Performance for the public concern: Understanding volunteer performance in a for-profit world

Research in the area of volunteerism has typically concerned why individuals engage in this prosocial behavior. The current study examines volunteer performance and attempts to provide a framework to researchers and volunteer supervisors alike regarding variables important to this form of non-paid work. Dispositional, motivational, situational, and attitudinal variables known to be linked to performance in the paid work domain are used as a guide in beginning to explore the domain of volunteer performance. Additionally, the task-contextual performance distinction which has received much attention in research regarding paid work was used as model to help examine predictors of volunteer performance. Data were collected from 95 volunteers and their supervisors. Results showed that the variables of Conscientiousness and role overload were related to supervisors' ratings of volunteer task performance, while Conscientiousness, volunteer self-efficacy, job control, and role overload were related to ratings of volunteer contextual performance. Additionally, job satisfaction was found to mediate the relationships between job control and role overload with contextual performance. The implications and importance of these findings for volunteer organizations are also discussed.