Organizational socialization of volunteers: the effect on their intention to remain

• Published in: Journal of community psychology Vol. 37; no. 5; pp. 594 - 601
• Main Authors: Hidalgo, M. Carmen, Moreno, Pilar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01.07.2009; John Wiley & Sons, Inc; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Foreign Countries; Intention; Labor Turnover; Predictor Variables; Regression analysis; Social Networks; Social support; Social Support Groups; Socialization; Spain; Studies; Volunteer Training; Volunteers; Spain
• ISSN: 0090-4392; 1520-6629
• DOI: 10.1002/jcop.20317

Identifying the factors affecting the retention of volunteers in their activities is one of the main objectives for researchers and volunteer managers. There have been many studies with this aim and many factors affecting sustained volunteerism have been identified. However, one of the limits of these models is the low percentage of explained variance, which indicates that there are other additional factors, yet unidentified, which may have an important influence in the prediction of durability as a volunteer. In our study, we intend to analyze the effect that some factors of organizational socialization of volunteers have on their intention to remain volunteers. In particular, we will focus on the level of integration in the organization, evaluated from five variables: social networks, training, understanding, social support inside the organization, and characteristics of the job they perform. The statistical analysis shows that social networks, organizational support, positive task, and formation are highly significant predictors of the intention to remain a volunteer. These four variables explain 29% of the variability of the dependent variable, while the variables understanding and social support of the volunteers were excluded from the regression equation. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.