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1 – 10 of over 9000Matt C. Howard and Emory Serviss
The authors argue that many core findings are not as established as often assumed in the study of corporate volunteering programs, and they assess this possibility by reporting a…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors argue that many core findings are not as established as often assumed in the study of corporate volunteering programs, and they assess this possibility by reporting a meta-analysis of both organizational and employee participation that includes relations with antecedents and outcomes at both organizational and employee levels.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors perform a meta-analysis of 57 sources, including 30 peer-reviewed articles, 16 theses/dissertations, 8 unpublished manuscripts, 2 conference presentations and 1 book chapter.
Findings
Of the antecedents, organizational size only had a small relation with organizational participation, but the effect of corporate social responsibility orientation was very large on organizational participation. Demographic characteristics as well as personality traits had a small relation with employee participation, whereas the effect of volunteering attitudes was large on employee participation. Of the outcomes, organizational participation did not significantly relate to customer perceptions. Employee participation had nonsignificant or small relations with well-being, commitment, job satisfaction and positive behaviors; however, organizational participation also significantly related to all employee-level outcomes, and the effect was significantly stronger than employee participation for two of four outcomes.
Practical implications
Organizations can better understand the true influence of corporate volunteering programs, aiding their bottom line and employee well-being.
Originality/value
Several commonly assumed antecedents and outcomes do not relate to corporate volunteering participation, and future research should be redirected to more influential effects. The authors’ discussion highlights theories that may be particularly beneficial for the study of corporate volunteering, including social identity theory and role expansion theory.
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Evgenia I. Lysova and Asta Saduikyte
This paper addresses the issue of knowledge creation in organizational environment by exploring the kind of knowledge that is created through corporate volunteering and how these…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper addresses the issue of knowledge creation in organizational environment by exploring the kind of knowledge that is created through corporate volunteering and how these knowledge creation processes could be strategically managed to add value to overall corporate knowledge-creation process.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reports a qualitative case study of a single corporate volunteering project in The Netherlands.
Findings
Corporate volunteering mainly contributes to intrinsic knowledge creation. This process could be influenced by addressing design-related aspects of corporate volunteering, such as time frame and space, skill-oriented design, interdepartmental design, informal atmosphere and perceived support.
Originality/value
The paper explores corporate volunteering from the perspective of knowledge being created in this process.
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Paweł Brzustewicz, Iwona Escher, Jan Hermes and Pauliina Ulkuniemi
This paper aims to examine corporate volunteering as a form of social responsibility carried out by companies in relationships with non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Applying…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine corporate volunteering as a form of social responsibility carried out by companies in relationships with non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Applying the value creation concept, the success of such relationships is based on value created between the focal company, its employees engaging in the volunteer work and the collaborating NGO actors representing the beneficiaries of the volunteer work. However, how to meaningfully engage employees and strategically manage company–NGO relationships in corporate volunteering has received less scholarly attention. The study hence asks the question: How is mutual value created in corporate volunteering collaborations between business organizations and NGOs?
Design/methodology/approach
Two qualitative case studies of company–NGO relationships involved in corporate volunteer programs for social benefit in Poland and Finland are analyzed.
Findings
Corporate volunteering offers value creation opportunities for each of the three actors in the relationships, namely, the company, the NGO and the employees who participate in the volunteer work. Particularly, employment and volunteering relationships appear to be catalysts for the creation of mutual value in the organizational relationship between a company and NGO.
Originality/value
The present study contributes to the current understanding of company–NGO relationships by emphasizing the role of individual employee volunteers in creating relationship-level value. The study adds also to existing research on corporate volunteering by identifying the way value is created in company–NGO relationships within corporate volunteering.
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This exploratory survey study investigated the alleged benefits associated with corporate volunteer programs. The results demonstrated that employees viewed volunteerism as an…
Abstract
This exploratory survey study investigated the alleged benefits associated with corporate volunteer programs. The results demonstrated that employees viewed volunteerism as an effective means of developing or enhancing several types of job‐related skills. This was particularly true for female employees and employees participating in a formal volunteer program. The results also demonstrated that organizational commitment was higher for volunteers from companies with a corporate volunteer program than for non‐volunteers with organizations without a corporate volunteer program. Finally, the results indicated that job satisfaction was related to volunteerism among female employees, but not for male employees.
