TY - JOUR
T1 - Commitment with or without a stick of paid work
T2 - Comparison of paid and unpaid workers in a nonprofit organization
AU - van Vuuren, Mark
AU - de Jong, Menno
AU - Seydel, Erwin
PY - 2008/9
Y1 - 2008/9
N2 - The aim of this study is to investigate whether nonpaid volunteers have other reasons to be a member of an organization than paid workers. Volunteers are assumed to be hard to manage, because there is no "stick of a paid contract" to keep them in line. Therefore, we studied different dimensions (i.e., affective, normative, and continuance) of organizational commitment of volunteers and paid workers in a nonprofit organization. Further, we assessed whether the predictive power of the congruence between organizational and individual values for commitment differs between paid and unpaid workers. As expected, volunteers showed a significantly higher level of affective commitment to the organization, and lower levels of continuance commitment. Surprisingly, volunteers also showed a higher level of normative commitment than paid workers. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
AB - The aim of this study is to investigate whether nonpaid volunteers have other reasons to be a member of an organization than paid workers. Volunteers are assumed to be hard to manage, because there is no "stick of a paid contract" to keep them in line. Therefore, we studied different dimensions (i.e., affective, normative, and continuance) of organizational commitment of volunteers and paid workers in a nonprofit organization. Further, we assessed whether the predictive power of the congruence between organizational and individual values for commitment differs between paid and unpaid workers. As expected, volunteers showed a significantly higher level of affective commitment to the organization, and lower levels of continuance commitment. Surprisingly, volunteers also showed a higher level of normative commitment than paid workers. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=48949116247&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13594320701693175
DO - 10.1080/13594320701693175
M3 - Article
SN - 1359-432X
VL - 17
SP - 315
EP - 326
JO - European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology
JF - European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology
IS - 3
ER -