Why Could Volunteering Be Sustained:Empirical Research On The Practice Of Elderly Volunteer Service In J Community From The Process Perspective

In recent years,volunteer service industry in China are booming and the volunteer team are growing.Beijing Olympic Games and Wenchuan earthquake involved large number of volunteers in 2008,and since then the domestic volunteer service has been more fully developed.So far,there have been 12.041 million real-name registered volunteers nationwide,and the number of volunteer organizations has reached more than 620,000.There is no denying that volunteer service in China has made proud achievements after more than 30 years of development,but the problem of high turnover rate of volunteer organizations,unstable organizational structure often tends to be ignored.For the long-term development of volunteer organizations and their service effects,the stability and sustainability of volunteers are the internal power to promote the sustainable development of volunteer service.In addition,during the investigation of J community,the author found that the number of registered volunteers in this community is as high as 284,while only 21 volunteers actually participate in the long-term stable volunteer service,and all of them are elderly volunteers.Combining the relevant materials and the actual situation of investigation,the author found that volunteer service in China generally has the problem of "numerous registrants but few persistent volunteers".Based on the reflection of this phenomenon,this paper took J community of Fengxian District of Shanghai as an example,and conducted in-depth empirical research on community volunteer organization.The author conducted in-depth interviews with the 10 elderly volunteers and 2 staff of community residents committee,hoping to further analyze and discuss the sustainability of elderly volunteers in community volunteer service.Based on Omoto and Snyder's volunteer process model,this paper established a research framework in line with the actual investigation.This paper holds that volunteer service is a sustained and dynamic process,which can be divided into three stages:antecedents,experience and consequence,and the sustained volunteer service is in consequence stage.Under the influence of various factors in the three stages,the elderly volunteers will finally choose the continuous volunteer service.In the antecedents stage,the motivation,basis and space of action are the initial motivation factors for the elderly volunteers to choose to participate in volunteer service.Whether the motivation can be satisfied,the basis of action and the space of action exist or not will affect the continuity of their service.Action motivation,action basis and action space are the initial motivation factors for elderly volunteers to choose to participate in volunteer service.Whether the motivation can be satisfied,action basis and action space exist or not will affect the sustainability of volunteer service.In the experience stage,achieved motivation,role interaction,volunteer role identification and important support from the community will form a positive incentive and self-feedback mechanism for the elderly volunteers,which can promote the sustained voluntary behavior.In the consequence stage,the elderly volunteers will gain some unexpected benefits and self-change.In addition,the internalization of their volunteerism and the formation of their volunteering habits will encourage them to stay in the volunteer organization and continue to volunteer.Through this study,the author hopes to explore the influencing factors that promote the sustained volunteer service of elderly volunteers,so as to better transform the resources of the elderly in the community into community service forces,and promote the long-term development of community volunteer service.