Despite the growing importance of volunteers to many organizations, there has been little research into how they share their knowledge and develop the skills they need. Moreover, the focus of existing research has been on short-term episodic volunteering. This article addresses these deficits by examining the significance of knowledge sharing to volunteer development and also the relative importance of individual processes. A case study approach is adopted, which focuses on a major heritage site that is heavily reliant on a volunteer workforce. Development of volunteers is particularly relevant to the heritage sector where organizations need a sizeable, stable, and well-trained volunteer workforce. We performed semi-structured interviews with six managers as well as conducting five focus groups with volunteers from diverse work areas in the National Trust. The Volunteer Development through Knowledge Sharing Model is proposed. This is the first conceptual model to summarize the processes in volunteer development. Processes are clustered as follows: informal learning, formal training, learning resources, and research by volunteers. Informal learning through tacit knowledge sharing is pre-eminent and knowledge created by volunteer research was highly significant for educating visitors. The characteristics of the volunteer workforce were found to affect all these processes. Implications for practitioners are also discussed.

中文翻译：

---

知识共享在志愿者学习和发展中的作用

尽管志愿者对许多组织的重要性日益增加，但关于他们如何分享知识和发展所需技能的研究很少。此外，现有研究的重点是短期插曲志愿服务。本文通过研究知识共享对志愿者发展的重要性以及各个过程的相对重要性来解决这些缺陷。采用案例研究方法，重点关注严重依赖志愿者劳动力的主要遗产地。志愿者的发展与遗产部门特别相关，在该部门，组织需要一支规模庞大、稳定且训练有素的志愿者队伍。我们对六名经理进行了半结构化访谈，并与来自国民托管组织不同工作领域的志愿者进行了五个焦点小组讨论。提出了通过知识共享模式进行志愿者发展。这是第一个总结志愿者发展过程的概念模型。流程分为以下几类：非正式学习、正式培训、学习资源和志愿者研究。通过隐性知识共享进行的非正式学习是卓越的，志愿者研究创造的知识对于教育游客非常重要。发现志愿者劳动力的特征会影响所有这些过程。还讨论了对从业者的影响。这是第一个总结志愿者发展过程的概念模型。流程分为以下几类：非正式学习、正式培训、学习资源和志愿者研究。通过隐性知识共享进行的非正式学习是卓越的，志愿者研究创造的知识对于教育游客非常重要。发现志愿者劳动力的特征会影响所有这些过程。还讨论了对从业者的影响。这是第一个总结志愿者发展过程的概念模型。流程分为以下几类：非正式学习、正式培训、学习资源和志愿者研究。通过隐性知识共享进行的非正式学习是卓越的，志愿者研究创造的知识对于教育游客非常重要。发现志愿者劳动力的特征会影响所有这些过程。还讨论了对从业者的影响。发现志愿者劳动力的特征会影响所有这些过程。还讨论了对从业者的影响。发现志愿者劳动力的特征会影响所有这些过程。还讨论了对从业者的影响。