Effects of motives, volunteer role identity and sense of community on sustained volunteering

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of volunteer motives, volunteer role identity, sense of community, social responsibility and satisfaction with volunteering experience on length of volunteering and amount of time spent volunteering. 294 volunteers of Turkish Association of Education Volunteers (TEGV) participated in the study. Sense of community was found to be the only predictor of length of volunteering and none of the variables predicted amount of time spent volunteering in TEGV. Additional analyses pointed out that understanding and protective motivations, sense of community and social responsibility were determinants of volunteer role identity whereas enhancement motivation and sense of community were the only variables predicting satisfaction with volunteering experience. Overall, results showed that sense of community decreased with duration of volunteering and strength of volunteer role identity was related to self-oriented motivations, shaped by a general tendency to help others and feelings of belonging to the group. In addition, TEGV volunteers felt more satisfied if they volunteered for personal development and to enhance self-esteem, and felt stronger sense of community in TEGV. The present study is believed to contribute to volunteering literature by including sense of community and social responsibility to the study and emphasizing the effect of the type of non-governmental organization on volunteering experience. Besides, the study is one of the few studies attempting to provide a profile of Turkish volunteers and to determine the factors underlying their volunteering behaviors.