A longitudinal insight into the intentions to be a volunteer: testing the exocentric, endocentric and ipsocentric motivational paths

• In Event: Quantitative perspectives on Volunteering

Abstract

Volunteering has great societal value, as by devoting their time, people support noble causes and help the state and organizations pursue their prosocial goals. However, there is an ongoing debate on how to encourage people to join volunteering activities. Types of motivation displayed by people may serve as a potential explaining factor.
This paper aims to test why people from the general population intend to volunteer in the future. It checks on three potential motivational paths of prosocial behaviors, as stated by Reykowski's theory (1984): exocentric (concentrated on the well-being of others), endocentric (concentrated on oneself – boosting positive affect and a positive image of oneself through prosocial behaviors), and ipsocentric (concentrated on balancing the costs and benefits of the prosocial act). This theory has not been tested in the context of intentions to engage in a specific prosocial behavior. Integrating the theory with knowledge regarding prosocial behavior's antecedents, the study tests empathy (affective and cognitive) as the exocentric antecedent (Davis, 2015), satisfaction with life and meaning of life as endocentric antecedents (Binder, 2015; Klein, 2017) and social value orientation (the propensity to care for own versus others' gains in social interactions; Murphy et al., 2011) as the ipsocentric antecedent (Nowakowska, 2023) of the intention to engage in volunteering.
The paper is based on a 2-wave longitudinal study (N = 566) performed on a general sample of Polish residents (representative sample structure in the study's first wave regarding age, gender, place of residence, and education level). The first wave was conducted in spring 2022, and the second – a year afterward. The study was performed online through a research panel and based on questionnaires.
Results of structural equation modeling indicated that only empathy predicted intention to engage in volunteering (when controlling for other variables in the model). Moreover, the intention to volunteer in the study's first wave predicted social value orientation in the second wave.
The results suggest that concern for others and their welfare is the strongest factor associated with intentions to volunteer in the general population, which aligns with the results obtained on the samples of volunteers (Mitani, 2014). Therefore, practitioners should consider that people with higher dispositional empathy might be the best targets for volunteer recruitment. Moreover, the intention to volunteer predicts social value orientation, and it suggests that the more someone is inclined to devote time to others, the more the altruistic care for other's outcomes becomes over time. It shows a potential positive reinforcement between readiness for prosocial acts and altruism. However, it requires further research. Moreover, the study is potentially interesting for researchers of broadly understood prosociality, as it tests three potential motivational paths of intention to volunteer within one research. It also shows longitudinal results, answering a call to go beyond the limitations of cross-sectional data in prosocial studies.

References

Binder, M. (2015). Volunteering and life satisfaction: a closer look at the hypothesis that volunteering more strongly benefits the unhappy. Applied Economics Letters, 22(11), 874-885.
Davis, M. H. (2015). Empathy and prosocial behavior. In D. A. Schroeder, W. G. Graziano (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of prosocial behavior (pp. 282-306). Oxford University Press.
Klein, N. (2017). Prosocial behavior increases perceptions of meaning in life. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 12(4), 354-361.
Mitani, H. (2014). Influences of resources and subjective dispositions on formal and informal volunteering. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 25, 1022-1040.
Murphy, R. O., Ackermann, K. A., & Handgraaf, M. J. (2011). Measuring social value orientation. Judgment and Decision Making, 6(8), 771-781.
Nowakowska, I. (2023). Altruists will be altruists, but what about individualists? The role of future time perspective and social value orientation in volunteers’ declarations to continue engagement in three time horizons. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 1-12.
Reykowski, J. (1982). Motivation of prosocial behavior. In V. Derlega, J. Grzelak (Eds.), Cooperation and helping behavior (pp. 355-375). New York: Academic Press.

Authors

• Iwona Nowakowska

• Joanna Rajchert, Maria Grzegorzewska University