This open access book offers a comprehensive view of the phenomenon of volunteer work: it examines motivational factors and questions of corporate organization and the social environment. In particular, this is the first book to present volunteer work in detail as a psychosocial resource and a source of well-being that should not be overused or abused. The book is based on the authors' 15 years of research into volunteer work in Europe. It provides clear instructions on designing volunteer work tasks, and on where boundaries must be respected. The findings include insights into cultural and national differences, and offer practical advice on the organization of volunteer work. This book answers questions like: How do we understand voluntary work? How essential is it that this kind of work remains unpaid and carried out by so-called laypersons with special motives? And what follows from this for the interaction between voluntary work and professionalized, paid employment? The analysis draws on perspectives from wellbeing research, organizational and industrial studies, social work, and related social sciences.

Provides a comprehensive view of volunteer work by combining motivational with organizational and social issues

Presents volunteer work as a psychosocial resource and a source of well-being

Offers concrete advice on the design of volunteer work

This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited access

Autorentext
Theo Wehner held the professorship of Industrial and Organizational Psychology and was head of the Center for Organizational and Work Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich from 1997 to 2015. He spent 15 years researching in the field of volunteer work in Switzerland, Germany, and with Europe-wide studies. These studies on volunteer work included well over 15,000 individuals and achieved response rates of up to 70%, which are rarely achieved in comparable questionnaire studies. The respondents generated data that are still very rare in volunteer research. Since his retirement in 2015, Theo Wehner has advised charitable institutions and politics on volunteer work.
Stefan T. Güntert is a lecturer in Organizational Behavior at the University of Applied Sciencesand Arts Northwestern Switzerland. He received his PhD from ETH Zurich in 2008. His researchinterests include work design, work motivation, volunteering, nonprofit management, and self-determination theory.

Harald A. Mieg is the President of the Society for Science Studies, Berlin. He is affiliated with the Humboldt University, Berlin as a Guest Professor. He was earlier at ETH Zurich, where he conducted research into the professionalization of environmental expert services in Switzerland.

Inhalt
Chapter 1: Definition of volunteer work and a model of volunteer activity1.1 Introduction: A clarification of terms1.2 Volunteering in Europe: statistics1.3 Volunteer work as a meaningful activity
Chapter 2: Volunteer work as a matter of motivation2.1 The functional approach2.2 Extensions of the functional approach2.3 Differences in sustainable engagement, self-determination theory
Chapter 3: Volunteer work as an organizational task3.1 Volunteering as a process3.2 Three basic needs as orientation3.3 Neglected importance of tasks and organization3.4 The successful design of volunteer work: an empirical study
Chapter 4: Volunteering as a psychosocial resource4.1 Reasons for the compatibility of gainful employment and volunteer work4.2 Volunteer work keeps you healthy?4.4 Work-Life-Balance
Chapter 5: Volunteer work from an international perspective5.1 Structural approaches5.2 Cultural approaches5.3 Cultural and structural differences: volunteer work at the Red Cross in Germany, France and Switzerland
Chapter 6: Practical Implications6.1 Which design features influence sustainable engagement?6.2 Summary and recommendations for action6.3 Volunteer research has more to offer than is perceived in practice: a conclusion on refugee aid