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Srinivasan Sekar and Lata Dyaram
The purpose of this paper is to examine how some of the key aspects of employee motivation and their perception of volunteering programs impact their participation in corporate…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how some of the key aspects of employee motivation and their perception of volunteering programs impact their participation in corporate volunteering. Specifically, this study argues that employee’s self-oriented motives to significantly influence employee participation than other-oriented motives. Similarly, this study also hypothesized that the corporate volunteering program characteristics to significantly relate to employee participation in corporate volunteering.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected from 461 employee volunteers representing various industries across four different locations in India. A self-reported method was used to collect the data by administering the questionnaires.
Findings
The structural equation modeling results indicate that other-oriented motives (altruistic) and characteristics of corporate volunteering programs to significantly predict employee participation in corporate volunteering and self-oriented motives did not show significance in predicting employee participation.
Research limitations/implications
Results suggest that employee participation in volunteering is a function of not merely employee motivation but also how the volunteering programs are conceptualized and implemented.
Originality/value
This research study moves beyond mere role of employee motives analysis and considered the role of characteristics of corporate volunteering programs to impact employee volunteering behavior. Further, it highlights there is a differential impact of self- and other-oriented motives in predicting employee participation.
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Ana Cláudia Nave and Arminda do Paço
Given the current importance of corporate social responsibility, this research is designed to discover the motivations that lead employees to agree to participate in the corporate…
Abstract
Purpose
Given the current importance of corporate social responsibility, this research is designed to discover the motivations that lead employees to agree to participate in the corporate volunteering activities promoted by their companies and to understand whether demographic variables such as gender and age have an influence on different types of motivations.
Design/methodology/approach
This research had the collaboration of a company to develop the case study about its volunteering programme and for the collection of data through an electronic questionnaire.
Findings
The variables related with the factor values were identified as the most important motivational category for people to engage in volunteering, which shows that what these volunteers want is to contribute to the success of the event and the respective social cause. On the other hand, the motivational category related with career was considered the less important.
Practical implications
The participation in volunteering activities enable employees to broaden their communication skills, increase their aptitude for helping others, adapting, negotiating and working as a team, while also increasing their confidence, creativity, leadership capacity, their desire for continuing improvement and their problem‐solving skills.
Originality/value
A great part of existing research is focused on the motivations of “conventional” volunteers which collaborate occasionally with nonprofit organizations. Thus, the present study will expand the research in the area of corporate volunteering, contributing to a better understanding of what really motivates employees to volunteer.
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Clinton O. Longenecker, Sam Beard and Joseph A. Scazzero
The purpose of this paper is to explore the workforce benefits associated with formal corporate volunteer initiatives.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the workforce benefits associated with formal corporate volunteer initiatives.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was administered to 26 corporations with formal volunteer programs. A sample of approximately 500 respondents provided the descriptive data described in this manuscript.
Findings
The descriptive findings of this research provide a top ten list of workforce benefits associated with formal volunteer initiatives. Benefits include personal and professional development, enhanced workforce camaraderie and teamwork, improved organizational pride, reduction in work‐related stress, and improved work‐life balance.
Research limitations/implications
The employees came from a convenience, targeted sample of 26 companies that already had formal volunteer programs in place.
Practical implications
These findings make a strong case for organizations to increase and expand their corporate volunteer strategies.
Social implications
The implications of this study make a strong business case for organizations to expand their volunteer initiatives that also create positive social benefits for their stakeholders.
Originality/value
This research is filling in a research gap in the area of corporate social responsibility from the perspective of the individual employees that are engaged in these activities.
