Fostering Volunteerism by Greg Donworth

Philadelphia Hub, Pennsylvania, USA Originally from Saratoga Springs, NY

Humans are prosocial and altruistic in behavior. We follow social norms and like to see prosperous communities and the positive welfare of others, and because of this, we are naturally driven to volunteer. During COVID-19 these behaviors have become more present in our daily lives. In the United Kingdom, a volunteer service mobile app run by their National Health Service (NHS) has been downloaded over 750,000 times and has reported over 250,000 additional volunteers at their service centers. Non-profit Volunteering Matters have received roughly 700x more applications on a given day than they experienced pre-COVID-19.

Clear patterns exist for why people begin volunteering. Research has found that ordinary citizens become more altruistic and cohesive during emergencies and disasters. They are intrinsically motivated to volunteer their time, knowledge, skills and resources to help others in times of crisis. Cottrell (2010) defines such individuals as ‘spontaneous’ volunteers who seek to contribute on impulse, those who offer assistance following a disaster and who are not previously affiliated with recognized volunteer agencies and may or may not have relevant training, skills or experience’. Psychologically, most people do it to reclaim lost control, regain self-esteem and get back the affiliation through social proofing and praise. These times of chaos and panic, usually drive people to express their personal values, enhance self-esteem and showcase commitment to their community (Omoto and Snyder 1990, 1995; Janoski, Musick, Wilson 1998).

While the sudden jump in community activism and individuals who are interested in volunteering is promising, it’s incredibly important that we ensure this increased altruistic behavior continues and becomes a habit in a post-COVID-19 world. The theory of habit formation breaks down the process of creating new habits into 3 separate steps; the trigger, the routine, and the reward. In our current day, COVID-19 has played the role as the trigger, volunteers are needed and they have come forward to help. To transform this trigger into a well-integrated routine, it’s important as a community to apply simple behavioral principles to nudge our citizens to actively continue volunteering and gain timely rewards.

• Indirect Reciprocity shows that when an individual sees an act of good deed, that they are not directly benefiting from, they would still be more likely to support that cause in the future. To utilize this principle, volunteers and volunteer organizations should socialize their initiatives, actively posting examples of work being done, in an attempt to garner more support from viewers.
• Social Expectations can be formed by showcasing positive facts such as the number of volunteers who participated from their neighborhood, how rewarding and important of an experience it is for everyone to have and personal testimonials of community members can form a social expectation towards volunteering for others.
• Incentives are a key component in behavioral change. For volunteering, incentives should be linked to the positive mental and physical health benefits that volunteering provides, and the overall goal (or reward) of beating COVID-19.
• When individuals sign up socially (via a social media site) to support a cause, they have signed into a Commitment Device, which can greatly help them to follow-through with their committed service or goal. Organizations can create easily shareable and understandable commitment forms that individuals could sign onto, requesting they continue to support the organization or cause in long term ways.
• Using Defaults- Routinely volunteering can be enhanced by changing the default choice to automatically signing up individuals to their local volunteering groups or organizations. Studies have shown that by changing the default to an ‘opt-out’ rather than an ‘opt-in’, individuals can be nudged towards choosing pro-social behavior such as organ donation.

When looking at how volunteering affects a volunteer’s physical and mental health, studies show that people have decreased psychological distress, increased life satisfaction, decreased depression, better physical health and an overall improvement of well-being (Thoits, 2001).

Volunteering is a true win-win. Our communities need our support, and we (especially now) need the positive benefits that volunteering can provide. By using behavioral principles such as the few outlined above, we can continue to build off of our new behaviors and the increased need for a livelihood that COVID-19 has caused. Let’s continue to vocalize support for our volunteers, and in turn help to spread the act of volunteering for years to come.

Bibliography:

1. Thoits, P., & Hewitt, L. (2001). Volunteer Work and Well-Being.Journal of Health and Social Behavior,42(2), 115-131. Retrieved April 21, 2020, fromwww.jstor.org/stable/3090173
2. Omoto, Allen M. and Mark Snyder. 1990. “Basic Research in Action: Volunteerism and Society’s Responses to AIDS.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 16:152-56.
3. Omoto, Allen M. and Mark Snyder. 1995. “Sustained Helping without Obligation: Motivation, Longevity of Service, and Perceived Attitude Change among AIDS Volunteers.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 68:671-87.
4. Janoski, Thomas, Marc Musick, and John Wilson. 1998. “Being Volunteered? The Impact of Social Participation and Pro-Social Attitudes on Volunteering.” Sociological Forum 13:495-519
5. A. Cottrell, (2010) Research report: a survey of spontaneous volunteers. Australian Red Cross, Carlton. http://www.redcross.org.au/files/ES0-Research_report.pdf (last accessed 19.07.2015)