Organizational, Motivational, and Cultural Contexts of Volunteering

lt;b>Theo Wehner held the professorship of Industrial and Organizational Psychology and was head of the Center for Organizational and Work Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich from 1997 to 2015. He spent 15 years researching in the field of volunteer work in Switzerland, Germany, and with Europe-wide studies. These studies on volunteer work included well over 15,000 individuals and achieved response rates of up to 70%, which are rarely achieved in comparable questionnaire studies. The respondents generated data that are still very rare in volunteer research. Since his retirement in 2015, Theo Wehner has advised charitable institutions and politics on volunteer work.
Stefan T. Güntert is a lecturer in Organizational Behavior at the University of Applied Sciencesand Arts Northwestern Switzerland. He received his PhD from ETH Zurich in 2008. His researchinterests include work design, work motivation, volunteering, nonprofit management, and self-determination theory.

Harald A. Mieg is the President of the Society for Science Studies, Berlin. He is affiliated with the Humboldt University, Berlin as a Guest Professor. He was earlier at ETH Zurich, where he conducted research into the professionalization of environmental expert services in Switzerland.

Chapter 1: Definition of volunteer work and a model of volunteer activity1.1 Introduction: A clarification of terms1.2 Volunteering in Europe: statistics1.3 Volunteer work as a meaningful activity
Chapter 2: Volunteer work as a matter of motivation2.1 The functional approach2.2 Extensions of the functional approach2.3 Differences in sustainable engagement, self-determination theory
Chapter 3: Volunteer work as an organizational task3.1 Volunteering as a process3.2 Three basic needs as orientation3.3 Neglected importance of tasks and organization3.4 The successful design of volunteer work: an empirical study
Chapter 4: Volunteering as a psychosocial resource4.1 Reasons for the compatibility of gainful employment and volunteer work4.2 Volunteer work keeps you healthy?4.4 Work-Life-Balance
Chapter 5: Volunteer work from an international perspective5.1 Structural approaches5.2 Cultural approaches5.3 Cultural and structural differences: volunteer work at the Red Cross in Germany, France and Switzerland
Chapter 6: Practical Implications6.1 Which design features influence sustainable engagement?6.2 Summary and recommendations for action6.3 Volunteer research has more to offer than is perceived in practice: a conclusion on refugee aid