Suppose you become a leader in an organization. It’s very likely that you’ll want to have volunteers to help with the organization’s activities. To do so, it should help to understand why people undertake volunteer work and what keeps their interest in the work.
假设你成为一个组织的领导者，你很可能希望有志愿者帮助组织活动。这样做的话，有助于理解人们从事志愿工作，以及保持对这项工作兴趣的原因。
Let’s begin with the question of why people volunteer. Researchers have identified several factors that motivate people to get involved.For example, people volunteer to express personal values related to unselfishness, to expand their range of experiences, and to strengthen social relationships. If volunteer positions do not meet these needs, people may not wish to participate.To select volunteers, you may need to understand the motivations of the people you wish to attract.
让我们从为什么人们要做志愿者的问题开始。研究人员确定了激励人们参与的几个因素。例如，人们自愿表达与无私相关的个人价值观，扩大经验范围，加强社会关系。如果志愿者职位不能满足这些需求，人们可能不愿意参与。要选择志愿者，您可能需要了解您希望吸引的人的动机。
People also volunteer because they are required to do so. To increase levels of community service, some schools have launched compulsory volunteer programs. Unfortunately, these programs can shift people’s wish of participation from an internal factor (e.g., “I volunteer because it’s important to me”) to an external factor (e.g., “I volunteer because I’m required to do so”). When that happens, people become less likely to volunteer in the future. People must be sensitive to this possibility when they make volunteer activities a must.
人们做志愿者还因为他们被要求这样做。为了提高社区服务水平，一些学校启动了义务志愿者项目。不幸的是，这些计划可能会将人们的参与意愿从一个内部因素（例如，“我做志愿者是因为它对我很重要”）转变为一个外部因素（例如，“我做志愿者是因为我必须这样做”）。当这种情况发生时，人们在未来做志愿者的可能性就会降低。当人们必须进行志愿活动时，必须对这种可能性保持敏感。
Once people begin to volunteer, what leads them to remain in their positions over time? To answer this question, researchers have conducted followup studies in which they track volunteers over time. For instance, one study followed 238 volunteers in Florida over a year. One of the most important factors that influenced their satisfaction as volunteers was the amount of suffering they experienced in their volunteer positions. Although this result may not surprise you, it leads to important practical advice. The researchers note that attention should be given to “training methods that would prepare volunteers for troublesome situations or provide them with strategies for coping with the problem they do experience”.
一旦人们开始做志愿者，是什么让他们在一段时间内保持不变？为了回答这个问题，研究人员进行了跟踪研究，跟踪志愿者的时间变化。例如，一项研究对佛罗里达州238名志愿者进行了为期一年的跟踪调查。影响志愿者满意度的最重要因素之一是他们在志愿者岗位上经历的痛苦程度。虽然这个结果可能不会让你感到惊讶，但它会带来重要的实用建议。研究人员指出，应注意“培训方法，使志愿者做好应对棘手情况的准备，或为他们提供应对问题的策略”。
Another study of 302 volunteers at hospitals in Chicago focused on individual differences in the degree to which people view “volunteer” as an important social role.It was assumed that those people for whom the role of volunteer was most part of their personal identity would also be most likely to continue volunteer work.Participants indicated the degree to which the social role mattered by responding to statements such as “Volunteering in Hospital is an important part of who I am.” Consistent with the researchers’ expectations, they found a positive correlation between the strength of role identity and the length of time people continued to volunteer.These results，once again, lead to concrete advice: “Once an individual begins volunteering，continued efforts might focus on developing a volunteer role identity...Items like Tshirts that allow volunteers to be recognized publicly for their contributions can help strengthen role identity”.
另一项针对芝加哥医院302名志愿者的研究关注的是人们将“志愿者”视为重要社会角色的程度上的个体差异。据推测，志愿者的角色是其个人身份的主要部分的那些人也最有可能继续志愿工作。参与者通过回应诸如“医院志愿服务是我是谁的重要组成部分”之类的陈述，指出了社会角色在多大程度上的重要性与研究人员的预期一致，他们发现在角色认同的强度和人们继续志愿工作的时间正相关。这些结果再次带来了具体的建议：“一旦个人开始志愿工作，持续的努力可能会集中在发展志愿者角色认同上……像T恤这样的物品可以让志愿者的贡献得到公众的认可，这有助于加强角色认同”。
