Exploring the ‘nurture’ of volunteer coordination

1. Exploring the ‘nurture’ of volunteer coordination a research outline Sibylle Studer Georg von Schnurbein VSSN Day Conference, 1. December 2011 1 Exploring the ‘nurture’ of volunteer coordination

2. Overview Overview & introduction Research question Theoretical background Previous research Inventory Research outline

3. Introduction • Relevance • Volunteers are a scarce resource • Trends in volunteering ask for adaption of organisational structures • Several researcher argue that the transfer of HRM instruments is not enough • Benevol standards (Swiss umbrella association of volunteer organisations) • Our focus • Focus on the organisational context of volunteering (“meso-level”) • Explore the action space of volunteer coordination

4. Research question • How do organisational settings influence volunteers and the quality of volunteer coordination? • By which factors? • To what extent? • Step 1: Literature review (done) • Step 2: Research model (in progress)

5. Theoretical background – nurture vs. nature • Concepts of ‘nurture’ versus ‘nature’ (Hager/Brudney 2010) • Nurture • “organizational conditions that volunteer resource managers and other members of the top management team can directly influence as they seek to make their organization more inviting to prospective volunteers” (p. 1) • Nature • “organizational conditions that cannot readily be overcome by a management response” (p.1)

6. Previous research • Literature review (Studer/von Schnurbein 2011) • Focus: Organisational factors affecting volunteers (collectively) • Method • iterative-cyclic process of open and selective coding according to grounded theory approach (Glaser and Strauss 1967, Strauss 1998) • 386 abstracts analysed • 229 publications used for in depth analysis • 45% of the publications are based on quantitative studies, 27% on theoretical considerations, 18% on qualitative studies, and 10% on literature reviews.

7. Findings – 3 main clusters • HRM practices & instruments • HRM practices are more often studied than organisational attitudes • organisational attitudes & values • Far more qualitative studies on attitudes towards volunteers than quantitative studies • Lack of a systematic recording of attitudinal constructs • organisational features • Mostly used for descriptive statistics or cross tabulation

8. Empirical Data Base Quantitative studies questioning organisations about volunteer coordination (see handout, complied by the authors) Source: CEPS 2011

9. Research gaps • Quantitative studies with organisations as their unit of analysis • Systematic analysis of the organisational attitudes towards volunteers • Conjoined investigation of organisational practices, organisational attitudes, organisational features

10. Volunteer Coordination Inventory • Aim • Holistic view on volunteer coordination within an organisation • Measured by • attitudes towards volunteers -> of the volunteer coordinator -> of the members of the organisation • artefacts, showing underlying attitudes and values • volunteer management cycle (HRM instruments & practices)

11. Research outline Source: CEPS 2011

12. Thank you very much for paying attention! Sibylle Studer sibylle.studer@unibas.ch www.ceps.unibas.ch The founding of CEPS was an initiative of SwissFoundations, the Association of the Swiss Grantmaking Foundations. The CEPS received initial funding from the following organisations: AVINA FOUNDATION, Christoph Merian Stiftung, ERNST GÖHNER FOUNDATION, GEBERT RÜF FOUNDATION, Gesellschaft für das Gute und Gemeinnützige GGG Basel and Sophie und Karl Binding Stiftung.