Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-1-2008
Abstract
With over 153 million U.S. citizens in the labor force but only about a quarter of them engaged in community volunteer work (Bureau of Labor Statistics of the US Department of Labor, 2006), the workplace is clearly an under-tapped source of volunteer labor. As the need for volunteers accelerates and supply remains stagnant, it becomes imperative to understand how to recruit volunteers from the workplace. Interviews with twenty seven employees of six US corporations were conducted to probe how beliefs about outcomes and consequences of volunteerism, the influence of important social referent groups and self perceptions of relevant skills and abilities related to volunteering effect employee's volunteer behaviors. Our findings indicate that corporate support for volunteering was not a strong influencing factor, but personal benefit in the form of social camaraderie, companionship, and connections with others is a primary objective for many employees. Employee propensity to volunteer based on a perceived positive social outcome suggests a focus for practice as well as further research.
Keywords
voluntarism
Rights
© The Author(s). Kelvin Smith Library provides access for non-commercial, personal, or research use only. All other use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly reproductions, redistribution, publication or transmission, whether by electronic means or otherwise, without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.
Department/Center
Design & Innovation
Recommended Citation
Teeague, Donna E., "Employee Volunteerism: Social Benefits Trump Altruism" (2008). Student Scholarship. 184.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/184