Research On Volunteer Loyalty Of Chinese NPOs

Voluntary service, a noble social cause impelled by human self-consciousness and the wish for a better society, has become a prosperous worldwide social movement and has played a more and more important role in the economic development and social progress in each country. At present, voluntary service and its embodied lofty spirit have been increasingly accepted. With more people's ?participations, voluntary service involving wider fields has been a significant symbol for social civilization.Volunteers provide the principal part and important human resources in nonprofit organizations, which are the main carriers of voluntary service and have achieved rapid development recently. Volunteer loyalty is critical to the stability and sustainability of volunteer work, the quality and effect of voluntary service, and consequently the development of nonprofit organizations in the long run. In China, theories and practices related to volunteers just start. In particular the scarce study on volunteer loyalty makes such work meaningful in both theory and practice.Aiming at volunteer loyalty, this thesis implemented empirical studies such as questionnaire surveys and in-depth interviews, investigated theories in China and western countries, and further considered the special situations of nonprofit organizations in China. The phenomena of volunteer loyalty loss include the high rate of volunteer job-leaving, low sense of belonging, and weak public recognition. The causes and influencing factors for such phenomena were analyzed from four aspects: volunteer, incomplete structure of nonprofit organization, government's improper management, and immature social mechanisms. As a consequence, approaches were proposed as follows: strengthening volunteer training and management, advocating volunteer spirit, boosting volunteer stimulation and assessment mechanisms, and streamlining nonprofit organization formation; reforming government management functions and clarifying the role of nonprofit organizations; improving social legislations, establishing volunteer security system, and expanding the areas of voluntary service; and cultivating nonprofit organizations and individual volunteer with Chinese moral culture. These proposals are expected to improve the stability and sustainability of voluntary service, to accelerate the development of nonprofit organizations in China, and to provide certain theoretical and practical basis for nonprofit organization management.