Management practices in the nonprofit sector have been changing over the last decade. Many nonprofit organizations are now mimicking the management techniques of for-profit organizations. Referring to prevailing economic, psychological, and management theories, this paper deals with pay-for-performance plans and specifies reasons for their introduction into nonprofit organizations. The determinants of pay-for-performance effectiveness are analyzed with special emphasis on the motivational determinants. The results of the analysis are incorporated into a model of pay-for-performance effectiveness. Referring to theoretical reasoning as well as empirical studies, this paper analyzes how the motivational determinants of pay-for-performance effectiveness are coined in different types of nonprofit organizations. The paper ends with a discussion in which the author presents an alternative explanation for the introduction of pay-for-performance plans into nonprofit organizations and some suggestions for future research.

In the last twenty-five years there has been a significant alteration in the student experience in the UK. In the early 1980s it was rare for students either to fail to take exams or produce assignments on time or for them to fail to complete the degree they had begun. Now a significant proportion of students who start a programme of study withdraw before completion and this ‘attrition’ has become a particular problem for some universities and for the higher education funding bodies. This article reports the results of a project that conducted qualitative, depth interviews not focussed so much on finding reasons for having left, but rather on the experience and biography of those facing problems and thus likely to consider leaving or being forced to leave. A particular focus of this approach was to investigate a different dimension of the issue: student motivation for studying.

Charity sport activities provide a sense of contributing to the lives of others and offer participants an extra source of motivation. SL has been used in a variety of sports and recreational contexts to research dedication to leisure activities. However, no study has investigated SL in charity sports events. In this regard, a model integrating key variables from the studies of serious leisure, charity sport event participation motivation, experience value, and behavioral intentions was proposed and tested on the participants of charity sport events. It is anticipated that the findings of this study will help to understand the multidimensional aspects of charity sports event participation, which may increase the effectiveness of the organization of charity sports events. Besides, this research adds to the literature by providing empirical data analysis regarding charity sports events from an unexplored country (Turkey).

Informed by self-determination theory (SDT), this study explores older adults’ long-term community volunteering experiences and motivations in Shanghai. We took a qualitative research approach to conduct face-to-face, semi-structured, in-depth interviews with older adults who were long-term volunteers in Shanghai communities (N = 69). We performed thematic analysis and generated themes for their experiences and evolving motivations. Participants began volunteering because it was enjoyable and helped them adapt to life after retirement. As their volunteering progressed, participants’ motivations gradually evolved and they developed a fusion motivation––juewu, combining characteristics of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations––for their strong commitment to volunteering. Gradually, participants assimilated juewu into their volunteer identity, which encouraged them to lead community self-governance initiatives. This study sheds light on the evolving, nuanced, underlying motivational process that shapes older adults’ experiences of long-term community volunteering.

The examination of organizational features of voluntary associations and their effects on the experiences of volunteers traditionally received less attention than other topics. This paper aimed to examine how different features as social and task support, information and appreciation affect volunteers’ experiences in terms of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intention to remain. Moreover, potential moderating effects by motivations to volunteer in relation to the abovementioned relations were tested. Through the use of a self-report questionnaire, distributed among 162 Italian voluntary associations (final sample of 1,445 volunteers), structural equation modeling (SEM), and moderated-SEM were carried out to verify hypothesized associations and potential moderations. Job resources were associated with the three outcomes, moreover many moderating effects by the values/understanding and career motivations were found. The results were commented on the basis of the current literature, and some practical suggestions were drawn about voluntary associations’ management and volunteers’ recruitment and selection.

Although there is substantial literature demonstrating evidence of a positive association between volunteerism and well-being, this relationship is under-explored among specific types of volunteerism, including in child welfare roles. This cross-sectional quantitative study used a sample of 302 volunteers in the role of “Host Families” from Safe Families for Children to explore whether six dimensions of well-being are associated with volunteering in child welfare or any specific type of motivation. Results demonstrate mixed evidence of significant associations between volunteering, well-being, and motivation. However, the results show there is no apparent decrease in the well-being of the child welfare volunteers. Rather, they are healthy, happy, and satisfied with life despite the cultural belief that child welfare work is distressing. Additionally, this study offers reliable options for operationalizing well-being and motivation. This may promote improved opportunities for accurate comparisons between future studies investigating volunteerism.

The international debate of the shifting bases of philanthropy suggested by modernization theory has been ongoing since the beginning of the twenty-first century, yet empirical evidence remains lacking from the perspective of philanthropic motivation. The society and philanthropy of China have undergone tremendous transformation since the launch of Reform and Opening Up in 1978, providing an ideal context for testing the assumption of the shifting bases of philanthropy. Through investigating the motivation structure of collectivism and individualism behind individual giving in contemporary China, this study rejects the assumption drawing on the data from the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey (CLDS). This study helps deepen the understanding of culture’s roles during modernization. It also has important implications for how charitable giving can be effectively promoted both inside and outside of the context of China.

