ENRICHING CORPORATE SPONSORED VOLUNTEERING ACTIVITIES: A WORK DESIGN PERSPECTIVE

This study explored employee perceptions of participation in a corporate sponsored volunteer initiative. Drawing on both questionnaire and focus group data our study re-affirms the importance of altruistic concerns as a key driver for employee involvement in corporate sponsored volunteering. Characteristics of the volunteering activity also emerged as important determinants of employee's initial engagement and ongoing motivation for involvement in corporate sponsored volunteering. In the same way that models of work design point to the value of enriched jobs we see that there is scope to consider how corporate sponsored volunteer programmes can be enriched so that employees have satisfying experiences and are more likely to participate. Enhancing perceptions of task significance and meaningfulness and incorporating relational elements into the volunteer activity seem to be especially critical in this regard.