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Arminda do Paço and Ana Cláudia Nave
Given the increased awareness about the social issues in organisations and the need for more research, particularly in the area of employee voluntary activities, the purpose of…
Abstract
Purpose
Given the increased awareness about the social issues in organisations and the need for more research, particularly in the area of employee voluntary activities, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the motivations that lead employees to agree to participate in the corporate volunteering activities promoted by their companies, as well as to assess their level of satisfaction and happiness with the activity of volunteering.
Design/methodology/approach
This research had the collaboration of a company to develop the case study about its volunteering programme and for the collection of data through an electronic questionnaire.
Findings
The results indicate a similar hierarchical organisation of the motivations when compared with some previous studies. The volunteers’ experience is satisfactory in all aspects, and is positively related to feelings of happiness. However, the results evidence a weak/moderate relation between volunteers’ motivations and happiness/satisfaction.
Practical implications
More efforts are needed to improve the volunteers’ training and formation, which was pointed as the less satisfactory aspect (similarly to other studies). Thus, it is necessary to question the methods usually used in the training provided, which may involve the restructuring of the training plan to adapt it to the employees’ needs and to guarantee the quality of the work.
Originality/value
A great part of the existent research is focused on the motivations of “conventional” volunteers which collaborate occasionally with non‐profit organisations. Thus, present study will expand the research in the area of corporate volunteering, contributing to better understand what really motivates, satisfies and makes volunteers happy with this activity.
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This study assesses the relevance of both individual and contextual factors as an antecedent to employee participation in corporate volunteering (CV) activities and affective…
Abstract
Purpose
This study assesses the relevance of both individual and contextual factors as an antecedent to employee participation in corporate volunteering (CV) activities and affective organizational commitment and inter-role conflict as an outcome of employee volunteering. This study draws from the functional theory of motivation, social exchange theory and role strain perspective to explain hypothesized relationship of the study constructs.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire survey was administered with 461 employee volunteers who had participated in company-sponsored volunteering programs. The authors adopted structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the study hypotheses.
Findings
The findings from the survey suggest that altruistic motives and organization CV capability will impact employee's participation in CV. The results highlight that employee participation in CV enhances affective organizational commitment, indicating that employee volunteering creates inter-role conflict.
Research limitations/implications
Though the study has identified inter-role conflict as a potentially unfavorable outcome, exploring when and how employee volunteering will create a negative effect will add significant value to organizations to protect the interest of their employees.
Practical implications
This study provides insights to understand the relative effects of self- and other-oriented motives. The results suggest that organizations have more directed and carefully designed employee volunteering activities to enable more favorable benefits to employees.
Originality/value
This study contributes to expanding the knowledge on the phenomenon of employee volunteering by introducing and empirically validating an integrated framework of antecedents and consequences of employee volunteering.
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Aldona Glińska-Neweś, Akram Hatami, Jan Hermes, Anne Keränen and Pauliina Ulkuniemi
The purpose of this study is to examine how employee competences can be developed through corporate volunteering (CV). Specifically, this study focuses on diversity of volunteering…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine how employee competences can be developed through corporate volunteering (CV). Specifically, this study focuses on diversity of volunteering studies categorized according to the type of beneficiaries and intensity of volunteer contact with them. The study examines how the beneficiary-employee relation influences the development of employee competences in CV projects.
Design/methodology/approach
In this qualitative empirical study, interview data collected in Poland about the perceived effects of CV projects on employee competences was used.
Findings
The findings suggest that to understand the competences generated in CV, attention needs to be paid to the nature of the volunteering study itself. The study proposes four different logics of competence development in CV, based on the type of the beneficiary and contact with them.
Research limitations/implications
The study builds on managers’ perceptions of competence development. For a holistic understanding, future research should include employees’ perceptions of the process. Also, more research is needed regarding national and organizational settings as factors in competence development through CV.
Practical implications
The study suggests how companies could best engage in volunteering programs and improve existing ones to make them more beneficial for all parties involved.
Social implications
The findings build the better business case for CV and other corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, i.e. they deliver rationales for business engagement in this regard.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the conceptual understanding of CSR activities by presenting four logics of competence development in CV.
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