Individualism meets altruism : A qualitative study on board members interplay with the non-profit organization

Research in volunteer work commonly either focuses on underlying motives and reasons why people volunteer or a macro-perspective on the non-profit sector as an organizational field. The purpose of this study is to investigate the link between the volunteers and the humanitarian non-profit organization they participate in. We conducted interviews with 12 board members from Amnesty International Sweden and the Swedish Red Cross Youth Organization to investigate how volunteers experience the formal and informal structures within the organizational context. The data is analyzed with Thornton and Ocasio’s theory of institutional logics and organizational theory with focus on the definition of formal structures. Blau’s social exchange theory is also used throughout the study to identify the interaction and mutual exchange between the volunteers and the organization. The results show that these volunteers value informal structures such as flexibility, the internal communication, group dynamics and autonomy within the organization to a greater extent than the formal structures the organizations provide. However, some volunteers have expressed feelings of confusion and lack of directives in relation to the responsibilities of their role and say they would benefit from more formal guidelines. On the other hand, a more formal structure within the organizations could clash with their ability to see the organization as adaptable. To further complicate the issue, many non-profit organizations portray themselves to prospective volunteers as flexible and emphasize on individualistic motives when recruiting for volunteers, such as future career and employability. As a result of this, many volunteers enter the organization with the expectation that they’ll have the freedom to do work which aligns with their personal motives. This in turn means they may be unprepared or run into issues with executing the work and responsibilities the organization expects from them. The most significant conclusion we reached is how the interplay between the volunteer and the organization is dependent on the individualistic volunteer’s ability to identify with the organization and by extent the purpose of the organization. This to balance out working solely off of personal motives which does not automatically get the organization to reach their mission