Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / W. Franklin Spikes / Non-profit organizations come in many shapes and sizes and in some cases, encompass a significant portion of community organizations. Since these agencies are largely sustained by the work of volunteers, it is a worthy subject to examine. The diversity and complexity of non-profits available among communities presents a need for volunteers’ to be skilled, trained, and experienced in an array of arenas. Non-profit organizations depend on volunteers and allow these entities to reach a larger population than exclusively with the limited staff members available (Fisher & Cole, 1993). This notion suggested the topic of motivation and retention of volunteers among community non-profits for the focus of this study to help organizations effectively deliver their mission. More specifically, this investigation centered on people who are considered high-functioning by the administrators with whom they work through the process of interviews. Non-profit organizations located in Denver, Colorado were selected to participate. The administrators of the chosen agencies were contacted and asked to identify volunteers in their program they classify as high-functioning. Once this list was identified, these individuals were contacted and asked to participate in an interview. This study focused on high-functioning volunteers for data collection because it was anticipated their characteristics and viewpoints will aid in the understanding of motivation and retention factors for anyone working with and supervising volunteers in the 21st century. The findings from the study provide a diverse assessment of the topic of volunteer motivation and retention. The data collected suggests that adult volunteers have varying needs and the importance for volunteer administrators to take these differences into consideration in their management and programming efforts.

Attitudes are commonly investigated in management research as they have predictive value to achievement and a positive attitude helps to produce desirable outcome. This thesis explores organisational commitment among academic staff in a Malaysian institution of higher learning. A thorough review of the literature revealed that there have been a number or previous studies of organisational commitment but none within this context. As the term organisational commitment is abstract it is operationally defined by simplifying it into observable characteristics. Organisational commitment is manifested in a) a strong belief in and acceptance of organisational goals and values; b) a willingness to exert considerable energy on behalf of the organisation; and c) a strong desire to maintain membership in the organisation. These elements can be measured using a questionnaire developed by Porter and Smith (1970). Factor Analysis is used to group responses into categories as dependent variables. Multiple Regression Analysis is then used to explore statistical relationships between organisational commitment factors derived from Factor Analysis and attitudes towards pay and promotion and to socio-demographic characteristics. The sample size of 818 respondents was derived from 2000 accessible academics from all schools and branches (except Sarawak) of the MARA Institute of Technology (ITM). A self administered questionnaire was selected as the mode of data collection. Overall organisational commitment among the academics towards their Institution was found to be high. Differences in levels of individuals' measured indicated organisational commitment could be statistically determined by demographic factors. However attitudes towards pay and promotion were found to be much more important as determinants of organisational commitment when they were included in the analysis and relationships tested with the use of Multiple Regression Analysis.