Namibia continues to face an ongoing struggle in protecting the rights and civil liberties of its LGBT population with LGBT rights-based organisations in the country strongly relying upon their volunteers to take advantage of political opportunities and manage multiple visibilities. Despite a growing body of international research into volunteer motivation and the beneficial application of such knowledge in volunteer management strategies, a dearth of literature exists on the motives of volunteers within LGBT rights-based organisations. This study uses data from qualitative interviews with 6 formal volunteers from Namibian LGBT rights-based organisations to explore volunteer motivations. A thematic analysis of the research findings reveal the complex motivations underlying volunteering in these organisations. Volunteer motivations in Namibian LGBT rights-based organisations included: (a) addressing and promoting humanitarian concerns; (b) improved social interaction, integration and support; (c) self-regulatory opportunities for personal enhancement; (d) developing career prospects; and (e) responding to past homophobic incidents. Barriers to volunteering were also identified and included: (a) strained organisational resources; (b) LGBT discrimination; and (c) complacency. For volunteer recruitment and retention strategies to be effective, organisations need to recognise and satisfy volunteers’ motives while also properly training and assisting volunteers in their respective roles. Also, given the local LGBT community’s sense of complacency, Namibian LGBT rights-based organisations would greatly benefit by strategically engaging community members and working to overcome the community’s lack of urgency. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Using Cognitive Evaluation Theory, this research evaluated the impact non-monetary extrinsic incentives in the form of department t-shirts had on the intrinsic motivation of Virginia career and volunteer firefighters. Intrinsic motivation was measured using the Work Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation Scale (WEIMS). The survey was administered to a randomly selected sample of firefighters. Data was analyzed using multiple regression analysis. Results suggested that the department t-shirt did not have a statistically significant impact on intrinsic motivation of both career and volunteer firefighters. Additionally, this study suggested that volunteer firefighters did not perceive salary as an inequitable reward. This was exhibited by the higher levels of intrinsic motivation by volunteer firefighters than career firefighters. This was also found in the comparisons of volunteer firefighters from combination and volunteer fire departments. Finally, delays in the distribution of non-monetary extrinsic incentives did not have an impact on intrinsic motivation of both career and volunteer firefighters.

Volunteer service accounts for a substantial percentage of America’s workforce and GDP. Numerous organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and the American Red Cross have come to rely heavily on volunteer service. Due to the recent economic downturn and resulting budgetary cuts in the government sector, non-profit organizations have had to assume greater responsibility for providing services such as health care and education. Considering the importance of volunteer service to society, this literature review seeks to identify the key functional motives for volunteers. With a particular focus on the functional motivation theory and the six most prominent motives – values, enhancement, understanding, career, social, and protective – this paper explores the general trends, gender difference, and age differences in volunteer motivation. In addition, it discusses the practical implications of knowledge about volunteer motivation on recruiting and retaining volunteers.

This dissertation presents three separate studies designed to provide systematic and evidence-based insight into how servant leadership could be a crucial success factor in helping non-profit organizations (NPOs) hosting cause-related sporting events achieve their missions. Thus, the purpose of my dissertation was to advance the literature and the practice of servant leadership. In Study one, I conducted a systematic literature review of studies that explored an application of servant leadership. A disciplined screening process resulted in a sample population of 39 studies. The synthesis of these applied studies revealed: a) there is no consensus on the definition of servant leadership; b) servant leadership is being applied across a variety of contexts, cultures, and themes; c) researchers are using multiple measures to explore servant leadership; and d) these studies provide strong evidence that servant leadership helps organizations and improves the well-being of followers. In Study two, I explored the leadership style of the founder of a cause-related sporting event to understand how this leadership style motivated volunteers. This was achieved through semi-structured personal interviews, document analysis, and personal observations of the 25th National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Surf Festival. Results indicated that the founder was a servant leader who influenced volunteer motivation by generating a shared vision dedicated to helping others, building a caring and loving community, and creating the freedom and resources for followers to become servants themselves. In Study three, using a longitudinal case study, I qualitatively explored if a cause-related sporting event could inspire participants to become servant leaders, and if so, how does the event achieve this? Data collection methods included focus groups, open-ended qualitative questionnaires, direct observations, document analysis, and semi-structured personal interviews with participants of the U.S. NKF Transplant Games, specifically Team Florida. Analyses revealed the event inspired participants to serve others and helped to build a community of servant leaders. It was found that three specific mechanisms of the Games generated community-level outcomes, which led to impacts on participants and helped them develop servant leadership. I then developed a model to describe a cause-related sporting event's ability to inspire participants to become servant leaders.

The aim of the graduation thesis is to elicit the motibation of volunteers in employer-supported volunteer program. Practical part of the thesis is oriented on employer-supported volunteer program in specific company Hewlett-Packard. Research information in thepractical part of the thesis was gathered from Hewlett-Packard employees. Theoretical part of the thesis describes volunteering, its types, terminology, models and perspectives. Volunteering is examined from view of ecomonics, social-psychology or game theory. In last part of theoretical part is described the structure of volunteers on Czech Republic by age, education or religion.

