The Effects of Individual Risk Propensity on Volunteering

• Author: Hsiang‐Kai (Dennis) Dong
• Published date: 01 September 2015
• Date: 01 September 2015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nml.21139

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N M  L, vol. 26, no. 1, Fall 2015 © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/nml.21139

Journal sponsored by the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University.

Correspondence to: Hsiang-Kai (Dennis) Dong, National Chengchi University, Department of Public Administration,

No.64, Sec.2, ZhiNan Rd., Wenshan District, Taipei City, Taiwan (R.O.C) 11605. E-mail: hkdong@nccu.edu.tw

 e Eff ects of Individual Risk

Propensity on Volunteering

Hsiang-Kai (Dennis) Dong

National Chengchi University

Serving as a volunteer is gratifying and rewarding, but by nature it is also considered a

risky decision. Volunteering risk may come from the lack of sufficient training, asymmetric

information between volunteers and managers, and the lack of support and protection

from nonprofit organizations. Abundant studies discuss volunteering behaviors based on

demographics. However, people’s decisions are mainly determined by their own preferences

rather than demographic differences. Accordingly, this study hypothesizes that individual

risk propensity is an important predictor for volunteering behaviors. Using a nationally

representative data set, this study finds that risk-accepting individuals are more likely to

volunteer than their risk-averse peers. Also, the former tend to volunteer more frequently

than the latter once they decide to be part of the volunteer labor force. Several managerial

implications and volunteer recruitment strategies for nonprofit organizations are discussed.

Keywords: risk propensity, volunteering, liability waiver

SERVING AS A VOLUNTEER IS GRATIFYING AND REWARDING. It may lead to greater

self-esteem, higher well-being (Mellor 2009; O’Brien, Townsend, and Ebden 2010), and bet-

ter health conditions for volunteers (Brown, Consedine, and Magai 2005; Lum and Light-

foot 2005; Luoh and Herzog 2002). However, what volunteers may immediately encounter

is work-related risk. Prior research indicates that role ambiguity, lack of suffi cient training,

lack of protection, and lack of support from the organization are the sources of risk (Guinan

et al. 1991). Karter (2013) compared volunteer and regular fi refi ghters in terms of their like-

lihood of getting hurt at the fi reground. Results, unfortunately, show that volunteer fi refi ght-

ers are more likely to receive injuries than regular fi refi ghters. Bryant and Harvey (1996) and

Paradis, Miller, and Runnion (1987) found that volunteers often experience higher levels of

stress than paid employees. Such phenomena have been a growing concern in many volun-

teer-dependent organizations in the past decades (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2012; Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention 2005).

One conventional understanding of “risk” is that it is the probability of loss or injury. Kaplan

and Garrick (1981) further argue that risk involves both “uncertainty” and “damage”; risk is

the potential to lose something of value, weighed against the potential to gain something of

value. Given this defi nition, we know that when seeking inner contentment or happiness,

volunteers may also expose themselves to different types of risk, including property loss,