The present study aimed to explore underlying motivational factors of volunteerism at a special sporting event for persons with intellectual disabilities. The volunteer survey (n = 252) assessed sociodemographic characteristics, motives, satisfaction with life, psychological well-being, and affectivity of mainly intrinsically motivated volunteers versus traineeship attendees, doing a compulsory traineeship on occasion of the Innsbruck 2008 Winter Special Olympics. There was no significant variability in the motivation to volunteer scale (MVS) score between the groups. The inventory of approach and avoidance motivation (IAAM) data showed that primarily intrinsically motivated volunteers experienced higher self-gratification through their voluntary engagement. Regression analysis revealed that psychological well-being, satisfaction with life, and positive and negative affectivity was predicted by the IAAM and MVS. Individuals’ personal motives for volunteering appear to correlate with psychological well-being and affectivity and may influence prospective participation.

Volunteering in emergency situations can involve the risk of injury. Overcoming such risks may motivate some volunteers, but may also deter those who are risk-averse. This presents a challenge, as recruiting and engaging volunteers with different risk attitudes is important to ensure response capacity and a balanced organizational culture. This cross-sectional study uses data from online surveys of search-and-rescue (SAR) volunteers (n = 1,659) and the general population (n = 3,185) in Norway to examine whether trust moderates a negative relationship between risk aversion and motivation in high-risk volunteering. Results from OLS regressions show that SAR volunteers have higher levels of risk propensity (B = 0.25, p < 0.001), trust (B = 1.47, p < 0.001) and felt trust (B = 1.36, p < 0.001) than other volunteers. Risk-averse volunteers report lower motivation and participation, but trust mitigates much of the negative impact (interaction term B = −0.10, p < 0.01). These findings underline the importance of strong cultures of trust within SAR volunteer teams.

Keeping volunteers committed and engaged is one of the toughest challenges for NPOs. The aim of the present study is to investigate the individual and organizational factors that promote volunteer satisfaction and, vice versa, foster intentions to quit. Two hundred forty-seven volunteers operating in four different NPOs were asked to fill in a self-report questionnaire that aimed to explore their motivations to volunteer, their degree of satisfaction and their perception of the organizational climate in the NPO they worked with, in addition to providing details of the activities which they were involved in. Results showed that the organizational climate mediates the relationship between autonomous motivation and satisfaction, as well as that between external motivation and intentions to leave an organization.

Volunteers are integral to the delivery of health and social services in many countries. Volunteer motivation is the key phenomenon around which research into the psychology of volunteering behaviour has been based in the recent past. This study comprised interviews with 26 volunteers working with eight health and social care organizations in Ireland. The study aimed to describe and interpret reasons for initial and continued volunteering involvement. Four key themes were proposed on the basis of a thematic analysis: volunteer motives; personal connections to organizations and causes; benefits; and challenges arising from volunteering. These themes are analysed in light of social psychological theory to better understand why people volunteer and maintain their involvement in the face of competing demands. The findings suggest that benefits and challenges merit a higher profile in research into the volunteer process, and that bonds of perceived obligation motivate many volunteers to begin and continue their involvement in health and social care.

Building on the current creativity literature, the authors developed and tested a model of employee creativity in a sample of Lithuanian nonprofit organizations. It was hypothesized that individual cognitive style, intrinsic motivation, leadership behaviors, job design, cultural norms of diversity, and work group relations would be related to employee creativity. Sixty nonprofit organizations were randomly sampled from the Database of Lithuanian Nonprofit Organizations and packets containing questionnaires were mailed to the organizations that agreed to participate. One hundred and twenty two questionnaires were returned out of 180 total (67.8% response rate). Results showed that innovative cognitive style, intrinsic motivation, and cultural norms for diversity were the most important predictors, explaining 41.5% of variance in employee creativity. Suggestions for hiring and staff development practices are provided along with implications for future research.

This article assesses monetary and nonmonetary, extrinsic and intrinsic, motivation factors that drive workers in faith-based international nonprofit organizations to perform effectively. The research uses a two-phase explanatory mixed method design. The quantitative correlational research administers a web-based survey to correlate a measure of monetary and nonmonetary incentives, leadership style, and organizational culture with a measure of motivation levels. Three faith-based nonprofit international humanitarian organizations used the instrument; 538 participants completed the survey. Data reveals positive significant correlation between workers’ motivation level and nonmonetary incentives, leadership style, and organizational culture, but no significant relationship between workers’ motivation level and monetary incentives. Post-survey descriptive open-ended interviews were conducted with 30 participants to explore patterns of intrinsic, work-related, motivational factors that drive workers to excel in their performance. The findings of the qualitative data complement the quantitative analysis. A leadership–motivation model presents new understanding of the close association between leadership style and motivational outcome.

