The Impact of Volunteering Motivation for Older Korean Adults on Social Integration and Role Identity

As life expectancy increases, older Korean adults need more activities for the next 20 to 30 years after their retirement. Rowe and Kahn indicate active social participation as an area of successful aging. After retirement, older adults uphold a desire to be part of society. This study examines the motivation effects for volunteering on social integration, role identity and volunteer satisfaction. Subjects for this study are 303 older volunteers belonging to the Korean Senior Citizens’ Association throughout South Korea. According to the results, the skills obtained through volunteering had a significant effect on social integration, role identity, and volunteer satisfaction. Value motivation also had a significant effect on social integration, and reinforcement motivation significantly affected role identity. Implications of this study were found to have various effects according to the motivation for volunteering. Therefore, it will be important to understand the older adults’ motives so that they can volunteer accordingly.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VOLUNTEERS SATISFACTION AND INTENTION TO CONTINUE VOLUNTEERING IN COMMUNITY RUNNING EVENTS

This purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between volunteers’ satisfaction and intention to continue volunteering as a volunteer in the future. There were 133 volunteers from MY10K Night run involved in this community-running event. Volunteer’ satisfaction and intention to continue volunteering questionnaires were used in this study. The data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics to identify the percentage, mean, standard deviation and pearson correlation. The study findings showed that there was a significant relationship between the volunteers’ satisfaction and the intention to continue volunteering (r=0.37, p<0.01). The nature of work (m=4.10) was the highest factor of volunteers’ satisfaction to remain as volunteers in future events and followed by appreciation (m=4.01). Whereas supervision and communication (m=3.96) were found to be least volunteers’ satisfaction to remain as volunteers. Identifying these factors of volunteering, as well as the relations between them, can be beneficial for the management of volunteers to retain the experienced volunteers and to ensure the continuation of the event in the future.

Designing “National Day of Service” Projects to Promote Volunteer Job Satisfaction

National Day of Service (NDS) volunteering events have become common, yet little is known about how the design of such events affects volunteer satisfaction. This relationship is important because volunteer satisfaction ensures a strong volunteer base for special events and promotes sustained volunteerism. We explore how the design of NDS projects promotes volunteer job satisfaction. Our approach to the research question is informed by work design theory. Based on interview, participant observation, and focus-group data from an NDS in the Netherlands, the findings suggest that nonprofit organizations can elicit volunteer job satisfaction by designing NDS projects that create a sense of added value, support productivity, and make volunteers feel comfortable. Designing NDS projects that incorporate task significance, symbolic social support, feedback from others, beneficiary contact, task identity, project preparation, physically demanding work, social support, and limited autonomy help to achieve these goals.

The Relationship Between Leadership Behaviors and Volunteer Commitment: The Role of Volunteer Satisfaction

Despite the relative scarcity of studies on the impact of leadership styles on satisfaction and commitment of volunteers within non-profit organizations, this relationship plays a crucial role in fostering sustained volunteerism and volunteers' well-being. A questionnaire was administered to more than 200 volunteers involved in delivering social services in non-profit organizations from Central and Northern Italy. The questionnaire contained the Volunteer Satisfaction Index, the sub-scale on Affective Commitment of the Organizational Commitment Scale, and two sub-scales of the Key Leadership Behaviors, namely: Helping people to grow and lead, and Enabling learning and innovation. Socio-demographic data were collected as well. Findings revealed that leaders' actions oriented toward the enablement of learning and innovation have an effect on volunteers' affective commitment, through the full mediation of volunteer satisfaction. Leaders' actions oriented toward the growth and empowerment of volunteers, instead, did not show significant relationships with volunteer satisfaction and affective commitment.