Generation Z’s Sustainable Volunteering: Motivations, Attitudes and Job Performance

Meehee Cho, Mark A. Bonn and Su Jin Han
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Meehee Cho: College of Hotel and Tourism Management, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 02447, Korea
Mark A. Bonn: Dedman School of Hospitality, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
Su Jin Han: Department of Business Administration, Hoseo University, Cheonan-si 330-996, Korea

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 5, 1-16

Abstract: Generation Z (Gen Z), the future of America’s workforce, is forecasted to represent more than 30 million persons by 2020. Volunteer rates have been declining since 2002. Most compelling is that overall lowest volunteer rates were found to be within the Gen Z segment, with expectations of continued decline. Thus, this study explored motivations associated with sustainable volunteering by Gen Z based upon past research that documented intent to volunteer is strongly associated with age. In doing so, the Volunteer Functions Inventory was adopted to identify Gen Z motivations for volunteering. This study then employed the theory of planned behavior to test the relationships between Gen Z volunteering motivations, their attitudes and job performance using data obtained from 306 Gen Z volunteer special event participants. Among five motives identified to be important to Gen Z, only four motives (“value”, “career”, “learning” and “self-esteem”) were found to significantly influence their attitudes. The ‘social’ motive was found to have no significant effect on their attitudes towards volunteering. This research framework was supported by validating the significant relationships between volunteer motivations, attitudes and job performance specific to the Gen Z volunteer segment. “Job training appropriateness” was found to be an important moderator for improving the relationships between Gen Z volunteer attitudes and job performance.

Keywords: Generation Z; sustainable volunteering; volunteering motivation; training appropriateness; team cohesiveness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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