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Title: Volunteer motivation and care in the RunCzech running events Purpose: The main aim of this master's thesis is to find the motives contributing to be a volunteer at the RunCzech running events which are organized by the Prague International Marathon. Another goal is to discover how the organizer takes care of their volunteers, and how the leadership and volunteer coordination really works. Method: For this research on volunteer motivation questionnaires were used in electronic Google forms. The link for this survey was sent via e-mail and shared via social networks. The other methods were structural and semi-structural interviews with two employees of PIM, who are responsible for their volunteers during the organisation of RunCzech running events. The results were analysed with graphs and tables in MS Excel. Results: Based on the results the survey suggests more than half of volunteers are motivated by more than one motive at once. The atmosphere during the events and new experiences are two of the most important motives for volunteers. The behaviour of volunteer leaders also has an important influence on volunteer's motivation. The interviews showed that PIM searches for volunteers primarily from high schools. They try to motivate volunteers with the possibility to choose a volunteer...

The purpose of this study is to examine if the experiences of volunteers within women s rugby at both rugby clubs and at the 2010 Women s Rugby World Cup (WRWC) in England provide the basis for the continuation of such activities as well as the transfer of volunteer effort to event-based or club-based activity within the specific sports concerned or across sports to contribute towards society s broader sporting needs. Sport volunteering in the UK accounts for 26% of the total formal voluntary activity, and largely takes place within the Voluntary Sport Club (VSC) system (Sport England, 2003). It provides the basis for the development of grassroots sports. Sport volunteering also takes place at sport events which provide the foundation for elite level sport development. It is known, however, that if the volunteering experience is satisfying then this may lead to higher levels of commitment with the sports organization, the event or the voluntary cause, which may affect volunteers longevity and intentions to continue volunteering (Doherty, 2009). Women s rugby was selected as a case study, as the 2010 Women s Rugby World Cup was held in England. This facilitated comparisons between club and event volunteers. With the cooperation of the Rugby Football Union for Women (RFUW), research participants were identified and recruited via an email invitation including a link to an internet-administered questionnaire. A total of 70 individuals that volunteered for the 2010 WRWC and 168 volunteers involved in the women s rugby clubs completed the online survey. The results indicated that overall and despite some variation in the emphasis of the findings there is evidence in support of the relevance of the widely known determinants of volunteering such as motivation to volunteer, socio-demographic characteristics, satisfaction with the volunteering experience, engagement to sport and volunteering at to the continuation of future club or event volunteering as well as its transfer to other rugby and other sport events. Consequently, event organisers should work closely with club authorities to help volunteers to make a better connection from their club to the sport more widely and with the role of clubs and events to support the sport generally, to develop a shared identity in both clubs and events, that is across the whole sporting experience and to increase volunteers development opportunities through deploying their efforts in more than one setting which may then lead to the development of social capital.

Namibia continues to face an ongoing struggle in protecting the rights and civil liberties of its LGBT population with LGBT rights-based organisations in the country strongly relying upon their volunteers to take advantage of political opportunities and manage multiple visibilities. Despite a growing body of international research into volunteer motivation and the beneficial application of such knowledge in volunteer management strategies, a dearth of literature exists on the motives of volunteers within LGBT rights-based organisations. This study uses data from qualitative interviews with 6 formal volunteers from Namibian LGBT rights-based organisations to explore volunteer motivations. A thematic analysis of the research findings reveal the complex motivations underlying volunteering in these organisations. Volunteer motivations in Namibian LGBT rights-based organisations included: (a) addressing and promoting humanitarian concerns; (b) improved social interaction, integration and support; (c) self-regulatory opportunities for personal enhancement; (d) developing career prospects; and (e) responding to past homophobic incidents. Barriers to volunteering were also identified and included: (a) strained organisational resources; (b) LGBT discrimination; and (c) complacency. For volunteer recruitment and retention strategies to be effective, organisations need to recognise and satisfy volunteers’ motives while also properly training and assisting volunteers in their respective roles. Also, given the local LGBT community’s sense of complacency, Namibian LGBT rights-based organisations would greatly benefit by strategically engaging community members and working to overcome the community’s lack of urgency. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

This thesis investigates volunteering as performance. In exploring this topic I discuss a dynamic between self-interest and selflessness in the observable performance of service through the social mechanisms of volunteerism. I argue that self-interest is a prominent motivation for volunteering, but its overt performance is kept in check by norms that emphasize selflessness. My argument centers on addressing this lack of acknowledgement toward self-interest within vernacular culture. My research draws examples from an individual, organizational, and global volunteer perspective. Ethnographic research was conducted for this study with a student group that organizes one of the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life fundraisers. Within this organization, I conceptualize volunteering as a performance that requires a social actor to not just “do” service, but also “show do” and/or “explain show do” their behavior in front of an audience. This presentation culminates in a cultural performance where participants at Relay For Life perform a narrative of selflessness. Expanding my discussion of volunteering to a global perspective, my last chapter addresses volunteer tourism. I argue that the self-interest of both volunteers and volunteer travel companies reduces the recipients of volunteer tourism to essentialized and exociticized cultural "Others." I advocate for the overt acknowledgement of self-interest not only because self-interest is present, but also because it is a central dynamic that constructs volunteerism as performance.