Decision-making in corporate volunteering : Motives for the application of corporate volunteering programs

Abstract Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to elaborate decision-making in corporate volunteering by investigating the motives for implementing corporate volunteering programs (CVPs), the design and scope of the initiatives and the processes companies use to conduct corporate volunteering. Additionally, we would like to find out if the motives for implementing CVPs differ from the ones of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in general as reasons must exist why companies rely on this often costly tool. Research design: In our qualitative study we deploy semi-structured interviews to collect data from nine different medium- and large-sized international companies. We prepared a list of themes used to conduct and guide the interviews. The content analysis is utilized to interpret and categorize the data obtained. Findings: Firms introduce CVP for translating their CSR vision into action and for creating a win-win situation. They aim at improving the sustainability performance and the staff’s performance e.g. their skills, motivation and commitment to advance the retention of employees. Furthermore, personal reasons of decision-makers to conduct corporate volunteering initiatives exist. By investigating the motives of applying CVPs, we found out that they can differ from the ones of introducing CSR activity in general as they are more of a proactive nature and more related to employees and the society in general than to all stakeholders. Originality: We contribute to the existing literature about CSR and corporate volunteering by investigating decision-making in CVPs and by the development of a process model. Furthermore, we examine the reasons of applying CVPs to detect the value companies attribute to it. Lastly, we come up with a classification of CVPs which has not been done by other researchers yet