Motivations and Benefits of Student Volunteering: Comparing Regular, Occasional, and Non-Volunteers in Five Countries

Authors

  • Karen Smith Senior Lecturer Victoria Management School Victoria University of Wellington New Zealand
  • Kirsten Holmes Research Fellow School of Management, Curtin University, Perth, Australia
  • Debbie Haski-Leventhal NAB Research Fellow Centre for Social Impact Australian School of Business University of New South Wales Australia
  • Ram A Cnaan Penn School of Social Policy & Practice University of Pennsylvania USA
  • Femida Handy School of Social Policy & Practice, University of Pennsylvania USA
  • Jeffrey L Brudney Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs Cleveland State University USA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22230/cjnser.2010v1n1a2

Keywords:

Volunteering, Voluntary action, University students, Cross-cultural research, Motivations / Bénévolat, Action bénévole, Étudiants universitaires, Recherches interculturelles, Motivations

Abstract

Programmes targeting student volunteering and service learning are part of encouraging civic behaviour amongst young people. This article reports on a large scale international survey comparing volunteering amongst tertiary students at universities in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. The data revealed high rates of student volunteering and the popularity of occasional or episodic volunteering. There were strong commonalities in student volunteering behaviour, motivations and benefits across the five Western predominately English-speaking countries. Altruism and self-orientated career motivations and benefits were most important to students; however volunteering and non-volunteering students differed in the relative value they attached to volunteering for CV-enhancement and social factors.

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Author Biographies

Kirsten Holmes, Research Fellow School of Management, Curtin University, Perth, Australia

Kirsten Holmes is Research Fellow in the School of Management, Curtin University, Perth, Australia. Email: K.Holmes@cbs.curtin.edu.au

Debbie Haski-Leventhal, NAB Research Fellow Centre for Social Impact Australian School of Business University of New South Wales Australia

Debbie Haski-Leventhal is NAB Research Fellow in the Centre for Social Impact at

Australian School of Business, University of New South Wales, Australia. Email: debbiehl@unsw.edu.au

Ram A Cnaan, Penn School of Social Policy & Practice University of Pennsylvania USA

Ram A. Cnaan is the Associate Dean for Research, Professor, and Chair of the Doctoral Program in Social Welfare, and Director of the Program for Religion and Social Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. He is President of ARNOVA (Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action. E-mail: cnaan@sp2.upenn.edu

Femida Handy, School of Social Policy & Practice, University of Pennsylvania USA

Femida Handy is Professor in the School of Social Policy & Practice, University of Pennsylvania, USA, and Editor-in-Chief of the Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. Email: fhandy@sp2.upenn.edu

Jeffrey L Brudney, Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs Cleveland State University USA

Jeffrey L. Brudney is the Albert A. Levin Chair of Urban Studies and Public Service at Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University, USA. E-mail: j.brudney@csuohio.edu

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Published

2010-10-26

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2010)

Section

Articles

License

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