Exchange

Digital technologies have inspired a change in volunteering in nonprofit organizations. In this context, the engagement of volunteers is mainly self-organized, through online platforms or apps. It is the aim of this paper to analyze the volunteers’ motives, differentiating between self-interest and other-interest. This is important, since effects on organizational volunteer-related outcomes, such as volunteer engagement, recruitment and retention, are likely to occur. A gift exchange perspective is applied and a case study has been used for investigating an online-based nonprofit organization in Germany, consisting of qualitative interviews with experts and volunteers, documentary analysis and participatory observations as well as an online survey. The results show that the volunteers’ instrumental self-interest in gaining food, and their interests in other factors, such as the reduction of food wastage as a societal goal, occur simultaneously. This leads to paradoxes and problems on the organizational level. This study contributes to understanding volunteer engagement, recruitment and retention in digital nonprofit organizations.