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Understanding volunteer commitment to a project: testing a conceptual model

Guinevere Gilbert (Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia)
Michelle Turner (Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia)
Sarah Holdsworth (Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia)

International Journal of Managing Projects in Business

ISSN: 1753-8378

Article publication date: 8 June 2021

Issue publication date: 9 August 2021

303

Abstract

Purpose

In Australia, it is estimated that volunteers provide over $14.6 billion of unpaid labour to not-for-profit organisations. Much of the work that volunteers undertake is within a project context, yet the impact of a project and its environment on volunteer commitment is unknown. A conceptual model proposes three categories of factors that impact volunteer commitment to a project: purposeful, emotional and contextual. The purpose of this research is to empirically explore the conceptual model of volunteer commitment with volunteers working on projects in order to seek support for, and refine, the model.

Design/methodology/approach

The research design was exploratory and Q methodology was used as a framework to collect and analyse data. Forty-one Australian volunteers engaged in project-based tasks participated in the study.

Findings

Refinement of the initial conceptual model of volunteer commitment is required. The three categories that influence volunteer commitment to a project should be labelled “my contribution”, “relationships” and “the project”. The revised model shows early evidence that the project itself is the main commitment building factor.

Originality/value

Whilst volunteer retention is not a new field of knowledge, research such as this further informs not-for-profit organisations in their volunteer recruitment and retention practices.

Keywords

Citation

Gilbert, G., Turner, M. and Holdsworth, S. (2021), "Understanding volunteer commitment to a project: testing a conceptual model", International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, Vol. 14 No. 6, pp. 1406-1421. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMPB-06-2020-0200

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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