Development and test of a model linking volunteer motivation to individual and organizational outcomes

Abstract

Although non-profit organizations have important mandates, they often struggle to recruit and retain volunteers. Therefore, research investigating volunteer motivation, and its associated outcomes, is of utmost importance. The current study used a longitudinal research design to examine the differential effects of volunteer motivation on both individual (i.e., psychological well-being, volunteer work engagement) and organizational (i.e., commitment, turnover intention, fundraising performance) outcomes. Specifically, data were collected from 72 volunteers on nine occasions over the course of a five-month fundraising campaign. Findings demonstrated that autonomously motivated volunteers had increased psychological well-being, enhanced volunteer work engagement, increased affective commitment, decreased turnover intention, and were more likely to reach or surpass their fundraising goals. In contrast, volunteers with controlled motivation had decreased psychological well-being, increased continuance commitment, and increased turnover intention. Furthermore, changes in autonomous motivation were associated with changes in affective commitment while changes in controlled motivation corresponded with changes in continuance commitment.