The examination of volunteer motivations within studies of volunteering in Hungary has two main objectives: first, to theoretically describe and interpret the motivations of volunteers and correlate these with social and demographic indicators, second, to connect to the international research concern in the area. At the same time, for organisations employing volunteers, a methodology to evaluate volunteer motivation in order to improve recruitment, placement and retention has hitherto been missing.
The first major Hungarian analysis of the issue (Czike and Bartal, 2005:28-29) distinguished three hypothetical groups according to the motivations of the volunteers attached to the organisations: the old, the new and the mixed type of volunteering. Methodologically, the foundation of the heuristic grouping were eight categories, from which 150 volunteers had to choose the three most characteristic. Of the eight categories - helping the poor, the importance of faith and religious belief, moral duty, belonging to a community, gaining experience, challenging oneself, professional development, spending time, and making friends -, the first four were characterised by Czike as corresponding to the old, while the second four were characterised as corresponding to the new, type of volunteering. Responses that contained elements from both categories were evaluated as ‘mixed’ (Czike and Bartal, 2005:35).
According to the results of the survey carried out among social organisations, the motivations of the old type of volunteering tended to be found among females over 35 years of age and with a completed tertiary education, married and with several children, while the new type of volunteering was typical for single childless men and women under 25 years of age. Organisation-level results suggest that the old type of volunteering motivations is mainly characteristic for donating charities, while motivations of the new type are typical for volunteers in state and local government proximate organisations, and mixed motivations are associated with client-proximate organisations (Czike and Bartal 2005:94-95).
In another study, the motivations of youth volunteer interns were examined according to two factors - value-based (old type) and interest-based (new type) volunteering (Hegyi, Horvath, Kmetty and Molnar, 2006). Qualitative surveys reveal within youth volunteering separate groups of altruistic and professional volunteers, while youth volunteer interns were described as a group who are equally connected to altruistic and professional motivations.
The 2004 Hungarian representative study (population above 14 years of age) on charitable giving (Czike and Kuti, 2006) examined volunteer motivations by asking respondents to evaluate eighteen statements on a five-point Likert scale. Czike refined the labels of the earlier motivational categories, now dividing motivations into conventional and new type motivation. Of the eighteen categories, conventional volunteering was predominantly characterised by positive emotional import of helping others (89%), family reasons (60%), belonging to a community (54%), acquaintances as role models (39%) and gratitude (34%). Opposed to this, new type volunteering was characterised by achieving a defined aim (54%), spending time worthwhile (52%), gaining experience (46%), self-awareness (35%), professional development (28%) and the possibility of good employment (4%) (Czike and Kuti, 2006:45).
The examination of volunteer motivations according to demographic-sociostatistical variables indicated that new type volunteering is best defined by age (age group 21-60 years, while gender and educational attainment did not play a significant role. Conventional motivations were characteristic for the less educated respondents within the age group above 35 years of age.
On the whole, Hungarian surveys of volunteer motivations
- have been derived from heuristic approaches, and, as Czike notes, the dichotomy between the new and old types of volunteering were only partially present in a representative sample (Czike-Kuti 2006:48),
- furthermore, these theoretical categories did not provide good and applicable methodologies for organisations to measure the motivation of their volunteers,
- whereas in the management of volunteerism, recruitment of volunteers, placement and retention, it would be vitally important to know the motivation of volunteers as a complementary mechanism to allow organisations to attract volunteers by more appropriate and effective messages, allocate them the most appropriate tasks ans provide an atmosphere in which their volunteers are able to feel satisfaction in their work and continue their commitment to volutneering.
