Voluntary Work in Digital Contexts as Gift Exchange

Digital technologies have inspired a change in volunteering in nonprofit organizations. In this context, the engagement of volunteers is mainly self-organized, through online platforms or apps. It is the aim of this paper to analyze the volunteers’ motives, differentiating between self-interest and...

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Autor principal:	Caroline Ruiner
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	gift exchange nonprofit organization reciprocity volunteer engagement Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/970ba6e88d4440c39e19dc8b2bc0d914
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:970ba6e88d4440c39e19dc8b2bc0d914
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:970ba6e88d4440c39e19dc8b2bc0d9142021-11-11T19:46:52ZVoluntary Work in Digital Contexts as Gift Exchange10.3390/su1321121762071-1050https://doaj.org/article/970ba6e88d4440c39e19dc8b2bc0d9142021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/12176https://doaj.org/toc/2071-1050Digital technologies have inspired a change in volunteering in nonprofit organizations. In this context, the engagement of volunteers is mainly self-organized, through online platforms or apps. It is the aim of this paper to analyze the volunteers’ motives, differentiating between self-interest and other-interest. This is important, since effects on organizational volunteer-related outcomes, such as volunteer engagement, recruitment and retention, are likely to occur. A gift exchange perspective is applied and a case study has been used for investigating an online-based nonprofit organization in Germany, consisting of qualitative interviews with experts and volunteers, documentary analysis and participatory observations as well as an online survey. The results show that the volunteers’ instrumental self-interest in gaining food, and their interests in other factors, such as the reduction of food wastage as a societal goal, occur simultaneously. This leads to paradoxes and problems on the organizational level. This study contributes to understanding volunteer engagement, recruitment and retention in digital nonprofit organizations.Caroline RuinerMDPI AGarticlegift exchangenonprofit organizationreciprocityvolunteer engagementEnvironmental effects of industries and plantsTD194-195Renewable energy sourcesTJ807-830Environmental sciencesGE1-350ENSustainability, Vol 13, Iss 12176, p 12176 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	gift exchange nonprofit organization reciprocity volunteer engagement Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350
spellingShingle	gift exchange nonprofit organization reciprocity volunteer engagement Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Caroline Ruiner Voluntary Work in Digital Contexts as Gift Exchange
description	Digital technologies have inspired a change in volunteering in nonprofit organizations. In this context, the engagement of volunteers is mainly self-organized, through online platforms or apps. It is the aim of this paper to analyze the volunteers’ motives, differentiating between self-interest and other-interest. This is important, since effects on organizational volunteer-related outcomes, such as volunteer engagement, recruitment and retention, are likely to occur. A gift exchange perspective is applied and a case study has been used for investigating an online-based nonprofit organization in Germany, consisting of qualitative interviews with experts and volunteers, documentary analysis and participatory observations as well as an online survey. The results show that the volunteers’ instrumental self-interest in gaining food, and their interests in other factors, such as the reduction of food wastage as a societal goal, occur simultaneously. This leads to paradoxes and problems on the organizational level. This study contributes to understanding volunteer engagement, recruitment and retention in digital nonprofit organizations.
format	article
author	Caroline Ruiner
author_facet	Caroline Ruiner
author_sort	Caroline Ruiner
title	Voluntary Work in Digital Contexts as Gift Exchange
title_short	Voluntary Work in Digital Contexts as Gift Exchange
title_full	Voluntary Work in Digital Contexts as Gift Exchange
title_fullStr	Voluntary Work in Digital Contexts as Gift Exchange
title_full_unstemmed	Voluntary Work in Digital Contexts as Gift Exchange
title_sort	voluntary work in digital contexts as gift exchange
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/970ba6e88d4440c39e19dc8b2bc0d914
work_keys_str_mv	AT carolineruiner voluntaryworkindigitalcontextsasgiftexchange
_version_	1718431423205998592

Voluntary Work in Digital Contexts as Gift Exchange

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