Sources of Volunteer Motivation: Transformational Leadership and Personal Motives Influence Volunteer Outcomes

• Author: Oded Nov,Yair Berson,Patrick C. Dwyer,Mark Snyder,Joyce E. Bono
• Published date: 01 December 2013
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nml.21084
• Date: 01 December 2013

Sources of Volunteer

Motivation

Transformational Leadership and

Personal Motives Influence

Volunteer Outcomes

Patrick C. Dwyer,

1

Joyce E. Bono,

2

Mark Snyder,

1

Oded Nov,

3

Yair Berson

4

1University of Minnesota, 2University of Florida, 3Polytechnic

Institute of New York University, 4University of Haifa

We examined the separate influences of volunteers’ personal

motives and their team leaders’ behaviors on volunteer satisfac-

tion and contributions, along with mediating processes sug-

gested by self-determination theory. Participants were 302

volunteers who worked in teams at various sites through a cen-

tral agency. As predicted, both personal motives for volunteer-

ing and transformational leadership influenced volunteer

satisfaction through enhanced work meaningfulness and higher-

quality team relationships. However, motives that predicted vol-

unteer contribution were different from those that predicted

satisfaction. Whereas satisfaction was positively associated

with motives concerning esteem enhancement and value expres-

sion, contribution was positively associated with motives to

gain understanding and negatively related to motives pertaining

to esteem enhancement and social concerns. Transformational

leadership was positively associated with volunteer satisfaction,

but not with volunteer contributions. The theoretical ramifica-

tions of these findings are discussed, along with practical impli-

cations for the recruitment and retention of volunteers.

Keywords: volunteers, motivation, leadership

Correspondence to: Patrick C. Dwyer, Department of Psychology, University of

Minnesota, 75 E. River Rd., Minneapolis, MN 55455. E-mail: dwyer092@umn.edu

NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP, vol. 24, no. 2, Winter 2013 © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc 181

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/nml.21084

182 DWYER, BONO, SNYDER, NOV, BERSON

Nonprofit Management & Leadership DOI: 10.1002/nml

MOST AMERICANS BELIEVE THAT volunteerism helps create a

better world (Independent Sector 1988). In addition to

benefiting its direct recipients, volunteerism can also

benefit the volunteers themselves and society as a whole (Snyder

and Omoto 2007; Wilson 2000). Considered in economic terms,

the dollar value of volunteerism in the United States was calcu-

lated to be $169 billion in 2009 alone (Corporation for National

and Community Service, Office of Research and Policy Develop-

ment 2010). Moreover, it has been argued that volunteerism and

other forms of citizen participation play an essential role in com-

bating problems that face the world. Because many of these prob-

lems are caused by human action, they require further human

action in order to be successfully managed (Snyder 1993).

Because volunteers give their time without formal reward, it is

important to consider factors that motivate volunteers. Volunteer-

ism may be motivated by both internal and external influences. For

example, Clary and Snyder (1991) proposed a functional approach

to volunteer motivation, suggesting that volunteering provides

opportunities to satisfy personal needs and drives. Researchers have

also focused on how social factors such as the expectations of others

can foster and sustain volunteerism (Grube and Piliavin 2000).

However, surprisingly little research has focused on the effect of

leadership on volunteer outcomes. Despite a large literature on the

consequences of effective leadership behaviors on employee out-

comes, little research has examined how leadership influences vol-

unteers’ attitudes and behaviors.

Our first aim was to examine the separate roles of leadership

and personal motives in the volunteer process. Although a consider-

able body of research has investigated the influence of leadership on

employee outcomes in the business world, little work has system-

atically examined the effect of leadership on volunteerism. It may be

that internal, autonomous volunteer motivation substitutes for

effective leadership in a volunteer setting (Podsakoff and MacKenzie

1997). Alternatively, because volunteers can withhold their service

from an organization more easily than paid employees can, leader-

ship may play an even greater role in sustaining individuals’ involve-

ment within the volunteer context (Catano, Pond, and Kelloway

2001). Our study makes an important contribution by simultane-

ously considering the effects of both individual factors (personal

motives for volunteering) and contextual factors (behavior of vol-

unteers’ leaders) on volunteer outcomes.

Our second aim was to examine the process by which personal

motives and team leader behaviors affect volunteer outcomes. Our

consideration of potential mediators was guided by self-determination

theory (Ryan and Deci 2000), an approach toward understanding

motivation that suggests social-contextual conditions under which

behavior will be self-motivated and thus sustained over time.