'I want to know why he does good' : exploring the factors involved in formal volunteering behaviour
No Thumbnail Available
Authors
Cunningham, Sharon
Issue Date
2007
Degree
BA in Psychology
Publisher
Dublin Business School
Rights holder
Rights
Items in Esource are protected by copyright. Previously published items are made available in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher/copyright holder.
Abstract
It has been estimated that 29% of the Irish population engage in Formal Volunteering, (Ruddle & Mulvihill, 1999) yet the understanding of the psychology of such behaviour is limited (Snyder & Omoto, 2000). The aim of this study was to investigate the motivational, personality and well-being factors involved in Formal Volunteering. There were 193 (n=193) respondents involved in this study, all recruited from convenience samples. An independent survey design was used, the two independent variables were; volunteer status, with two levels (volunteer and non volunteer) and volunteer group with four levels (crisis, helpline, community and hospice volunteers). The dependant variables were volunteer motivations (with 6 sub-scales), personality traits (with 2 sub-scales) and well-being (with 2 subscales). Statistical significance (p<0.05) was calculated using a series of Mann Whitney-U and Kruskal Wallis tests. These results were interpreted in light of previous research and recommendations for future research direction discussed.