Psychological Determinants of Volunteerism in Context of Theory of Planned Behavior

Abstract

Background. The present study was aimed at investigating the relationship among helping attitude, subjective norms of helping behavior, community related efficacy, and volunteerism among volunteers. Moreover, it also focused to ascertain the role of demographics (gender, education, duration of volunteering, monthly family income) across all study variables.

Method. Measures of Helping Attitude Scale (Nickell, 1998), Subjective Norms of Helping Behavior Scale (Khattak, 2019), Community Related Efficacy Scale (Reeb et al., 1998), and Bales Volunteerism-Activism Scale (Bales, 1996), were used to assess the study variables. The sample consists of 350 male and female volunteers with the age range of 23 to 29 years.

Results

Results showed that helping attitude, subjective norms of helping behavior, and community related efficacy positively predicted volunteerism. Findings revealed that female volunteers were high on helping attitude, and subjective norms of helping behavior and low on volunteerism as compared to male volunteers. Moreover, significant differences were observed on education, monthly family income, type of volunteering, and duration of volunteering in relation to study variables.

Implications.  Implications of the study involve the significance of volunteerism as a component of prosocial behavior, drawing the attention of both academics and professionals. Limitations and suggestions
for future researches had also been discussed.

Keywords: Helping attitude, subjective norms, community related efficacy, volunteerism, theory of planned behavior