THE EFFECTS OF CONNECTEDNESS AND SELF INTEREST IN THE ORGANIZATIONAL VOLUNTEER DILEMMA

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of some of the underlying dynamics of volunteering choices in organizational contexts, focusing on individual, group, and organizational level causes. Three scenario‐based experiments manipulate individuals' standing within their organization (i.e., whether they are doing well or poorly) in combination with variables such as the expected efficacy of one's team and positive or negative organizational performance. In comparison to other recent volunteering studies, all three current experiments focused on an explicit organizational context and found much stronger intentions to volunteer, particularly when a person's standing was good. The combination of poor standing with expectations of poor performance by one's group or one's organization led to reductions in these otherwise strong intentions to volunteer. The results also show that feelings of obligation, expectations of extrinsic rewards, and identifying with one's organization are all significantly related to volunteering choices.

Citation

Wook Kim, J. and Murnighan, J.K. (1997), "THE EFFECTS OF CONNECTEDNESS AND SELF INTEREST IN THE ORGANIZATIONAL VOLUNTEER DILEMMA", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 32-51. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb022789