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Growing the Volunteer Pool: Identifying Non-Volunteers Most Likely to Volunteer

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Abstract

There are ongoing management and societal challenges affecting volunteering participation. These place a premium on organizations identifying individuals that currently do not volunteer but have the willingness and capacity to do so, the “Potentials”. Supplementing the limited non-volunteer literature, we seek to quantify this potential volunteer pool using constructs aligned to the willingness, capability and availability dimensions from Meijs et al.’s (Volunt Action 8:36–54, 2006) volunteerability framework. Using binary logistic regression testing with a nationally representative sample of Australian volunteers and non-volunteers, we found partial support for the framework’s willingness and capability dimensions determining volunteer status. We then applied a predictive equation to the non-volunteer sample to calculate their percentage likelihood of volunteering, to identify a cohort of “Potential” volunteers. Further testing revealed statistically significant differences between this cohort compared to other non-volunteers based on various interventions for promoting volunteering. The implications of our novel study and an associated research agenda are discussed.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council Linkage Projects scheme (Grant LP140100528) awarded to a team comprising the second author (lead chief investigator) and the first, third, fourth and fifth authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Griffith University, Parklands Drive, Southport, QLD, 4215, Australia

    Leonie Lockstone-Binney

  2. Curtin University, GPO Box 1978, Perth, WA, 6845, Australia

    Kirsten Holmes & Ross Taplin

  3. Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, The Netherlands, P.O. Box 1738, 3000DR, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Lucas C. P. M. Meijs

  4. Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA, 5001, Australia

    Melanie Oppenheimer

  5. Macquarie Graduate School of Management, 99 Talavera Rd., North Ryde, NSW, 2109, Australia

    Debbie Haski-Leventhal

Authors
  1. Leonie Lockstone-Binney
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  2. Kirsten Holmes
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  3. Lucas C. P. M. Meijs
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  4. Melanie Oppenheimer
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  5. Debbie Haski-Leventhal
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  6. Ross Taplin
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Correspondence to Leonie Lockstone-Binney.

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Appendix

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Table 5 Summary statistics–scale items following EFA and CFA
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5.

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Lockstone-Binney, L., Holmes, K., Meijs, L.C.P.M. et al. Growing the Volunteer Pool: Identifying Non-Volunteers Most Likely to Volunteer. Voluntas 33, 777–794 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-021-00407-w

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