Research Report
Investigation into students' participation in voluntary
activities
1.Abstract
Community volunteer program aims to stimulate students to participate in voluntary
service and benefit from it while helping others. This article compares the research and
investigation reports of different scholars. The relevant data shows that the main
reasons that whether students participate in voluntary activities are influenced by
egoistic motivation and altruistic motivation. Regarding the advantages of participating
in voluntary service, views of those who participate in voluntary activities are
significantly different from those who do not. This article also researches the obstacles
that hinder students from participating in voluntary service and puts forward
suggestions on listing the voluntary service as elective courses and setting up training
programs to encourage students to participate in voluntary work.
2.Introduction
As voluntary service is increasingly valued, more and more activities are held by
governments and universities to attract students to join the volunteer team. A good
example is that many universities have launched community volunteer program.
Participation in voluntary activities is also considered by the universities as a necessary
condition for increasing students’ social participation (Hustinx et al. 2008).
This article is written at the request of the university to research students’ motivations
who work as volunteers and what they can gain from it, to let students know more about
voluntary service and help them take part in the community volunteer program.
3.Findings
3.1 The motivations of volunteers
The motivations of volunteers can be divided into three categories, namely Egoistic
Motivation, Altruistic Motivation and Mixed Motivation (Winniford et al. 1997).
3.1.1 Egoistic Motivation
As one of the most important motivations for taking part in voluntary service, students
who have this kind of motivation want to obtain work experience, master new
knowledge that can help them in their study and future work (Holdsworth & Quinn
2010). In addition, recent research shows that more and more students want to get rid
of negative emotions and maintain a positive mental state by participating in voluntary
activities. At the same time, students also hope that they can enrich their resumes and
make new friends by participating in voluntary activities, which are also important
factors.
3.1.2 Altruistic Motivation
Different from people who work as volunteers because of egoistic motivation, most
students participate in voluntary activities for the first time because of the influence of
altruistic motivations, which means they want to help others through voluntary service.
In the process of helping others, they will gain joy and a sense of accomplishment,
which makes them more actively participate in voluntary activities. According to a
survey report (Table 2) involving a total of 4,000 students from 5 countries, the factor
that thinks it is significant to help other people is the main motivation for all student
groups to participate in voluntary service (Smith et al. 2010).
3.1.3 Mixed Motivation
Although the motivation for most students to participate in voluntary activities for the
first time is altruism, whether they are willing to continue work as volunteers is also
related to egoism (Batson 2014). In other words, students are more likely to carry on
participating in voluntary service if they could get something that helps them through
voluntary service.
3.2 The benefits for students to work as volunteers
The reason why most students participate in voluntary activities is because they want
to help others rather than in return. But there is no doubt that participating in voluntary
service can subtly bring benefits to students. Many studies have proved that
participating in voluntary service can not only improve students' performance in
studying but also make them more willing to contribute to society.
Furthermore, students can get in touch with real work in advance through voluntary
activities, which can help them gain work experience to let them better adapt to their
future work (Holdsworth 2010). According to table 3, more than 70% of students with
volunteer experience think that participating in voluntary activities can learn new skills,
gain work experience and self-satisfaction (Smith et al. 2010).
3.3 Factors preventing students from becoming volunteers
In spite of the number of student volunteers are increasing in recent years, however,
students also face some difficulties in participating in voluntary activities. For example,
a lot of their time is occupied by homework and theory courses because they have to
earn enough credits for completing the course to meet the graduation requirements. In
addition, some people also think they lack experience and confidence to become
qualified volunteers. (Francis 2011).
4. Conclusion
To conclude, this report shows why students want to work as volunteers and what they
can obtain from it. Altruistic motivation is the important reason for most students to
take part in voluntary service among all motivations though students’ willingness to
continue volunteering depends to a certain extent on egoism. In terms of benefits,
students are all believe that participating in volunteers is beneficial to gain work
experience and learn skills. This article also studies that lack of time and confidence are
important factors that hinder students from participating in voluntary activities.
Through these studies, universities can better help participants to take part in voluntary
activities.
5. Recommendations
It is worth noting that as the government and schools pay more attention to stimulate
students to join voluntary organization, more and more students work as volunteers.
However, as mentioned above, there are still many obstacles which influence the
students’ participation in voluntary service. Therefore, this report makes the following
recommendations.
1) List the voluntary activities as elective courses
Many universities students have to spend much time on studying because they
have to achieve enough credits to graduate. Given this situation, universities can
list voluntary activities as elective courses and students can get credits for
participating in voluntary service, which can allow students more time and
willingness to participate in voluntary service.
2) Set up training programs for student volunteers
Although most of universities are now advocating students to participate in
voluntary service, many students are still worried that they lack sufficient
experience and confidence to be qualified as volunteers. The programs arranged
by the university can not only enable more students to master the basic skills of
volunteers, but also allow them to understand the significance of take part in
voluntary activities. At the same time, universities can also invite students who
have participated in voluntary service to share their volunteer experience in the
training programs, which can make other students more interested in voluntary
activities.
Reference list
1) Batson, CD 2014, The altruism question: Toward a social-psychological answer.
Psychology Press.
2) Francis, JE 2011, ‘The functions and norms that drive university student
volunteering’, International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, vol.
16, no. 1, pp.1-12.
3) Holdsworth, C 2010, ‘Student volunteers: A national profile’, Keele University:
Volunteering England.
4) Holdsworth, C & Quinn, J 2010, ‘Student volunteering in English higher
education’, Studies in Higher Education, vol. 35, no. 1, pp.113-127.
5) Hustinx, L, Haski-Leventhal, D & Handy, F 2008, ‘One of a kind? Comparing
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7) Smith, K, Holmes, K, Haski-Leventhal, D, Cnaan, RA, Handy, F & Brudney, JL
2010, ‘Motivations and benefits of student volunteering: Comparing regular, occasional,
and non-volunteers in five countries’, Canadian journal of nonprofit and social
economy research, vol. 1, no. 1.
8) Winniford, JC, Carpenter, DS & Grider, C 1997, ‘Motivations of college student
volunteers: A review’, Naspa Journal, vol. 34, no. 2, pp.134-146.