This study empirically evaluates the effects of motivation for philanthropic giving on distinct charitable practices of immigrants, namely ethnic donation versus mainstream donation. The study pays special attention to three major types of motives: rational motives, normative motives, and civic duty. Based on the Korean-American Philanthropic Survey, the study constructs a bivariate probit regression model to assess the relationship between motivation and charitable practices. South Korean immigrants’ ethnic donation and their mainstream donation were explained by different types of motives: Normative motives represented the primary explanatory factor for ethnic donation, and civic duty motives represented the key factor for mainstream donation. However, rational motives were related to neither form of donation. There was a negative relationship between mainstream donation and ethnic donation.

Volunteers are an integral part of the labor pool in the sports industry and organizations benefit from the extensive contributions that volunteer workers make to the daily operations of organizations and the overall management of events. Sport organizations have tended to utilize mainstream human resource management practices that focus on paid workers ignoring the differences in motivation and satisfaction factors that differentiate the sports volunteer worker along with the sports industry. This study explores the lived experience of long-term sport volunteers with regard to training and work preparedness, recognition and status, well-being, and belonging. The study employs an ethnographic research strategy in an authentic environment that would allow the researchers to untangle and understand the multiple realities that construct the volunteer experience. A holistic view of the dynamic interdependencies of all components of the volunteer community emerges yielding a new typology, the Frustration Factor.

The aim of the present study was to examine how the organizational context of a non-profit organization (NPO) influences the motivation and work behaviors of volunteers. We hypothesized that the organizational context—operationalized by the motivational potential of the tasks, autonomy supportiveness of the supervisor, and value congruence between volunteer and NPO—can benefit or thwart self-determined motivation, which in turn predicts work engagement and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB). In particular, the innovative aim of the study was to differentiate between general and organization-focused self-determined motivation (general and organization-focused SDM). Structural Equation Modeling revealed a distinction based on data from 2,222 volunteers: general SDM was related to the motivational potential of the task, whereas value congruence accounted for organization-focused SDM. Autonomy supportiveness of the supervisor similarly influenced both foci. Furthermore, general SDM enhanced work engagement, whereas OCB was solely linked to organization-focused SDM.

The literature on international volunteer motivation has highlighted mainly Western cases, while almost ignoring Asian volunteers. Through an analysis of the motivations of Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCVs), this study aims to identify who they are and to contribute to our understanding of individual behavior in relation to international volunteering. This is the first quantitative study of their motivation, and we surveyed them using a series of questionnaires. We obtained 1507 responses from the volunteers, and a cluster analysis of the revealed motives categorized them into six types, labeled as: (I) curious; (II) business-minded; (III) development assistance; (IV) quest for oneself; (V) change-oriented; and (VI) altruist. The results show that each of these groups tends to have a different set of motives, and these can be characterized according to their socio-demographic and behavioral information. The results confirm that JOCVs have the same altruistic and egoistic motivations that have been observed in the Western studies. From a practical perspective, our six clusters of volunteers match the three purposes of the JOCV program, and show that, to a certain extent, the program has been successful in recruiting young Japanese people. Moreover, the classifications will be helpful when the JOCV Secretariat managers wish to target specific types of volunteers for special recruiting and training.

Although today’s nonprofit organizations make a strong appeal to volunteers, they often have difficulties with attracting and retaining these free labor forces. In this sense, studying the motivation of volunteers and its effects proves useful. In the present article, we investigate the relationship between volunteers’ motivation and their self-reported work effort, while relying on the Self-Determination Theory. The results indicate a positive link between volunteers’ autonomous motivation and work effort. Moreover, this relationship holds for each person in our sample, irrespective of the organization in which she/he is volunteering. Implications for future research, as well as the practical impact of these findings, are discussed.

Age has long been understood as a strong demographic determinant of volunteering. However, to date, limited literature exists on the episodic volunteer experience of different age groups, the impact of such episodic volunteer experiences, and why some individuals are motivated to volunteer episodically. Given this scarcity of research on age and episodic volunteering, the paper presents research examining age and episodic volunteering. Specifically, we studied age differences in three different aspects of episodic volunteering: the motivation to volunteer at a one-time event; the volunteer experience; and the volunteer post-event evaluation. In each of these aspects, we examined similarities and differences among six different age groups in a population of 2270 episodic volunteers from six countries. The research contributes to a better understanding of the significance of age in episodic volunteering, the ways in which people perform episodic volunteering at different ages, and the impact of these volunteer activities.

This paper explores the contributions a social constructionist paradigm can make for researching volunteer motivation, by reflecting on an active membership study of volunteer netball coaches at a New Zealand high school. Social constructionism is based on philosophical assumptions which differ from those of positivism and post-positivism, the dominant paradigms for understanding and representing volunteer motivation. It highlights the social processes through which people give meaning to their motives and view researchers as necessarily implicated in this meaning-making process. Through a critique of the extant literature on volunteer motivation and an illustration of the insights of social constructionism from our empirical study, we consider how volunteer motivation research could be different if subjectivity and reflexivity were taken more seriously.