Abstract

A model of sustained volunteerism in young people is proposed. The longitudinal study addresses the questions "Why do young people decide to continue to volunteer over an extended period of time?" and "Why do some of them decide to stop/interrupt their commitment?". There were 225 young adult participants (158 volunteers - 82 female and 76 male and 67 ex-volunteers - 52 female and 15 male). The volunteers completed measures of motivation to volunteer, integration and satisfaction with the organization, merged effects due to voluntary service, social support, volunteer role identity and intention to volunteer on a first (Time 1) and a second research wave (Time 2). Results show that both dispositional and organizational variables are important in determining long-term volunteerism in young people and confirmed that role identity is a good predictor of intention to volunteer, both at T1 and T2. Moreover, results also show that a specific ex-volunteers' process model does exist.