Abstract
Purpose. Communities, cities, states and the federal government rely on volunteers to implement programs that would otherwise fail without their assistance. The problem remains that we do not know what accounts for continuous volunteerism. The purpose of this study was to investigate motivational factors that could account for continual volunteerism in individuals. Theoretical framework. The framework for this study was based on five selected theories (referred to as CAESER): Communitarianism, Altruism, Egoism, Social Exchange, and Reward. Methodology. This theory-based case study utilized a cross-sectional design providing a snapshot of two relationships between types of organization (health and community service) and the type of motivation (CAESER). The data collection methods included a questionnaire and telephone interviews. Findings. When the community service organizations (CSOs) were broken down and compared to the health service organizations (HSOs), it was found that the small CSO volunteers were more communitarian than the small HSO volunteers. The volunteers in the combined large and small HSOs were more altruistic than the volunteers in the combined CSOs. It was also found that the more organizations to which an individual volunteer belongs and the more hours an individual volunteers, the more altruistic the volunteer becomes. Social exchange motivation was found to increase with the more years an individual volunteers in the same organization. Reward motivation was more significant in small CSO volunteers than the HSO volunteers. Many of these findings remained the same even after controlling for the volunteers' education levels and age. Conclusions and recommendations. It was found the HSO volunteers were more altruistic than the CSO volunteers. CSO volunteers were found to be more communitarian, egoistic, and reward motivated than the HSO volunteers. Finally, the more years an individual volunteers, the more socially exchange motivated and altruistic the volunteer. It is recommended that volunteers be placed in positions or assigned tasks that meet their motivational needs (helping others, versus self-achievement). Future studies may test the CAESER motivations in the recruitment process of volunteers and compare the outcome to this study on continual volunteerism.