Taking a Functional Approach to Volunteering: Explaining Volunteer Congruence and Work Engagement
| dc.contributor.author | Gass, Jessica A. | en |
| dc.contributor.committeechair | Calderwood, Charles | en |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Hickman, Louis | en |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Hsu, Ning | en |
| dc.contributor.department | Psychology | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-01-23T20:42:01Z | en |
| dc.date.available | 2025-01-23T20:42:01Z | en |
| dc.date.issued | 2024-11-14 | en |
| dc.description.abstract | Using the functional approach to volunteering as a basis, I investigated the implications of volunteer motivation congruence (i.e., a match between motivations to volunteer and the satisfaction of those motivations) for work recovery and downstream work engagement. I focused on career and understanding-based volunteer motives and psychological detachment and mastery recovery experiences. This was evaluated using a cross-sectional survey with a sample (N = 119) of employees with past volunteering experience. I found that psychological detachment was higher when career motives were greater than career motive satisfaction. Agreement between motives and satisfaction for both career and understanding motivations was also found to be more important than disagreement for predicting mastery experiences. Neither recovery variable (detachment and mastery experiences) was found to predict work engagement. No hypothesized indirect effects of the work recovery variables on the relationship between volunteer congruence and work engagement were supported. Overall, the results show a novel pattern of findings that encourages future research on volunteer motivation congruence and recovery experiences. | en |
| dc.description.abstractgeneral | Many American employees also participate in volunteer work outside of their jobs. However, it is important to investigate whether this is beneficial for recovering from work stress since volunteering may be additionally taxing. Within this study, I look at whether a match between a person’s motivations to volunteer and the satisfaction of those motivations predicts recovery from work. I additionally look at whether that work recovery subsequently predicts engagement at work. Specifically, I focused on career and understanding-based volunteer motivations. I also focused on the work recovery experiences of psychological detachment from work and mastery experiences. I looked at these relationships using results from 119 participants who took a single survey. I found that psychological detachment was higher when career motives were greater than career motive satisfaction (in other words when the career motives were left unsatisfied). Neither recovery variable (detachment and mastery experiences) was found to predict work engagement. | en |
| dc.description.degree | Master of Science | en |
| dc.format.medium | ETD | en |
| dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10919/124332 | en |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.publisher | Virginia Tech | en |
| dc.rights | In Copyright | en |
| dc.rights.uri | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ | en |
| dc.subject | volunteer work | en |
| dc.subject | work recovery | en |
| dc.subject | work engagement | en |
| dc.subject | psychological detachment | en |
| dc.subject | mastery experiences | en |
| dc.title | Taking a Functional Approach to Volunteering: Explaining Volunteer Congruence and Work Engagement | en |
| dc.type | Thesis | en |
| dc.type.dcmitype | Text | en |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Psychology | en |
| thesis.degree.grantor | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | en |
| thesis.degree.level | masters | en |
| thesis.degree.name | Master of Science | en |