Volunteer retention research report: nonprofit professionals' version
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Date
2024
Authors
Wymer, Walter
Najev Cacija, Ljiljana
Journal Title
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Abstract
We developed this study to add to the stream of scholarly research literature on volunteer retention. We asked many Canadian nonprofit organizations to participate in this study. We tried to include a variety of different types of nonprofit organizations, from across the country, to have an inclusive and representative sample.
While we were primarily interested in influences on volunteer retention, we understood that committed volunteers also support their organizations in addition to volunteering. Therefore, in additional to investigating influences on volunteer retention, we also examined how these factors might influence other types of support intentions like donations, bequests, positive word-of-mouth referrals, an helping the organization recruit additional volunteers.
We developed and tested two models. One model examined organizational influences on volunteer behavioral intentions. The second model examined experiential influences, meaning factors pertaining to the volunteering experience.
With respect to organizational influences on volunteer retention and other support intentions, we found that brand strength had an important and broad effect on our outcome variables. Organizational transparency was also influential with respect to donation and bequest intentions. Other influences are presented later in this report.
With respect to experiential influences on volunteer retention and other support intentions, we found that feeling valued was particularly important. Feeling valued not only had a direct effect on our outcome variables but also exerted an indirect effect through its influence on volunteer satisfaction. Perceived usefulness had a positive influence on feeling valued. We also found that social connectedness and value congruence were positive influencers.
In this report, we present our methods and procedures. We present our variable definitions and how they were measured in our questionnaire. We present our significant findings and discuss managerial implications of our findings.
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Keywords
Volunteer retention , Volunteer satisfaction , Volunteering , Support intentions
Citation
Wymer, W., & Najev Cacija, L. (2024). Volunteer retention research report: Nonprofit professionals' version. Unpublished report. https://hdl.handle.net/10133/6817