Trust and Motivation in High-Risk Volunteering

An Empirical Study of Norwegian Search-and-Rescue Volunteers

Bibliographic Data

ID6459554
AuthorsDag Wollebæk (0000-0003-1186-9230, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume36
Issue3
Pages382-396
Publication date2025-02-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueVoluntas Revista Internacional de Filosofia (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2179-3786 • E-ISSN: 1573-7888
PublisherSpringer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1007/s11266-025-00727-1
OpenAlexW4408028257
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited57

Volunteering in emergency situations can involve the risk of injury. Overcoming such risks may motivate some volunteers, but may also deter those who are risk-averse. This presents a challenge, as recruiting and engaging volunteers with different risk attitudes is important to ensure response capacity and a balanced organizational culture. This cross-sectional study uses data from online surveys of search-and-rescue (SAR) volunteers (n = 1,659) and the general population (n = 3,185) in Norway to examine whether trust moderates a negative relationship between risk aversion and motivation in high-risk volunteering. Results from OLS regressions show that SAR volunteers have higher levels of risk propensity (B = 0.25, p < 0.001), trust (B = 1.47, p < 0.001) and felt trust (B = 1.36, p < 0.001) than other volunteers. Risk-averse volunteers report lower motivation and participation, but trust mitigates much of the negative impact (interaction term B = −0.10, p < 0.01). These findings underline the importance of strong cultures of trust within SAR volunteer teams

Empirical research · Norwegian · Statistics · Applied Psychology · Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering · Psychology · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts

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Open DOIOpen Access