A Longitudinal Insight into the Intentions to Volunteer
Testing the Motivational Paths in a General Population
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6459550 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Iwona Nowakowska (0000-0001-7701-5612), Joanna Rajchert (0000-0003-4687-7337) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 663-674 |
| Publication date | 2025-07-25 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Voluntas Revista Internacional de Filosofia (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2179-3786 • E-ISSN: 1573-7888 |
| Publisher | Springer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s11266-025-00754-y |
| OpenAlex | W4412719947 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 63 |
The paper aims to test why people from the general population intend to volunteer in the future. Our study tests empathy (affective and cognitive) as the intrinsic antecedent, satisfaction with life and meaning in life as the endocentric antecedents, and social value orientation as the ipsocentric antecedent of the intention to engage in volunteering. The paper is based on a 2-wave longitudinal online, questionnaire-based study ( N = 566) performed on a general sample of Polish residents in May 2022 and May 2023. Results of structural equation modeling indicated that empathy at time 1 of the study predicted subsequent volunteering intention (when controlling for other variables in the model). Moreover, the volunteering intention at time 1 predicted social value orientation at time 2, and endocentric antecedents at time 1 negatively predicted empathy at time 2. The results suggest that concern for others and their welfare is the strongest factor associated with intentions to volunteer in the general population. Practitioners should consider that people with higher dispositional empathy might be the best targets for volunteer recruitment
Antecedent (behavioral psychology · Empathy · Longitudinal study · Meaning (existential · Population · Prosocial behavior · Social value orientations · Sociology · Structural equation modeling · Test (biology · Value (mathematics · Volunteer · Demography · Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering · Psychology · Social Psychology · Tourism, Volunteerism, and Development
From Games to Giving
Social Value Orientation and Helping Behavior 1
The Basic Empathy Scale in Adults (BES-A)
Prosocial behavior increases perceptions of meaning in life
Social Value Orientation
Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis
The theory of planned behavior
The Satisfaction With Life Scale
Social Exchange Theory
Are women the more empathetic gender? The effects of gender role expectations
Empathy is Associated with Meaning of Life and Mental Health Treatment but not Religiosity Among Brazilian Medical Students
The Effects of Volunteering on the Volunteer
A Literature Review and Development of a Theoretical Model for Understanding Commitment Experienced by Volunteers Over the Life of a Project
Growing the Volunteer Pool
Personal Belief in a Just World Moderates the Link Between Induced Empathy and Willingness to Volunteerism among Non-volunteers, but not Volunteers
Influences of Resources and Subjective Dispositions on Formal and Informal Volunteering
Altruists will be Altruists, but What About Individualists? The Role of Future Time Perspective and Social Value Orientation in Volunteers’ Declarations to Continue Engagement in Three Time Horizons
Volunteering, subjective well-being and public policy
Gender differences in honesty
Is Volunteering Rewarding in Itself
Three is better than two’
Five studies testing two new egoistic alternatives to the empathy-altruism hypothesis
Understanding and assessing the motivations of volunteers
Dispositional and structural determinants of volunteerism
Goal striving, need satisfaction, and longitudinal well-being
Altruism as hedonism
A little thanks goes a long way
Helping one's way to the top
Civil Crisis Management in Poland
The meaning in life questionnaire
Friends that last a lifetime
Does changing behavioral intentions engender behavior change? A meta-analysis of the experimental evidence
How volunteering helps students to develop soft skills
Using Path Diagrams as a Structural Equation Modeling Tool
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |